I’m embarking on full time self-employment.  Taking the coaching and consulting company I’d been running just one day a week and figuring out how to do it full-time. 

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love a good organisational system and a shiny Trello board. So, naturally, faced with the slight terror of this new reality, my immediate coping mechanism was to try and organise my way out of it. I sat down and made a giant list.

It was a total monster. It had everything on it: client work, programme design, marketing ideas, buying life insurance, booking an optician’s appointment, and sorting the physical chaos on my desk. At this stage, work and life are completely blurred, and looking at that flat, endless checklist was incredibly overwhelming.

My business is all about being human, grounded, and spacious. I wanted my daily setup to reflect that, turning a boring to-do list into something that reinforces what I’m working to build. So, I built a Trello board using nature and the mountains as a metaphor, breaking my world into seven distinct spaces. And because I wanted this to also be inspiring, each column now has a beautiful cover photo to match the vibe. (And as a bonus colour-coded to perfectly align with my favourite pastel highlighters!)

🧭 The Compass My Weekly Anchor

This sits on the far left and acts as my weekly anchor. It doesn’t hold daily tasks. Instead, it’s where I pause on a Monday morning to set my goals for the week. On Friday afternoon, I return to it to reflect on the wins, the weather (what felt heavy or blocked), and the trail ahead. Recently I’v added a monthly focus to this too.

1. 🔭 The Lookout Long-Term Plans & Creative Ideas

This is my space for big-picture vision and creative ideas. It holds the exciting, long-term projects that are further out—future retreats, programmes for next year, and storytelling ideas. Keeping them here means they stay visible and motivating, but they don’t distract me from today’s work.

2. 🥾 The Trail Active Work & Delivery

This is the active hiking phase. It is strictly reserved for the core coaching, consulting, and client delivery that I am actively working on and being paid for this month. If I am prepping a session or delivering work for current clients, it lives on the trail.

3. 🗺️ Pathfinding Pipeline & Positioning

I really didn’t want a cold “sales and marketing” column, so I renamed it Pathfinding. This is for scouting new opportunities, updating my website, and sharing my journey. It turns the vulnerability of putting myself out there into an act of curiosity and exploration.

4. 🌄 The Horizon Learning & Curiosity

I love learning, and I want this phase to be about play and curiosity. This is where I keep my coaching qualification tasks, my reading list, courses I want to take and industry research. It’s dedicated entirely to growing my skills, broadening my thoughts and sharpening my mind.

5. 🔥 The Campfire Community & Connection

Working for yourself can get lonely quickly—there are only so many deep conversations you can have with your houseplants. The Campfire is my human ecosystem. It’s where I track professional networking, peer support, coffee dates, and volunteering ideas to ensure I stay connected.

6. ⛺ Basecamp Business & Life Admin

You can’t safely explore high peaks without a secure shelter below. This is the dry, necessary admin that keeps everything safe and operational: bookkeeping, taxes, insurance, and keeping the bills paid.

7. 🪨 Grounding & Clear Skies Well-being, Reset & Spaciousness

Where I capture all the different things I need to do to keep myself mentally, physically, and creatively healthy. I wanted a space that honours all the different kinds of rest we actually need to function. It’s a mix of the essential and the joyful, housing everything from routine health appointments and my current focus in the gym, to embroidery projects and trips I want to take. It’s a daily reminder that looking after the human behind the business is the actual engine of the whole thing.

The best thing about looking at this layout every day is the instant visual audit. If my week is completely dominated by Basecamp admin, I know I’m probably hiding from the braver work out on the Pathfinding ridge. It keeps me balanced without making me feel like a corporate robot.

It’s an experiment, and most importantly it got me moving.

How do you map out your time when work and life blur? If you are self-employed, I’d love to hear how you keep yourself organised and grounded.