Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a beautiful week so far!
Today’s post is going to be all about how to maximize your productivity. As someone who has pretty much always worked from home, maximizing my productivity is extremely important. There are a few things that I have implemented into my everyday that truly have shifted my workflow!
Whether you work from home, you have a lot of side projects, or perhaps you are just trying to structure the chores and errands you have to do… I think you will find these tips on how to maximize your productivity helpful. Good bye are days of you running around like your head is cut off and you feel like you are spinning with “too much on your plate.” See ya later to the times where an entire day passes and you feel like you did not get one god damn thing done! I have been there farrrr too many times and that is why I have actively implemented these systems to save myself.
There is NO point it wasting your energy on figuring out unnecessary things, beating yourself up because you don’t feel accomplished or feeling drained literally because you spent your entire day just thinking about what you had to do or what you needed to do next.
At the end of the day, being productive is a sign of self respect. Your time is SO valuable… you don’t get it back and you especially do not want it wasted.
Maybe you are a naturally organized person, then great! These tips will likely be easier for you. If you are naturally a mess… like me, then these tips will take work and commitment. BUT you can do it and you will thank yourself later.
Learning how to maximize your poductivity is a form of self care, don’t forget that! If you happen to get frazzled (it happens) remind yourself that this is a form of self care and self LOVE. Carry on for your SELF worth.
Alright, let’s get into it.
First thing in the morning, hydrate the SHIT out of your brain and body. We all know how important water is… but it literally transports oxygen to the brain which allows it to communicate to the rest of the body. So, if you wake up and stay dehydrated, you will not be able to think clearly or communicate well! I drink a gallon of water a day and before 9am, I feel my best if I have had about a quarter of that to really get things moving.
Next, before you just dive right into all the things you have to do, you are going to do something called “morning pages.” These are three pages of free flowing writing. There is absolutely no right or wrong way to do these pages, the only rule is that you can’t stop writing until you have completed three written pages. You do not go back and read these pages. Essentially what you are doing is brain dumping all the extra stuff in your head that you probably didn’t even know was there. This will clear space for you to be more focused, clear and less distracted by all your subconscious thoughts throughout the rest of the day. The morning pages process was created by Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist’s Way, learn more here.
The Lists:
After the morning pages, what I have found is that my brain is craving a “to-do” list. A lot has come up for me after the morning pages and my mind is ready to structure my day! Now, here is where you really need to be intentional. Your to-do list can’t be a mile long list of every freaking thing you could possibly think of. Why? Because you will not get to all of those things and you will end your day feeling completely unaccomplished. You will begin to form a dialogue in your brain that tells you that you can’t complete things and that you are worthless for not getting more done! Let’s AVOID that. So, here is what you are going to do instead.
Write down a “thought of the day” at the top of your list – this will be perhaps a reflection from the morning pages, or just something you want to be mindful of.
From there, you are going to write two lists. One “work to-do” and one “personal to-do.” I have found that when I seperate the lists, more gets done!
Now, in order to maximize your productivity, you are going to write down no more that 6 HIGH priority things on your lists. Your “work list” will be big picture things that will actually move your day, project or mission forward. Your “personal list” will literally be the things you need to do to care for yourself, like matcha or coffee, a walk, lunch, stretch, or perhaps an errand.
Also, pro tip: If something you have to do pops into your head (like call the doctor, email that person back or order cat food) that will take 5 mins or less – do it right as you think of it. Don’t let it bog down your brain any longer. Do it in 5 mins and be done. I learned this tip from Amber Fillerup a long time ago and it’s a good one!
Get to work:
Ok, so now you have a hydrated and clear brain. It’s time to get to work! But before you just look at your list and then spend the next 8 hours on the first thing… you have to put a little structure to it. How? TIME BLOCKING. I use google calendar, but you could use a written calendar if that’s better for you! You are going to literally block off designated periods of time throughout the day for each task. It took me a little while to be realistic on how long certain things would take me, so be patient with yourself and have a little flexibility here at first.
Schedule out your to-do list and set a timer for each item. When the timer goes off, time to move on! If you did not finish, the task goes to the next day.
For example, on my list from yesterday was to do this blog post. I time blocked an hour to do it. However, when my timer went off, I had probably about 30 more minutes of work left to do. So, instead of finishing up. I moved it to the next day, where I blocked off 30 minutes to complete it. By doing this, I was able to do my best and stay focused while still committing to the other things I had on my list. This way nothing slips through the cracks.
Get specific with your calendar. Write down the details of what you need to accomplish during that time so you don’t end up spending time overthinking about your plan of attack. For example, I time block the time I wake up and put the specifics of what needs to happen during that time. From 7-7:45am I wake up, drink lemon water, stretch on yoga mat, make bed, fluff pillows, feed ollie, wash face, brush teeth, scrape tongue and change for my walk. This is literally written in my calendar so I don’t have to even think about it.
Let me remind you that when you are in the middle of something on your list, that is the ONLY thing you are doing. No checking your phone, (in fact mine stays on do not disturb 90% of the day), no checking email (that’s a big one because you will get derailed) no switching gears to something else you thought of. This is hard and sometimes still is for me! It takes practice and patience with yourself, but it WILL change your workflow and how accomplished you feel.
OK, so to sum it all up:
- More hydration FIRST thing in the am
- Morning pages
- Intentional daily thought and to-do lists
- Time block
Don’t worry if you did not get to everything on your list! What you did not get to one day gets bumped to the next. Simple.
Take what you like from my tips and process! Some of these things will stick for you and others will not. However, I hope that it sparks curiosity for you to discover what does work for you so you can feel like your most accomplished self! XO
What productivity tips do you have? I would love to hear them!
Favorite items to set up my work space
