Tactical Tips + A Free Chatbot To Streamline Your Workflow – Because Time Is Money
Time management is your success vehicle.
Accountability is the vehicle’s fuel.
Without both, you'll struggle to meet your goals, no matter how hard you work or how many tools you try.
But this is great news – because accountability + time management puts you way ahead of the people who have it easier than you.
I’m a stay-at-home mom of a toddler, writing this blog nine months pregnant – I’m deeply invested in any time-saving and time management strategies I can get my hands on. And I’m eternally grateful to the people who have shared their insights to help me. I want to do the same for you.
You know what’s wild? Since I’ve had less time (becoming a mom), I’ve been able to close bigger deals. Build and launch my own product. Enjoy work more.
I’ve had less margin but more progress.
Steal what I’ve learned. Make mo’ money.
In this blog, I’m sharing my recs on how to manage time as a copywriter, even when the odds are against you. It’s the only task-category breakdown I’ve found useful and how to protect it.
And at the end, I’ll introduce you to my free Time Management Master chatbot, Macy.
She was one of the first AI resources that made a substantial positive difference in my business. She helps you take all those deadlines, projects, and work time availabilities swirling in your head and align them into a solid plan within minutes.
Time to feel great about how we arrange work into our time. Let’s go!
1. The 2 Task Categories: Manager vs. Maker
I’ve heard this task difference called a few different things, but my favorite is Alex Hormozi’s Maker Time vs Manager time.
Not all tasks belong on the same shelf—some need your deep focus and creativity, others keep the boat afloat and can be handled in quick bursts.
Your Maker time is the stuff that needs the long stretches of your best attention. Your Manager is the stuff that needs to be done, but can be handled relatively quickly, one after the other.
Maker Tasks: These are the creative, flow-driven activities. They tend to be high ROI. Client writing work, brainstorming and planning for the business, working on your own business copy, solving complex problems that come up. These are the tasks that get disrupted when you have a meeting, have to multitask, skip over to emails, or even do a related admin task.
Manager Tasks. These are the administrative things that keep your business running. Sometimes it’s the client work that doesn’t require a state of flow. Think of tasks like responding to emails, scheduling social media posts, managing your finances, and attending meetings. Often they can be knocked out in a few minutes. They need your focus, but they’re open loops that are easier to close than Maker tasks.
Multitasking causes things to take up to 60% longer. That’s what happens if you let interruptions (even productive ones) into your Maker time.
That’s why splitting these tasks into separate work blocks can save SO much time. It keeps a 5-hour client project from turning into an 8-hour one.
3 hours saved, just by doing what you were going to do anyway – but during consolidated times.
If possible, dedicate entire days to being a Maker or a Manager. Just by rearranging your schedule, you’re giving yourself free hours in the day. That’s insane.
2. What To Do During Each Category
Once you’ve identified your Manager and Maker tasks, the next step in managing time as a copywriter is to protect it. Set it up for success.
Protect Your Maker Time
Maker tasks need deep focus and uninterrupted time, so I strongly recommend you carve out at least three hours of protected Maker time.
I know, 8 hours is more ideal, but some of us have immovable obligations, so 3 hours is as good as it gets. This means no distractions, no multitasking, and ideally, no interruptions. If you need to get out of the house so you’re not doing laundry, do it.
If you’re a parent like me, this might look like when someone else is watching the kids or when they’re asleep (if they’re sound sleepers).
The best case scenario is where you’re 100% off the clock, not on standby. You’re not half-listening to a napping toddler or relying on Bluey to keep them occupied.
Full disclosure – while I don’t use traditional childcare, my toddler goes to nap and play with her grandparents for two afternoons a week. That gives me a combined 10 hours to do flow work. I love it. For me, it’s felt like the sweet spot between time away to work and time to focus on her.
Try things out to find your sweet spot.
Maximize Manager TIme
Manager tasks are typically shorter and more routine. Ideally, we’d have no interruptions, but these tasks can tolerate some background noise or short pockets of time throughout your day.
These often look like 1-10 minute tasks that you can knock out one after another. You’re handling biz admin stuff and doing meetings.
It’s the stuff you can do when the kids are playing (or watching Bluey).
For those who, like me, have limited ability to delegate (whether due to parenting, chronic illness, or other responsibilities), consider breaking Manager tasks into another category of even smaller, easier, interruptible segments.
Things like tidying your inbox, organizing your Google Drive, engaging on LinkedIn. You don’t have to do much, but your consistency gives you momentum. This lets you make progress, even when your time is fragmented.
Another pro tip: don’t waste your valuable Maker time deciding what to work on. Use your Manager time to plan and prioritize your tasks, so that when you sit down to work in Maker Mode, you can get straight into the creative process without losing momentum.
Resist the urge to switch between Manager and Maker tasks, even if it feels like the tasks are related. Separating them reduces the cognitive load on your brain, making each block of time more productive and less draining.
3. Leverage Those Weird Time Slots
Looking at those screen time reports proves we actually have a lot of bonus time during the day – they’re just scattered as a few minutes here and there.
When you're figuring out how to manage time as a copywriter, these tiny time slots can give you astonishing leverage. Once you’ve clarified what’s not a Maker task, it’s easy to line up the Manager tasks.
If you can keep those tasks easy to access (especially on your phone), you can potentially turn a ton of waiting time into completed or kick-started tasks.
Plus, the better you get at knocking out tiny tasks during those funky time slots, the less free time you have to sacrifice to work.
And they’re the perfect reps for building your self-accountability.
Here’s my favorite weird time slots that show up in my life:
Waiting in line/for an appointment. Recently, during a kid’s clothes consignment event, I roughly outlined instructions on my phone for 4 chatbots because the line was so dang long. I was thrilled to sit down to my Maker time with a whole bunch of useful notes.
In the car. Obviously, you can do stuff on your phone as a passenger princess. When I’m driving, I’ll sometimes mic myself and voice dictate notes into Google Docs. In a recent drive to a hair appointment, I knocked out 4 outlines for blogs.
During a tedious chore. Again, I’ll mic myself and voice dictate outlines when I’m doing something like chopping vegetables.
Walking. My mind gets great ideas when my legs are moving.
There’s a theme with starting up documents. I’ve found it insanely helpful to start up documents for things I’ll need to do later during Maker Time.
Adding my initial thoughts and rough outlines for blogs, GPTs, or client work give me a head start. Way more fun than facing a blank sheet of paper when I sit down to work.
4. Make Stuff Wildly Accessible
One study showed that an average employee spends around 90 minutes a day looking for misplaced stuff. Imagine giving yourself a FREE hour and a half just by keeping things easy to find.
When figuring out how to manage time as a copywriter, one of the most effective strategies is to make virtual documents, relevant links, and frequently-used tools right on hand.
These are my favorite accessibility tricks:
Make Your Work Email On Your Phone’s Dash. Put your work email on your phone, but manage your notifications to avoid constant distractions. Turn off badges and silence notifications if you need to. This way, you’re always ready to handle small tasks without getting overwhelmed by alerts.
Bookmark All Your Frequently Used Websites On Your Browser. Then arrange them by what you use most frequently. Seriously, there’s no reason we can’t just pull up a browser and access what we need with one click.
Organize Your Google Drive. Your Google Drive should be easy to open, add to, and search through. Make your titles full of the keywords you use to find them (I like making my obnoxiously long and detailed for findability). Don’t leave loads of “untitled documents.” Add the Google Drive and Google Docs app to your phone. It lets you create a new doc in one click for those weird-time micro tasks.
Include Related Links in Documents. Wherever you need them, include related links directly in your documents. Links to other docs. Links to relevant websites. Links to Loom videos or how-to’s you might need to reference. If you’re working on a blog, for example, link to relevant emails, client notes, or past projects within the document.
Have a Link Library Doc. Put ALL the links you might need to copy/paste in this doc. Payment links. Links to your lead magnets. Links to your website, your Instagram, whatever. When you are answering emails on your phone, having this reference might figuratively save your life.
Plan Ahead. Again, don’t begin your valuable Maker time by planning or prioritizing what you should be doing in that block. You make your creativity more accessible by having the planning taken care of ahead of time.
Buy a mini microphone and phone stand. They’re super cheap on Amazon. If you’re into voice dictating stuff, it makes the setup easier.
Making things accessible, you keep your mind clear. You build trust in yourself. A little organization is a major investment in your time and mental peace.
You’ve Got 2 to 8 Free Work Hours In Your Day.
They’re Living In Your Scrolling Time, Weird Time Slots, & the Time You Waste Multitasking + Looking for Stuff.
Knowing how to manage time as a copywriter isn’t about working harder or even smarter. Most of it is just being honest about where you’re spending your time – and being intentional about doing things differently.
There’s lots of great apps and techniques. Different things work for different people. But mastering keeping promises to yourself (accountability!) and managing your time intentionally works for everyone. There is no time management tool that can overcome poor accountability, and there’s no amount of hard work that’ll outpace bad planning.
Knowing the difference between Manager and Maker tasks, separating your work blocks, protecting your creative hours, and streamlining your workflow, can make every minute count.
One of the biggest turning points for me with mastering time management was using ChatGPT to help me plan my week. It took my word-vomit of stuff I had to do – and my available time slots – and instantly arranged it all. It even helped me see where I wasn’t staying accountable to myself.
I’ve made a free tool to do just that for you. It’s Macy, the Time Management Master chatbot. She’s here to help you align all those deadlines, projects, and work time availability into a customized schedule within minutes. She’ll make any changes you want on demand. No more doing the mental labor of the admin work of planning.
She’s helped me kick off my work without feeling overwhelmed with where to start. And frankly, that overwhelm used to be my biggest source of procrastination. But not any more!
Drop your email and I’ll connect you two.