You're overwhelmed with multiple training projects. How can you effectively balance your time?

Begin by conducting a thorough assessment of all projects, identifying key deadlines, deliverables, and resource needs. Utilize project management tools like Trello or Asana to visually map out tasks and timelines. Prioritize tasks based on urgency and impact, focusing first on high-priority items. Implement time-blocking techniques to allocate dedicated periods for each project, minimizing context switching. Delegate tasks where possible to leverage team strengths and lighten your load. Regularly review and adjust your plan, staying flexible to accommodate changes. Incorporate breaks and downtime to maintain productivity and avoid burnout. Finally, communicate openly with stakeholders about your workload and progress.

By identifying and focusing on the most critical and time-sensitive projects first, you can manage your workload more effectively. Prioritization helps ensure that essential tasks are completed on time and reduces the risk of missing deadlines. From personal experience, prioritizing tasks has been crucial in managing multiple projects, as it allows for a structured approach and helps in allocating resources and time efficiently. This strategy also helps in minimizing stress and improving overall productivity. Moreover, it provides a clear framework for evaluating progress and making adjustments as needed to stay on track, ensuring that important deadlines and objectives are consistently met.

Allocate specific time slots for preparation, delivery, and follow-up for each session. Use a calendar or scheduling tool to organize tasks and deadlines effectively. Delegate responsibilities where possible and focus on quality over quantity to ensure each session meets its objectives. Regularly assess progress and adjust timelines as needed to maintain productivity and achieve realistic goals across all sessions.

I find it useful to brainstorm goals and define them by SMART principles. Then, I am breaking them down into smaller packages to ensure they are less overwhelming. This is a great basis to organize them per priority, write them down and track them. By this approach, I stay focused and can mitigate whenever it is required.

Use prioritization techniques such as the Eisenhower Matrix to classify tasks based on their urgency and importance. This helps ensure that critical tasks are completed on time while less urgent ones are managed effectively.

Set up automated reminders and alerts for important deadlines and milestones using project management tools. This helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.

In my experience, the following aspects improve productivity even with interruptions. Set Boundaries: Clearly communicate to your team or stakeholders when you are not available for meetings or casual conversations. For example, you can set specific “do not disturb” hours during which you focus on deep work. Batch Process Communications: Rather than sporadically checking emails, messages, and social media, allocate specific times for these activities. For example, check your email three times a day—morning, noon, and late afternoon. Use Visual Signals: Use visual cues like a “do not disturb” sign on your desk or a specific chair position to signal to others that you are in a focused work mode.

Switch notifications off...go on. Just try it! People always feel nervous about it and then realise what a massive difference it makes to their productivity. Emails flashing up, beeping etc is a terrible time drain (about 1.5 hrs per day wasted "task switching" for most people)

When things are busy, time needs to be scheduled for thinking, reflection, and planning. I literally have days in my diary which are for reflection, prep and planning. But I learnt the hard way! In the beginning, I'd schedule training for any and all days of the week then wondered why I was exhausted, getting up super-early to do prep and generally stressed out. Saving two days a week for admin and thinking time saved me and my business.