Staying Productive With Multiple Client Projects

I Was Drowning In Busy Season! (Then I Found This Mental Hack) Ever felt your brain was being pulled in 8 different directions at once? That was me a few months back. 4 different clients. Long hours workweeks. 1 auditor - Me. And the problem wasn't the amount of work. It was something far more dangerous. My mind was constantly shifting: From Task A to Task B. From Client 1 to Client 3. From urgent email to random ping. Each switch felt like it drained a little more of my mental battery. Until one week, I hit empty. Know that feeling of heaviness in your head? When your thoughts feel like they're wading through mud? That's where I was. But I refused to accept this as "just part of the job." There had to be a better way. And after weeks of experimenting, I found 3 mental hacks that saved my sanity. These aren't your typical productivity tips. These are survival techniques for anyone juggling multiple clients. Here's what worked for me: 1. Your Brain is Not a Storage Device Your mind wasn't designed to remember things. It was designed to GET THINGS DONE. So stop forcing it to be your to-do list. Every time a manager pinged me with a request, I immediately wrote it down in OneNote. Not tomorrow. Not "when I have time." IMMEDIATELY. Then I'd mentally release it. Think of your brain like your smartphone – when too many apps are running in the background, everything slows down. Close those background apps. 2. Treat Client-Facing Tasks Like Hot Potatoes When juggling multiple clients, everything seems urgent. But here's the truth: Not all urgent tasks are created equal. My breakthrough came when I realized this simple rule: Anything that goes directly to a client takes absolute priority. Emails. Deliverables. Meeting preparations. Think of them as hot potatoes – get them off your plate FIRST. Everything else? It can wait for 25 minutes. 3. The 25-Minute Forcefield I started using the Pomodoro Technique – 25 minutes of intense focus, followed by a 5-minute break. During those 25 minutes, I created a mental forcefield around myself. No emails. No Slack pings. No team check-ins. Just me and ONE task. Unless you're in a live client meeting, NOTHING is so urgent it can't wait 25 minutes. The most surprising benefit? This practice didn't just save my work life – it saved my personal life too. Before, even when talking with my parents, my mind would wander to pending tasks. Now, I'm fully present wherever I am. If you're in a client-facing role juggling multiple projects, these techniques aren't optional – they're essential for your mental health. Are you constantly task-switching? What techniques have worked for you? If you enjoyed reading this, it's a snippet from my FREE weekly newsletter where I share everything about my audit lessons and concepts. #audit #productivity #mentalhealth #consulting #clientmanagement

Managing multiple clients solo can be brutal. But it's possible with the right systems. Here’s 4 that help me: 1/ Work with fewer clients I once juggled 5 clients at the same time. The context switching was too much. Even “light” projects drained my energy. Now I charge more, and take on less. 2–3 clients max works for me. 2/ Lean into async communication Slack, Loom, & Figma comments are my go-to. Of course meetings have to happen. But async comms lessen the need. 3/ Stay ridiculously organized Every review = detailed notes and tasks. I don’t rely on memory anymore. It keeps projects moving without confusion. When I sit down to work I know what's next. 4/ Protect my energy My daily gym habit keeps me energized. It gets me out of the house to clear my head. I stop working at 6pm to hang with family. I try to spend as much time outside as I can. Golfing weekly with friends is also a boost. Freelancing gets chaotic fast. But it doesn't have to get out of control. You don’t need more hours. You need more structure.

I used to spend my days like this: 10:45 am: Flow into a deep work zone 11:30 am: Stop writing to prepare for a “quick” project check-in 12:00 pm: Join a meeting to exchange updates that could’ve been an email 12:45 pm: Try to find my rhythm again …and repeat across several clients. This was unsustainable as a solo business owner— Content quality suffered and deadlines stretched. Then, I implemented a new rule that significantly improved client relationships: No meetings unless absolutely necessary. We start with a thorough onboarding session. After that, we shift to… - Quick updates through Slack - Detailed discussions via email - Project tracking in Trello (my personal favorite) Here’s what this looks like in practice: - I maintain my deep work zones - No one scrambles to prepare for meetings - Projects move smoothly with async communication - Everyone responds at their earliest convenience - You get higher quality content and faster turnarounds A huge myth about remote work is, "you need regular catch-ups to stay aligned." But really, you just need a communication system that works for both sides. This is how I've built my entire business... ...and it's worked out pretty well the past 2 years. → sharewrites.com