Stay Organized | Level Up Series 1

"I have so many projects that I want to accomplish, but I have no clue where to start." Well, if you're anything like me and can understand this feeling, it can be daunting trying to sift through all the ideas and projects that run through our heads. Us creators have to let out our creativity in one way, shape, or form. Otherwise, our ideas will either be lost in the vast ocean of content generation; or be buried underneath the sands of limitless potential. I know, in my experience, trying to pore through all the ideas running in my head felt overwhelming and stressful. The problem wasn't I ran out of ideas (thank goodness). The real problem was trying to organize and prioritize this limitless list of content I wanted to work on. Do I want to focus on making fun cooking videos? Do I want to record myself playing a video game I thoroughly enjoy? Do I want to write a book or develop a comic series? Do I want to make travel videos of my time in Japan?

Yeah, I think you get the idea!

As I was playing my video game, I noticed that my character's inventory was so cluttered and disheveled. "I need to better organize this inventory space one day", I though to myself. Then, an idea hit me: What if I take the time to organize my list of content creation projects and put due dates on them? First off, the idea was great in theory. But in practice, I had no clue how to go about writing down this year's endless list of content creation projects.

On a separate day, I read an account in the bible that literally changed my way of thinking about organization. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John recounted the time that Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness. After He was baptized - and before He went full-swing in His ministry - He fasted 40 days. Okay, what does "fasting" have to do with organizing? EVERYTHING! What fasting does is it gets one into a state of quiet. When we abstain from eating, drinking or doing something for a certain period of time, it's like our regularly scheduled routine stops. It stops us from overthinking, worrying, and joining the proverbial "rat race".

What Jesus did was absolutely remarkable. Remember, Jesus was both God and man. So, He went without both food and water for 40 days; and a human body cannot go three days without water. First of all, that's remarkable. But second, it's no walk in the park. During that time, He stayed in close communion with the Spirit, so that the Spirit could sustain Him. At the same time, He was in a state of peace and calm, especially in the middle of the fast. The first few days of the fast, I could imagine, weren't easy. But after some time, His human body and mind was able to adjust to it. This fast was necessary, as it helped Him stay grounded when the Devil tempted Him multiple times. Jesus was able to, confidently and unwaveringly, deflect the Devil's temptations. And the best part: all of this happened as Jesus was nearing the end of His fast! No matter what curveballs the Devil threw at Him, Jesus was already rooted in the Word way before the Devil came. No soon as His fast started, Jesus was more than ready to take on His ministerial work in full-swing! He was equipped, laser-focused, and ready to take on the next set of tasks. After all, He had three years to do the work of God's Will to completion.

Upon reading this, I prayed and asked if there was a way to fast and get myself organized for 2025. Then, an idea popped in my head (like an answered prayer): what if I took 3-4 days of staying focused on getting my content creation list organized? I would have to fast something that would constantly take my focus away. Now, I usually play games online with my friends. And the problem wasn't that I was obsessed with my video games. The main problem was hopping in our Discord voice chat. I would feel bad for leaving and would stay on both the voice chat and the game much longer than I had planned. So, for three days, I decided to not hop on Discord voice chat (and my game). Instead, the few days will be mainly prioritizing the projects I'd like to get done this year, categorizing them, listing out a rough guideline or outline of how I would go about releasing these projects, and then putting them all in one, easy-to-follow system that can hold me accountable for getting it all done.

I'm going to break down what happened for each day, so that you, my fellow Creator and Entrepreneur, can grab some inspiration and ideas for this.

Day 1: Break It All Down

So, my overarching goal was to work full time in my film production company (and go full time in the content creation space by 2029). Then, from that large goal, I broke down each medium-sized goal into 12 sections (yeah, that's a lot of medium goals). But in order for me to list out all the projects I wanted to do, I had to make these categories plain and clear. For example, TinyBoss Blog is part of K.O. Productions media, so I gave it a category of its own, and wrote down all the projects I wanted to achieve under TinyBoss Blog's Category (such as writing these blog posts on a regular basis, developing TinyBoss Talks and its YouTube series more, etc.). Another section I included was a Personal Category. For this one, I wrote down all the personal things I wanted to accomplish or do less of, such as practice Japanese and Korean more; while also think less about "spending" (another topic for another day, for sure) or reducing my socializing events, both online and in-person, to 4 social events per month. Anyways, the general idea for this day was just to dump every idea out onto its own paper. That way, I could visually see what sort of projects and goals I wanted to focus on more. Basically, it's taking the Habbakuk 2:2 principle literally: Write the vision down on tablets (or paper, in this case) and make it plain; so that a herald may run with it.

Day 2: Fill Up That Calendar!

Okay, the calendar can either be my best friend; or worst enemy! But that's because I was filling it out with disorganized due dates and things to do, instead of creating categories to help me visualize what my week would look like. Because of this complicated, disorganized chaos, I was saying "yes" to outings, social events, projects, ideas - EVERYTHING! So, for day 2, it was all about filling up my schedule in an organized way, where it forced me to be more responsible with my schedule. The reason I say "forced me to be more responsible" is I was so used to my schedule being dictated by someone else; be it from my boss or from my University (when I was in High Point University, we had our schedule's laid out for all the classes we would take for that particular semester). Now that I work in my own time as a freelance entrepreneur and content creator, I had to take better control of my schedule. So, I broke down my schedule in different categories: Production Zone, Submission Day, and Sabbath Rest. From there, I broke each of my 12 categories - and their respective project goals - into 4 phases. I did 4 phases to fall in line with the same mindset as "Quarters" (for the economic year and what not). Now, here's the difference: I usually start my New Year on November 1st. I started doing this as a way to reshape my mindset about New Year's resolutions back in 2022. From that, I broke down each phase and what I would be focusing on from Phases 1-4. And because I started organizing all of this in February, I was technically in the middle of Phase 2:

Phase 1 = November - January

Phase 2 = February - April

Phase 3 = May - July

Phase 4 = August - October (last phase)

From there, I broke down what projects I would focus on for each phase, what days to do those projects (Themed Days), and what days to submit the final versions of each project.

Here's an example of what my Calendar looks like, which includes all 12 Categories. It doesn't, however, have details on what project I'd be doing. That's where Asana and Notion come into play.

Notion is a project management idea dumping ground for me, where I list out all the projects and ideas I would like to implement. Asana is a project management progress tracker that helps me organize what projects I'll be focusing on for the month. And I just fill out the info on Asana one month at a time. So on the last submission day of the month, I'll be filling out the next month's assignments on Asana and refer to my notes on Notion. I also have a notebook I keep everything in, to help me organize my thoughts, due dates for projects, and stages of what I should be focusing on for each project.

Day 3: Wrap It Up, Then Rest!

Not gonna lie, this took two and a half days to get everything organized. By day three, I was mentally exhausted. Yet, I knew that this organization plan had to get done. So, I finished setting Asana up, organized my days off, and my social outings on the Calendar (which is now my BFF). Now before, I would sporadically join in any social event - online and in-person - because I wasn't fully connected with my schedule. To reduce me saying "yes" to every social gathering, I set up a limit count on Strides, a Habit-Tracking app. If I go over the limit for the month, then I get red numbers (red is no good). In my brain, "red numbers" signaled that I messed up big-time and need to be more responsible with my time better. So, I set March's social outings to 4 social outings only. And I also listed out all of my upcoming outings (planned and not-yet-planned/tentative), along with dates of when the social outings are happening. And yes, those social events include chatting on Discord with my gamer friends.

Finally, I knew I needed to setup the next organization date for 2026. And since Phase 4 ends on October 31st, November 1-3 looked like a great weekend to do this 3-day Organization routine again!

What I have learned about this whole entire organization experience is that, as entrepreneurs, we can have so many things we would love to do. The world is literally our oyster. The sky's the limit! But it's when we have all these options and opportunities that we get so overwhelmed. As I always say, it's getting started that stops most people; myself, included. I had no idea what projects were a high priority. And I had zero direction. It's only when I read about how Jesus stepped away from the hustle and the bustle that I realized I needed to set aside three days (or 4) of absolute focus on organizing my year. And guess what? I already have some projects and assignments I want to work on for next year. But, of course, I can't jump too far ahead. Small baby steps is better than giant leaps of faith.

We can start our year off with a giant goal. But let's actually take the time to sit down, write down medium sized goals and smaller goals that we can achieve. That way, when we do hit our big goal, we'll see how far we've come. And after all that organizing is said and done, I crashed out and rested. In other words, I implemented my Sabbath rest time right away. Once I was done resting, I was ready to hit the ground running. Like Jesus, that time of fasting and praying helped me organize 2025, which also helped me set up the next organization weekend for 2026.

This year, take the time to be more organized! You can use my experience as an inspirational starting point. Tailor your schedule and work Calendar to how you want to organize this year. See what events are coming up that you can attend; and what events need to be placed on hold for the time being. Stretching yourself thin, as an entrepreneur, is a common stressor. Take it from me, who had too many commitments before this organization exercise. The best part about this whole experience is that anyone can get their Calendar organized: Solopreneurs, Parents, students, office workers, single moms and dads, and the list goes on and on. Organizing your schedule for the year can help reduce your commitments, prioritize what's important to you, teach you to say "no" more to distractions, and to invest more into yourself so you can invest in others (another topic for another day).

Stay Organized this year! You'll be glad you did! I sure am glad I got myself organized. Otherwise, blog posts, like the one you're currently reading, wouldn't get published! Until then, this has been the first Level Up Series post of 2025. See you all again in the next post.