For me, it's been first deciding on a handful of pedals I want to build, while waiting for the boards to come in (average of 4-6 weeks), I'll design the graphics and when I'm happy with it, I'll order my components (I usually use Tayda as a one-stop shop, as much as I love LMS and SBE, shipping to Canada is $$ for small orders) and then verify and prepare small bags with the right components for each build. Also, I tend to do my soldering between 10 PM to midnight, as it's the only free time I can get between work and kids. And not having a dedicated workspace means I got to set up and pack up afterwards. Last week, in 3 nights, I populated 4 boards and only have the jacks and switches to wire in.
So for me, preparation is very important with limited time and space. I also decided to go UV printing for my enclosure, as the time saved with dealing with decals is well worth the cost for me.