There are a lot of things on my plate every day, every week, and every month. I have to manage school work, and YouTube content, continuously post on social media, create jewelry, update the website, and so much more. Owning a small business as a high school student is not a small feat, so over the years, I've had to learn and adopt time management skills to help me manage all of this chaos.
First things first, of course, I have an online organizing platform that I use called KanbanFlow. It works just how I need it to and can access it anywhere. I have a column for ideas, content, analytics, and my weekly hours/schedule!
Ideas: Consists of rough concepts, future plans, and overall miscellaneous things that don't fit in other categories.
Content: Consists of content ideas for YouTube, Patreon, Instagram, and even this blog! Here you can also find my content schedule!
Analytics: Consists of my statistics analysis from any platform I post on. Here is where I take notes about certain patterns, changes, etc. to help better know what content to post, what you enjoy most, and more.
Hours: Consists of my schedule from Monday-Saturday. I create a checklist of things I need to do that day in order, and how much time to spend on each thing.
Along with the online organizer, I have two whiteboard calendars; one in my bedroom, and one in the studio. The one in my bedroom is mostly for personal purposes and events, although I do have some business-related things on that calendar. It has a "month" plan, a "week" plan (consisting of a priority, tasks, goals, reminders, and notes category), and a "today" plan. The "today" plan is where I write the schedule I had previously written in the "hours" category of my Kanban board.
The other calendar is much simpler and located in the studio. It is a monthly planner and has a long "to-do" column on the side which is where I usually put ideas. I put my entire plan for launches, content, and content creation for the month on this calendar.
Now when exactly do I fill out my Kanban board and my calendars?
Every Sunday, I plan my week. I make a rough list of things I need to do that week, then organize it into my Kanban board. This usually takes an hour or so. Along with that, I also plan my outfits for the week. This is actually a huge time saver because now, I don't have to think about what to wear or take the time to think about what I'm wearing. I only have an hour to get ready and I'd rather be eating breakfast than fussing over what to wear. It also helps me to look forward to my week and be motivated to get up.
At the end of every month is when I erase both of my whiteboards and re-do them for the new month.
How do I balance school with work?
One of my "life mottos" is, "School doesn't deserve time outside of school." I refuse to do any form of schoolwork outside of school. There are exceptions, however, such as a big project, but it is very rare to see me working on school at home. I do everything school related... at school like things should be. I have family, friends, and a work-life to maintain. Ain't nobody got time for Algebra II.