How I Stay Productive
I've always considered myself a fairly structured person, but I went into overdrive last year with planning a wedding, building a house, going to grad school, working and starting a blog. While life has slowed down significantly since then, I'm still pretty busy and feel grateful to have developed coping mechanisms and solutions to a crazy schedule! I doubt any of these will be anything new to you, but I get the question of how I stay productive without sacrificing my sanity a lot, so I thought I'd share it with you! Here's a couple things I do every day to stay on top of what I have going on.
1. Sleep is a crutch
Ok, not actually. But sleeping in is. Both of my parents were early risers so I've been getting up early since birth and Jons an early riser too. On days I work, I wake up at 4:45 and on days I don't, I wake up at 4 to be at the gym around 4:30. I believe that waking up early is a habit, not an innate ability. Trust me, there are days where all I want to do is lay back down but I know how irritated I'll be at myself later in the day if I do. My most productive time is in the morning just after a workout. Endorphins are going, I'm wide awake and I'm ready to knock out whatever that day has in store for me. After all, excise gives your endorphins, endorphins make you happy and happy people just don't shoot their husbands.
2. Respect Your Own Time
Your time is just as precious as anyone else's and to give your time value, you have to distribute it where it's most important. Sometimes saying no to plans is hard, but so is drowning in tasks. It's better to put your nose to the grindstone now and reap the benefits later. Don't be afraid of the FOMO! If it wont matter in 5 years, it doesn’t matter now. I know it sucks to miss that brunch. Believe me, I do. But I promise in the long run, you’ll be glad you prioritized.
3. Refine Your App Notifications
My phone has this incredible capability to suck me in. I get a notification that someone liked someone else's tweet and that I should check it out and then I'm like YES I SHOULD THEN I SHOULD SCROLL SOME MORE and BAM I've wasted 20 minutes. So I turned my twitter notifications off. I also turned off facebook, messenger, pinterest, my rando apps and all emails but my school and business account. I kept IG, because, duh. Anyway, you'll be surprised how much screen time you save yourself when notifications aren't there to distract you.
4. Group Your Tasks
It's easy to find ways to group your tasks and save time and energy. Simple things like taking care of emails while you're on the treadmill or meal prepping can really make a difference. I find that meal prepping on Sunday and planning out my outfits really increases my morning productivity as opposed to having to pack my lunch right then.
5. Be Aware of What Slows You Down
"Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, "Would an idiot do that?" and if they would, I do not do that thing”. -Dwight Shcrute. Everybody thinks Dwights a square but he's pretty spot on a majority of the time! Essentially what I was trying to say with the quote was to be aware of how you're spending your time and if it's of value. For example, I used to look at my phone right when my alarm went off for about 10 minutes. I always felt more sleepy after looking at my phone than I did right when I woke up and it was hard to get going. By eliminating scrolling through my phone right when I woke up, I saved myself the 10 minutes of screen time and about another 10 minutes of sluggish behavior. I don't know about you, but 20 extra minutes in the morning might as well be an hour in the afternoon- that time is pure gold and can make all the difference!
6. Be Ambitious, But Realistic
You know what you're capable of so don't short yourself. Motivation primarily comes internally so it's up to you to find out what helps you get going and where you want to go. Set goals for yourself that you KNOW you have to WORK for and eventually that will become second nature. At the same time, spreading yourself too thin can be more detrimental to you mentally than never setting goals at all. Don't make plans/promises/goals that you can't keep- that can turn into a very unhealthy behavior.
Alright there it is. I don't know if it's much but that's all I've got. I hope in some way this helped you and if it didn't I'm sorry I wasted your time and you should be more aware of how you're spending it (see #2) hehehehehehhe ;)
As basic as it is, this is my favorite outfit. It’s simple, but it’s classic and comfortable. I love these shoes because they’re wide enough for my feet and very heavily padded. The jeans run true to size and are so stretchy. I hope the scarf trend never goes out of style- it’s such an easy way to add some color to an outfit! This scarf is from Madewell and is easy to use in your hair or around your neck. If you don’t like this print, there’s tons of others. Just click on the picture to see them!
