Tag Archives: productivity tips

Day 3266 – World Productivity Day!

Posted on by
2

Hurray for productivity and a whole day to celebrate it! I love learning about productivity and practicing things that lead to a productive life. There are a number of ways that I’m currently trying to increase my productivity and achieve my goals.

First, Bret and I had a pretty long (over several days) conversation about what a successful summer would look like for us. We started the conversation on Saturday, technically before his summer break from teaching started. What this conversation has done is set our expectations for the summer. We talked about our bucket list of things to do. We talked about daily habits we want to practice. We talked about our work goals.

This morning, I’m a little behind schedule because I finally sat down, wrote out my goals and printed them out. I have a new checklist to highlight daily habits. I printed out all my goals in my January letter as well as some monetary goals (i.e. when I hit this dollar amount, I’ll do/buy/etc something else). I printed our summer bucket list and some of the big names I want to meet. This isn’t necessary for this year, but I want to start keeping those goals in front of me daily.

I also tried something new this morning. I want to get back into running and I’m taking a different approach. Previously, it was all about going for a 5k or following a plan. It was just too fast for the overachiever in me. So instead, I’m setting a “run three times a week” goal. I am only running a very short distance and only increasing my mileage when I feel ready. This is a big shift for me because I’m all about big milestones, but the joy is in the consistency. The different thing I did this morning was pre-prep my food before my run. I scooped my leftover takeout into the microwave, put a bottle of water and peaches on the counter, so as soon as I came through the door, I could start the microwave, grab the water, and recover. It made a big difference for sure.

So a big part of being productive is setting yourself up for success, whatever that means for you.

How are you going to be productive today?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

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

Posted on by
Reply

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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2987 – My Biggest Productivity Secret

Posted on by
Reply

I, like everyone, have a ton of things to do. My list of tasks grows every day, and at times it’s overwhelming. I have SO many ideas and projects I want to work on (I’m looking at you, YouTube Channel). I have fiction books I want to write, kid’s books I want to write, spending more time on Pinterest to increase my traffic, creating more content, posting on my other websites, keeping up with social media, oh, and reading hundreds of books. It can be discouraging sometimes. It can feel like I’ll never get everything done. And, well, I won’t. I’ll finish some things, for sure, but the scope of my imagination will not ever be realized. Honestly, accepting this is a big step towards peace and focus at work.

So, what’s the number one thing that I can point to? What is my productivity secret?

It is simply, a good night sleep.

Tuesday was an extremely long day. Since we get up at 5, we’re typically in bed around 9 or 10. I like to lay down around 8/8:30. Because of a back to school night, Bret was at work until 8. We shared the car that day, so I was out until 8 as well. For one reason or another, it took us forever to get to bed. Yesterday I was exhausted. My productivity was almost non-existent. I did complete the HAVE to dos. But it was far below what I’m capable of doing. I knew I HAD to go to sleep early last night. I think I fell asleep around 8:30. I woke up around 9:15 and was so confused. Took a drink and back to bed. I woke up feeling FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC! I am excited to see how much I will accomplish today. I am so energized. And I realized, that sleep and rest is such an important (and SO often overlooked) part of a productive life.

Bonus productivity tip – naps. Oh baby, taking a nap in the middle of the day, then having a cup of coffee after you wake up is SO helpful! It’s almost like starting the day over.

Do you agree? Is sleep the most important aspect of productivity? Let me know below!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2979 – Fight Procrastination Day! – A Few Tips How On How I Fight It!

Posted on by
1

As I was thinking about my tips, I realized that a pretty big shift in my thinking happened because of the book, Dream Big, Think Small: Living an Extraordinary Life One Day at a Time* by Jeff Manion. I just finished it this morning, so I can heartily approve it. I’m very picky about what items I share affiliates link to, and I wait until I’ve finished a book before I link to it.

This book had a big impact on me in that it showed me that little steps every day add up to really big things. So when I am tempted to look at an item on my to do list and think “ah, that’s not that big of a deal, and it won’t take long, I can put that off until tomorrow” I remember, well, if I do this little thing now, I won’t have two little things tomorrow.

Another recent change that has helped me fight procrastination is getting up early and working on a big project first thing. Working for several clients and working through my own projects, there is always something to work on. There is always something to do. Sometimes those things are projects that can take a chunk of time. I’ve found if I give them priority, especially early in the morning, I can knock them out so much quicker and easier.

This might fall more under distraction, but I keep my work email notifications turned off between the hours of about 5 p.m. and 8:30/10 a.m. That way I’m not worrying about an email that came in that I won’t be able to do anything about until later. It is also a mental shift. It’s a way to tell my brain, ok, you’re done work for today.

I try to organize my to do list in a way that follows my physical limits. While I’d love to do easy things in the morning like typing notes or doing the dishes, I know my best work time is in the morning between about 6 and 10:30/11 and I make sure to do the most important things then.

What are you doing today to fight procrastination? Let me know in the comments!

I mean, how can you not feel like you’re fighting procrastination when you’re Batman?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Amazon affiliate link
Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 2901 – Happy World Productivity Day!

Posted on by
Reply

Woo! I love days like today! I’m all about productivity and learning ways to better myself.

Here’s my top productivity tip for today, write out your to do list the night before. This has multiple benefits for me. It allows me to mentally let go of the things I couldn’t accomplish that day, knowing that I can try to complete them tomorrow. When I first hop into my day, I’m still a little fuzzy, and not in a place to say, ok, what should I do next? I need past Jennilyn to tell me what to do.

I’m trying something new with today’s list – I’m chunking my tasks by goals – feeding my soul (devos, journaling, reading), building community (social posts/blogging/etc), organizing my life/other’s lives (most of my to do list, lol).

What do you do to stay productive?

p.s. This is where we were one year ago today. Ahhhhh, I miss the road!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel