“Hi Peter! Long time no see. How are you?”
“Hi Marieke! Good, busy. How about you?”
“Busy too. Lots of deadlines, you know.”
This is a familiar conversation with friends and acquaintances. Everyone is constantly busy. If someone is not busy, they almost seem not to count: surely they must be doing nothing? In PR, we also have plenty to do, and it can come with stress. Research by CareerCast even places PR among the most stressful professions. Press releases need translating and distributing, crises need managing, blogs need delivering and media relationships need maintaining. You probably have your own endless task list and tight deadlines, not to mention everything outside work.
How can you manage it all without too much stress? Here are a few personal tips.
Digital helping hands
One of my favourite tools for keeping work organised is OneNote, Microsoft’s note-taking tool. You can organise notes by client, theme, project, activity or whatever works for you. You can also connect OneNote to Outlook to add notes to meetings and synchronise tasks. Cloud storage makes sharing with colleagues straightforward.
If you are following a presentation and do not want to type everything, OneNote can record audio. Make a note when something important is said, and you can find that point in the recording later. I could go on about its many possibilities. My advice is to try it and discover which functions work best for you.
Any.do is another useful tool for organising tasks. You can sort tasks by client and see them together on one page, while keeping track through the website, browser and app.
Offline help with stress
Online tools are useful, but a recent favourite is the bullet journal, described by its creator Ryder Carroll as an analogue system for the digital age. The idea is to clear your mind while becoming more productive. That sounds wonderful, but what is it and how does it work?
A bullet journal combines a planner, task list and diary. Start with a notebook and create a long-term overview and a monthly overview. At the start of each month, make a task list or “brain dump”. Each day, decide what belongs on your daily list. Curious whether this method suits you? This video explains more tips and techniques.
Don’t worry, be happy
My final tip is to keep things in perspective. Missing a deadline is not the end of the world. Tell your client or colleagues in good time. Avoid taking on too much and make sure work does not come at the expense of enjoying it. If you work in a team, delegation is the magic word. You could start by delegating your PR activities to Progress.
Remember: don’t worry, be happy. Your working day will feel a little more relaxed.
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