Optimizing Your Schedule, with Katie Krimitsos – TPW140

Business coach and podcaster, wife and mom, Katie Krimitsos has her own unique way of balancing structure and flexibility.

A constantly evolving schedule and multiple roles

Katie has been married for almost five years. She and Chris are raising an 18-month-old daughter, while Katie manages an intense and growing business called Biz Women Rock. Family is important to Katie and her Greek husband, so she makes it a priority to stay in touch with their extended family, including her two amazing parents and five siblings.

Aside from that, Katie’s time is spent

• running, growing, and learning how to expand her business,
• hanging out with her husband and supporting him in his endeavors,
• enjoying her daughter and trying to raise her to be a good person,
• giving her pet birds time and attention, and
• maintaining a household.

A Typical Day

Katie says she thrives with structure but recognizes that nothing goes 100% according to plan. She’s learned to be flexible and accept changes when they come.

Katie usually prepares for the week on Monday morning, so she can fully enjoy her Sunday with her family. She feels that by getting up early Monday morning, she can still be organized before the day starts without having to give up her Sunday night to look to the week ahead.

Her typical day starts early, well before her young daughter wakes at 7 a.m. She usually spends that early-morning quiet time doing “mindset Olympics,” which includes activities like journaling. She often creates content for her business during this time, and writes emails or conversation starters for her communities.

Once her daughter and husband wake up, the day is underway. Three days a week her daughter goes to daycare for a few hours after breakfast. Then Katie will get her workout in and start her workday. Once she sits at her computer, she starts with the three or four high-priority tasks she wrote down the night before.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, Katie typically does client work, meeting with her clients via phone and video conference. As a business coach and growth strategist, she has the privilege of working with a handful of great business women who want personalized and customized help in growing their businesses.

At the end of the day, Katie picks up her daughter. The enjoy a few hours of family time doing things like playing at the park or going for a walk, and then they have dinner and do a bedtime routine.

On Wednesdays and Fridays, Katie has her “mommy and daughter days.” She and Sedona spend time together, and Katie generally limits work on those days to one work-related task she can get done during her daughter’s naptime.

Once Katie’s daughter is asleep, she prepares any last-minute things for the next day, spends some time with her husband, and tries to be in bed by 10 or 11 p.m.

Even with the routines Katie has in place, she says, “Just when I’ve got things organized and in a routine, everything changes.”

Biggest Challenges

Katie says her biggest challenge is the optimization of her time–making the best possible use of every minute to be as productive as she can each day. This forces her to lift her priorities to the top because she knows she can’t do everything well or get everything done.

The process is constantly evolving. Right now her approach is to look at the week ahead and proactively create, or master, her schedule. She asks herself, “What do I want to have happen this week? What do I already have on the schedule?” She then blocks out times for what she the priority results she’s looking for (such as content creation or date night with her husband), and really gets deep into the prioritization of her life.

She keeps her daily top three priorities written down and near at hand during the day. That lets her quickly refocus if she feels she’s getting off track, or if an appointment gets canceled and a block of time opens up–she simply looks at her list, and it reminds her what she’d already decided she needs to do during that time.

Productivity Tools

Katie uses Evernote for personal journaling as well as for taking notes when she’s on calls with her clients. She has a notebook for each client, as well as a notebook just for her business.

Katie also uses Voxer, which is an audio messaging app, to stay connected with people . She uses it with her accountability partner to check in with each day. She also has a group Voxer with her sisters. She also uses it with her administrative assistant, so she can get ideas and tasks out of her head and can immediately share them.

She’s not afraid of tech, but a physical paper planner allows Katie to visually see what is happening in her business.

“The perfect tool is the one you use.”

An offer for you (to help you get a handle on where your time is going)

Katie created a time management mastery spreadsheet for her clients so they could see how they were actually spending their time versus how they want to spend their time. It ended up being the antidote to “I don’t have enough time to do everything.” The spreadsheet is customizable and includes instructions on how to rate everything and see objectively how you are spending your time. It’s a great foundation to set up the kind of schedule you really want. Katie is sharing her time management spreadsheet with The Productive Woman listeners. You can download it here.

What happens on a day you feel gets away from you?

Katie believes in extending grace to herself and giving herself some wiggle room, because no day goes according to plan. She tries to live by the 80/20 rule in most areas of her life, leaving at least 20% wiggle room (space) in her schedule.

Still, we all have bad days. (Katie admitted that shortly before our chat she had an entire week that was off.) She said she first loses it, and will usually Voxer with her sister and express everything she needs to get out. Then she allows herself some time to feel sorry for herself. She also will reach out to her business coach, her accountability partner, and her husband for support. Talking through her frustration makes it seem less horrible and helps her get some perspective. She tries her best to work through it and find a sense of relief, and then just be in the moment, accepting it for what it is rather than fussing because it’s not what she planned it to be. Katie says one of the things that has helped her the most is “planning for the unplanned, and letting that be okay.”

What’s on the horizon for Katie?

Katie has a lot of family and business travel plans for the summer. Within her company, she just launched the Biz Women Rock Elite, which is a group for the growth-obsessed business owner. She is looking forward to seeing how these women progress and grow in their business.

Last words on making a life that matters

Katie recommends having a lot of forgiveness and grace for yourself. Women who listen to The Productive Woman want to enhance their life so they can get the most out of it. There is a fine line we all need to walk between being organized and allowing “gray” space in your life.

“One step at a time,” says Katie, “that’s all you can do, and what works for you now may not work next week, and you will know it.” She says you need to constantly tweak your systems and plans. The moment that you really embrace that and understand that your job is to be trying, and keep doing it, and sometimes you’re not going to do it well — then you can enjoy life.

“Learn to plan for the unplanned and then be okay when things don’t follow the plan!”

What do you think?

Any questions for Katie or comments on the topics she and I discussed? We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, or suggestions in the comments section below or in The Productive Woman Community Facebook group, or email me!

Connect with Katie:

• On her website
• On Facebook
• On Twitter
• On her Biz Women Rock podcast

More about Katie:

Katie Krimitsos is the Founder of Biz Women Rock, a community and education provider for business women around the globe who want to grow their companies. She is a business coach and growth strategist, and provides virtual and live education to help purpose-driven and action-taking women get the tools they need to fulfill their business dreams! Her podcast, also called Biz Women Rock, provides personal business interviews, pertinent topics, and actionable information that help her community thrive in their businesses. She is a lover of travel, animals (she has two pet parrots!), the water, and is amazingly in love with her very first child, Sedona, and her husband, Chris.

Resources and Links:

Download Katie’s Time Management Mastery Spreadsheet (free)

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