Tick-Tock, Tick Tock

I have been very frustrated the past 2 weeks or so. I know that I shouldn't be too hard on myself, since I knew this time would come, but I guess I just don't have the patience right now.

I should start be telling you that I spend my day selling fruit. Imported fruit to be more specific. And, considering that the U.S. is currently not in their prime growing season, I am in the heart of my "busy season", importing fruits from areas which are currently producing the items which we're not. My busy months are normally November through May, with January & February being two of the busiest months every year.

This being said, I have been pouring more hours into my job and have less time to learn here at WA and to work on my site.

I know that I will have more time as the season winds down, however it is frustrating when I have been "on a roll" so to speak. I continue to find ways to organize my time and to keep learning even if I am much busier at the moment.

Here are a few things which are helping me with time management, which might be able to help you as well.

1. Google Alerts- If you haven't signed up for them, you should. It's a good way to keep track of what's happening with your niche. Up to date information about your niche.
2. Email Organization (Folders) - With all the emails I receive throughout the day, notifications from WA, Street Articles, Google Alerts, Forums I have signed up for, etc. It can be overwhelming. You can get lost once you start reading everything. So I have set up folders for the alerts, articles, notifications etc which I want to go back and read. Keeping your inbox clean, helps with organization, and you can later choose which folder you want to start with when you are ready to begin reading.
3. Even if I don't have time to submit an article, if I think about an idea for an article while I'm working, I quickly jot it down or email myself, so that I have it for later.
4. Dedicate time to log into WA and at least check out the most recent blogs, and training. There is always valuable information we can use and reference later. I keep a word document titled "sites to reference" and I copy and paste article links, website links, training links, even information I might see in Live Chat that might catch my eye, and I add them onto this document and go back to it when I have time to look up the information. It helps me keep my focus on the task at hand.

Although these tips help with time management, it still doesn't help the fact that I have to work extra hard over the next few months! But I'm here for the same reason everyone else is... so eventually, that hard work will be all self serving!