Who doesn’t love to be productive? And who doesn’t have a million things going on at one time?? If you know me, you know I LOVE lists. The problem with a basic list is there is no end to it. You start with 5 to-dos then something else comes up and there’s a 6th. And what if one of those 6 are actually 2 things (ie. write this blog post AND post it to social media). Those are TWO items. So now you have 7 to-dos and still the same 24 hours to do them. This has happened to me MANY times and what usually happens is I get a couple done and just add them to my list tomorrow. EHHHH!!! (That’s a buzzer sound…signifying that’s not the way to go about your day if you want to EXECUTE!).
Have you ever felt this way? Completely overwhelmed by all of the tasks you NEED to get done so you do them in a frenzy or don’t do them at all and then you forgot to add “track results” to your list so it seems like the past few months have just been a cluster-fk and did you get anything done REALLY???
Well I’m so excited you’re here because I think I can help 🙂
Before you read my top 5 productivity tips, can you promise me something? Or really, promise yourself something? Don’t brush any of these tips to the side. You may have heard them before, you may have thought about them and forgot about them, but let’s be open to trying, ok? I’m not sharing these to tell you I have all the answers. I’m sharing because these tactics have worked for me to get SH*T done and they may be able to help you as well. Or at least think about the way you execute differently! Have you made the promise yet? Because we’re starting…
1. Meditate
Let me guess, you’ve heard this before, but for whatever reason you’re still not doing it. Maybe it’s been too hard? You can’t find the time? You don’t see results from it anyway? EHHHH!! (same meaning as before). How well do you perform a task when your mind is not completely on that task? You’re probably not the best driver when you’re texting, not the best writer when you’re watching TV, or not the best conversationalist when you’re checking out that person in the coffee shop. Mediation helps your focus. You don’t need to meditate before you start each new task. You do it once in the morning shortly after waking up for 10 minutes. Think of it as bringing all of your energy and focusing on silence, how your body feels, the sounds that you hear that you usually take for granted. Allllll before your focus gets shifted to your business, work, friend drama, your relationship, your family, and so on.
Life can punch you in the face sometimes and it’s the times when you’re not stable and mentally ready for it when it rocks your boat. You’re giving yourself a chance to be proactive with your day instead of reactive. You are taking control!!!
As a reference – here are a couple favorite sounds I to listen to when meditating:
Do this!! 10 minutes!!! You promised yourself! 🙂
2. Journal
Every morning I write three pages in my journal. In one of my previous blog posts, Trust Your Struggle, I mentioned that I’ve been doing Morning Pages as talked about in The Artists Way and it has been life changing. First off, there is no specific topic I cover, I can write about anything! If I’m feeling down or excited, tired or super pumped! I have really allowed for myself to let it flow. And with that flow, comes ideas. Fantastic ideas! Ideas that I write more about! For example, this blog post! If you’re reading this, you are at a point in your life where you want to be more productive. How funny that there’s a blog post on that. It’s the universe showing off y’all! I also receive thoughts about myself. For a long time, I believed I wasn’t worth writing a blog – no one would read it, I have nothing to say, I would just embarrass myself. When I’m journaling, those thoughts can still come up, but I’m so aware that I actually hear how ridiculous they sound! And so I put on pen and paper those thoughts and then the opposite of those things! Get them outta here!
Again, that’s what I write about and what has come up for ME. Your experience might be completely different. Either way, journaling gives you an opportunity to take all of those jumbled up thoughts in your head from the day before, put them on paper, and forget about emmm! Or keep them in your head all day if they help you!
3. Prioritize 3 tasks for the day
This might sound scary…”Only THREE tasks?? But I have a million!”. EHHHHH!!! (I think you got the idea now). First off, if you find yourself saying “I have a million things to do today,” please stop saying that. You’re telling your brain you have a million things to do – which…do you really? – and because of that, your brain is freaking out and in turn, you are freaking out. Change your script, “I have quite a few tasks I want to get done today, but I know if I focus on these three, I will be ok”.
Now, what are those three? I like to use this table called the Eisenhower Method.
Start with anything that is Urgent and Important. Like, it is due tomorrow and someone is waiting on you to do this task so they can do their part. Or a bill is due tomorrow and you need to pay it so you don’t get a late fee again. Basically, things you need to get done TODAY.
Next, go to Not Urgent/Important and plan items that need to be done in order to move on to the next step. In order to build your website you need to find a web designer or the best website builder for you and your business or brand. Also, send out any emails to people you want to build or keep a relationship with. Even if it’s just a text or DM instead of an email. Looking to get more clients and are using Instagram DMs as your marketing strategy? Make that an Important/Not Urgent task. You put out into the Universe what you want and then you have all day for them to respond (or not, but at least you finally did it!)!
Third is Urgent/Not Important. Do you have any meetings or calls you have scheduled? Those are hopefully in your calendar already, but getting in the right mindset for them is critical to your energy and experience with them! And you already started this off with some meditation, so great! This also includes anything that needs ticked off, like other emails or things that come up out of the blue – phone calls or urgent emails.
The last is Not Urgent/Not Important. These are tasks that if they don’t get done, that’s ok! Not only should you try to eliminate time-wasters, you should also eliminate Life-Wasters, which I wrote about as well.
I hope that matrix helps you how to prioritize your work. Now remember, only pick THREE things that NEED to get done TODAY. You also don’t want to do Thing 1 in the morning and at night, Thing 2 in the morning and the afternoon, and Thing 2 in the evening and some of it going into the next morning. That sounds like a mess! Read on…
4. Block Time
THIS. Y’ALL. has saved me so much time AND energy! A lot of successful people claim to check their emails two times a day. They answer all the emails needed in those two times. Outside of that time, they don’t think about it. This is kind of how block time works. I will spend 3-4 hours LASER FOCUSED on ONE project and get way more done than if I would have done it in one hour blocks throughout my day. It’s a lot of pushing through blocks (no pun intended). We think we can only work a certain amount of hours on something, but really if our minds are laser focused on the task at hand, it’s really not using as much energy as it would be doing the task for one hour, moving on to something else, and then coming back to that task later.
For example, with my podcasts, I like to record multiple in one day. And even better if they’re back to back! And when I listen back to an episode, I edit, record the intro/outro, write the blog post, and schedule the social media and episode release. ALL in one block of time. It would be so ANNOYING and so draining to listen back to it, go to something else, come back and edit, go eat, record intro/outro, take a call, write the blog, blah blah. Even writing that sentence was annoying! After the episode is uploaded and scheduled I do not have to think about ANYTHING anymore regarding the release. Now I’m just excited for people to share it and for people to hear it!
Think about how you can schedule your day in block time. Can you schedule your day to take calls in the afternoon between 12-4pm, administrative work between 8-12pm, creative work 4-8pm? Remember, your time is VALUABLE. If a call or meeting doesn’t match up with how you schedule your day, find another day or find another time. Put yourself FIRST.
If you want to get the most out of block time, watch Ed Mylett’s YouTube vdeo on Getting 21 Days in 1 Week. (Also on a podcast). It’s incredible!!!
5. Take Breaks
This is another one where you’re probably like “But I’ve got so much to do!” EHHHH!!! Hopefully you’ve gotten over that mindset already. But for realzzz, your focus on the task at hand should be your #1 priority in front of the actual task. After working on something for a while, it is normal for your brain to be like “Hey, I need something different for a minute. I need some sunlight, some food, some other type of energy”. So if you feel yourself losing focus over and over, back away from the task, give your brain a break, and give it some energy! I took a break in the evening yesterday and went for a walk to the post office to drop off a couple birthday cards (and literally forgot to put stamps on them so I couldn’t send anyway) and it was a great way to take my mind off of my work and enjoy the world I’m living in. I looked at the sky, listened to the sounds (didn’t bring headphones), smiled at the people, as much as I could with my mask on, and just took in some real joy. And when I got back to my place, I was ready to work for four hours on my next project. It was fantastic!
The worst part that could happen to you and your work is to shame yourself for taking a break. You may feel like you ALWAYS need to be doing SOMETHING! And I did for a long time too. I would move from working on a project to reading about how I could get better, then going back to the project, watch a video on how I could get better, and so on. While watching videos or reading books are great for taking a break, I always felt like I was PUTTING IN WORK! Love yourself and allow that time to take your mind off stuff. Like they say in the airplanes, you gotta put your own mask on before you can put on anyone else’s.
I hope you enjoyed these 5 productivity tips!!! Will you implement them into your days? Which are your favorite? What other tactics do you use to be productive? Comment them below!
Thanks for reading! I hope you get everything done today that you wanted (or at least those three things)!!! ❤
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