Mapping Your System

Now, what we may not realise is that we’ve likely got some sort of system for our creative business already. But, because we’ve never really visualised what this system looks like, it’s unlikely to be efficient or effective. This is why we need to begin by mapping our existing system.

We map our system by doing two things:

  1. Drawing out the process

    We begin by drawing out the process for our main output. So, if we’re a YouTuber that would probably be video production. Or, if we’re a writer, that might be the blog writing process.

    When we’ve identified our main output, we then need to draw some boxes into a flow diagram that represents the process involved. Also try to roughly estimate how much time each step in the process takes.

    Screenshot 2022-03-10 at 14.10.50.png

  2. Creating a checklist

    Now we’ve drawn out the process, we need to create a checklist for each step of all the things we need to do to get that thing done. So, for example, in the ‘film’ step of my video production process, my checklist may look as follows:

    Screenshot 2022-03-10 at 14.11.16.png

EXERCISES

What is your main creative output? Video production? Writing blogs? Creating podcasts? Something else?

For your main creative out, use the space below to map your system. You may prefer to draw individual boxes for each step in the process on a piece of paper.

Write down how much time each step takes in your process takes you to complete.

For each step in the process, create a checklist of all the things you need to do and an approximation as to how much time each of those things takes you to finish.

Copy that list below and now use different colours to highlight all the tasks that you enjoy doing, all the tasks you DON’T enjoy doing and underline those that are most time consuming - this should help you understand where you need to outsource to improve your workflow and systems 🙂