Day 3197 – New Method To Manage My Millions Of To Dos – Productivity Tips

Posted on April 12, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I have lists upon lists of things to do. From routines for myself, to tasks to do for our business, to the myriad of tasks for my clients, it’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed with it all.

I’ve used the same printed to do list for years, which lists my week and all of my major to dos. But I’ve started a new method of keeping track each day that’s been working really well for me – yellow legal pads.

I currently have a stack of six, one for each weekday and one for the weekend. I’ve noticed a big shift in quality of work when I write my to do list the day before. I had been creating 2 days in advance, since I had 3 legal pads. But I recently purchased 3 more, which allows me to create my to do list for the next week when I finish a current day. I love that I have my to do lists written for the next week. I can easily add a task where it’s needed. I typically leave my client spaces empty, except for definite to dos.

I use Asana to keep track of all of my tasks for each client, our business, and my personal projects. I can’t say enough good things about Asana. It has changed my life. When I am finishing out my day and adjusting tomorrow’s to do list, I look through my Asana for each client and for us for tasks.

I’m a big believer in the pen to paper method for things. It really does make a difference in retention and it just feels good to write things down.

This method of writing out all my to dos like this will likely change as time goes on, but that’s the beauty of it – it CAN change. You aren’t stuck with one method of keeping track of your endless to dos. One thing will work today, and it might be a totally different thing in a month or a year.

How do you keep track of your to dos?

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Day 3195 – One Small Step, Every Day

Posted on April 10, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Y’ll know, I have LOTS of ideas and dreams and things I want to do. At any given moment, I have half a dozen ideas floating around in my head. But there’s no way I can realistically work on all of them. Ha ha, even outsourcing might not be enough. I have big plans for YouTube, social media channels, my books, and this blog. One thing I hear over and over again is how powerful Pinterest can be as a traffic source. So, I’ve been working on getting my blog ready for that, and cataloging things as I go. I have been working on this for months. In the past, I would have gotten discouraged, thrown up my hands and said, that’s it, this is too much work, I can’t do this.

But then my mindset shifted. I read this book (this is an affiliate link, so if you purchase the book or something else on Amazon, I’ll get a small percentage….this book changed my life and I am ALL for sharing it!)….

Dream Big, Think Small: Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time by Jeff Manion

The idea is that you can accomplish a lot, just by showing up every day, even if it’s in small ways. This has helped me to see my five minutes a day working on getting ready for Pinterest in a much different way. Instead of thinking, “man, this is just not worth it, it’s so little every day!” I think, “I am one blog post closer to finishing.” Some days I can do a few posts, some I only do one. I am so close to the finish line and I’ve gotten here by just plugging away at it.

So friends, no matter what you’re working towards, don’t beat yourself up if you think it’s only a small step each day. You’re still moving.

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Day 3194 – New Boundaries – or – Time Management Tips

Posted on April 9, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I am constantly trying to better myself and make my life more efficient. I try to pay attention to myself and how different things impact me. One area that I have struggled with is checking my work emails on the weekends and in the evenings……and first thing in the morning. I told myself it was because I was keeping up to date, but truly, I wasn’t going to actually work or do anything about what came through. So checking was distracting me from other things I could be doing – reading, hanging out with Bret, working on our business, or other projects.

Well friends, I had some major growth in this area over the weekend – I didn’t check my work emails AT ALL! From Friday evening at 5 p.m. until now, I haven’t checked my emails. I’m trying to be pretty strict about only doing client work during 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. each weekday. By giving myself work hours, it really does help me turn off work and the need to check. I have so many different things that I’m working on right now that I HAVE to have boundaries. 9-5 during the week is plenty of time to accomplish what I need to do. I did pretty well last week with my work hours, so I’m curious to see how this week goes, now that I’ve established this rule.

I think that creativity and productivity thrive with set rules, systems, and guidelines. (At least mine does)

What about you? What boundaries do you have in place?

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Day 3185 – It’s Never Too Late For Your Dreams To Come True

Posted on March 31, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

There’s one thing that really bothers me. When people don’t pursue their dreams. I really hate excuses. (Totally talking to myself here too.) I hear it all the time in these phrases…

“it must be nice”
“I’ve always wanted to do that”
“I’ll never”
“it’s too late”
“I should have”

For a number of reasons and because of a number of experiences, I live pretty much every day of my life as if it was my last. I have no regrets. I have pursued things. Sometimes they fail, sometimes they don’t.

I’ve started to have really big dreams and goals. Some I’m actively working towards, some of them are down the line. But I’ve started to actually believe they are possible. I’m moving past the fear of writing them down and putting them out there. I have things like meeting Oprah (I’ve met Stedman, so I’m only one degree of separation away there!) and Tim Ferris. Doing Yoga with Adriene. Being a New York Times best seller. To be a millionaire. To meet YouTubers I’ve followed for years. (One of those is actually coming true in less than 3 months! AH!) To live on the water.

I think one of the biggest hurdles is just believing it’s possible. Getting rid of your excuses and actually doing the thing.

Bret and I had a conversation the other night after hearing a statistic – people watch an average of five hours of TV….a day. A DAY?!?! I said, how many people could start businesses in those five hours? How many books could be read in those five hours?

This morning, I read an article and watched a video about someone who had what seemed like an impossible dream, that actually come true. It was such a great reminder that it IS possible to achieve your dreams.

So friends, keep dreaming. Keep pushing after your dreams. Every person who had a dream doubted it at some point. Every one of them started from scratch. Every super successful person is just another person. Just like you.

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Day 3184 – Woooo Spring Break…All Four Days Of It…

Posted on March 30, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Today is the first day of Bret’s spring break. I didn’t expect to do much “days off” celebrating, but Bret surprised me today by wanting to sleep in. Dudes, we slept until 7:30! It was positively luxurious! See, Bret has been getting up at 4 and I’m getting up roughly 5/5:30. So 7:30 is a BIG sleep in. It was so nice to not feel rushed this morning. Granted, my morning routine is, well, non-existent, but the have to’s are getting done. I have a feeling the next four days will all look like weekend days. I’m much less strict about my routines and to dos on the weekends….which is something I do want to work on, but I also want to give myself grace and self-love. I tell ya, letting go of what my days should look like, embracing what they ARE and working with that has been a game changer.

I’m looking forward to hanging out with Bret, watching some movies (side note, it looks like Ready Player One’s “partial nudity” is ok for us to watch, so I’m super excited and we’ll likely see it this weekend), seeing friends, and honestly, working our butts off on our business. It’s been so much fun getting into a groove with working together again, playing to our strengths and sharing the workload. I’m excited to see what this year holds for us because it has been SO good so far and we’re only 1/4 of the way through. Wooo!

I will say, it will look a little like this….

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365daysofmarriage

Simplicity in Marriage, Christianity, Travel, Business, Life

Category Archives: Business

Day 3197 – New Method To Manage My Millions Of To Dos – Productivity Tips

Day 3195 – One Small Step, Every Day

Day 3194 – New Boundaries – or – Time Management Tips

Day 3185 – It’s Never Too Late For Your Dreams To Come True

Day 3184 – Woooo Spring Break…All Four Days Of It…