Catching Up On Editing : Creating A Schedule To Get Back On Track

just like any mama, i have felt the constant struggle with keeping up with editing our personal family photos.  being in business, my editing priority always falls to my clients because…they are paying me and there is a time crunch.  without a time crunch, it makes it really easy to fall behind on editing personal images and, at the beginning of this year, i was ready to get back on track.  with catching up on editing one of my main goals for this year, i found that creating a schedule for editing personal images was a game-changer when completing this task.  and i was hugely successful.  not only did i completely catch up on all my editing, but i did it in just 60 days and ended up with 1036 final edited photos of my daughter.  (half of those were edited in the past 60 days, half were already done).  if you feel like you are really behind on editing, see how creating a schedule for editing will help you get back on track.

do you work from home?  here are some tips for being really productive with work, while parenting.

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Catching Up On Editing : Creating A Schedule To Get Back On Track

Catching Up On Editing : Creating A Schedule To Get Back On Track | Bethadilly Photography

1.  Analyze The Unedited

creating a schedule for catching up on editing starts with looking at, to put it nicely, how behind you are.  open up your lightroom catalog and get an idea for how many months, or years, you are behind so you can get a general idea of what kind of task you are looking at.  for me, i was about 6-10 months behind on editing photos of my daughter and noted that i many of the unedited photos still needed to be culled before editing.

having trouble deciding what photos to edit?  check out what 3 things you should try before deleting a photo.

2.  Set An End Date

once you get an idea of how many photos you need to edit, give yourself a firm end date to have them completed by.  this is the first goal you will make for yourself and it’s important that you write it down and make it known.  hold yourself accountable!  for me, i wrote down the completion date in my planner because writing things in my planner is like writing them in stone.

3.  Break Down The Task

once you know how many photos you need to edit and what date you want them to be completed by, decide on an editing schedule that works for you.  would you rather sit down daily to edit a certain number of photos, or sit down weekly to edit a certain number of photos?  what’s important here is that you set a firm schedule, including how often you will edit and how many pictures you will edit during those editing sessions.  i am not kidding, tell yourself a number!  for me, i made it my goal to sit down every single day to edit 10 photos.  i did this during nap time, with a nice cup of coffee.  yes, there were some days (particularly weekends), when i didn’t get the chance to edit the daily 10 images, so the next day i edited 20.  in the end, it worked out to 10 images per day.

4.  Have A Physical Checklist

having a checklist to remind me of my daily editing goal was the biggest game changer.  for me, i used my powersheets and wrote “edit 10 photos” in the daily goals column.  then, every day i would place a checkmark by my goal to say that i accomplished another day of editing.  if you don’t have powersheets, i am telling you right now that they are completely necessary and have been the biggest reason why i have been so encouraged and motivated with my daily, weekly and monthly goals.

to read more about powersheets, see my post about how goal setting makes us better photographers.

5.  Decide On A Time and Place

after you decide how often you will edit to complete your goal of catching up on editing, decide on a time and place you will do this.  if you are editing once a week, maybe you will decide that heading to a coffee shop is your best bet for staying focused instead of being surrounded by kids and chores at home.  if you are editing daily, decide on the exact time of day that works best for you.  for me, it was during the first nap of the day and i edited on the couch, because i knew i would only edit if i was comfortable and had a nice cup of relaxing coffee.

6.  Have a Motivator

as you are catching up on editing, give yourself a motivator to get it done.  in other words, bribe yourself.  it’s totally okay to do this.  give yourself something to look forward to, besides the feeling of being all caught up.  for me, i decided that i would make a really nice album through artifact uprising of my baby’s first year, if i caught up on my editing.  decide on something to reward yourself, whether it is photography related or not.  maybe your reward is a nice, quiet mama only day with a cup of starbucks and a relaxing pedicure.

catching up on editing can definitely seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.  you can do this!  start with seeing how many pictures you need to edit, set a goal and an end date, be mindful of how you will complete your editing goal and give yourself a motivator.  in no time, you will be all caught up.

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  • Reagan - This was helpful! Thank you! I am so hoping you share with us how you make your baby book with artifact uprising! Love your style. 🙂ReplyCancel

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