10 meals prepped and 2 smoothies made later, I’m ready for bed. Making sure I’m ahead of the game before my 6:30am train in the morning to London goes a long way for a productive working week away (although I live in Birmingham, I commute to London weekly). The meals aren’t all for me – I want to make sure my fiancé eats well whilst I’m away. (He tends to enjoy a takeaway for one otherwise). We’re both on a healthy eating plan in preparation for our wedding in exactly 172 days and the reality is only 48 of those days are weekends and therefore the only real time I have for planning!
Luckily I’ve become fabulous at managing my time (AND I have a beautiful wedding planning spreadsheet which has become my wedding brain child!) Squeezing in a few minutes every day to line up bridal appointments, make-up trials and filling out wedding supplier contracts means I do somehow have some time on the weekend to actually sleep and see my loved ones.
Sales is never an easy game, the endless client meetings, writing proposals, preparing presentations all in the midst of a dynamic technology company which is constantly thriving to be the best has its own challenges. I often compare my relationship with my career as a marriage because despite the highs and lows, it’s always there and something I couldn’t live without!
The company is growing and therefore demands are increasing. The need to stay on top of new propositions and new processes is burning more than ever. But it’s not just operational demands. The art of selling well is knowing your team. Whether your team is your work colleagues, your partners or your customers. You must know them well enough to connect and work in sync to make sure the best possible outcome happens. Building relationships is a big part of my role so making sure I make time for the people around me is important.
So how does a woman in the fast paced technology world make time to do all of this I hear you cry! Well here it is:
1) Prioritisation – making sure you can spin multiple plates and address what needs attending to at that given moment. We can all fall off by doing the easy things first. Avoiding social media tends to help me with this. Procrastination and prioritisation have never been good friends. I tend to write a list at the end of my working day of the items I absolutely have to complete the next day (Salesforce Tasks is great for this!)
2) Be prepared – humans are sponges on legs, we retain so much information which is great however when going into a presentation or into a client meeting it always helps to have the right information in the forefront of your mind. Make sure you have dedicated some time to talk to your team beforehand, have a clear message and a well-rehearsed talk track. The classic method of failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
3) Be on time – being on time or being early for everything means you always have a head start (those couple minutes to just breath and collect your thoughts goes further than you think). This applies to everything. Making that train, meeting friends, client meetings, internal meetings, the list goes on and you get my point.
“I rarely let a day pass without doing something for myself”
4) Self-love – my final and most important way of living which is in the center of my success. Making time for myself. I rarely let a day pass without doing something for myself. Quite often this will be small things like gazing out of the window on a train through the Cotswolds and appreciating the blue skies. Taking a long bath WITHOUT my phone! Taking half hour to make plans with my loved ones. Giving myself small snippets of self-love in and around my busy days makes the busy day worthwhile …
Extra self-love for International Women’s Day! #BeBoldforchange
