So you know how there's some people out there who seem like they are able to do everything? Be a great mom, successful in their career, great personal life, always put together and basically winning in life. Personally I try to follow as many of these people on Instagram and Snapchat to stay motivated and also gather all the knowledge of how to make all this stuff happen simultaneously. So how is it done?
The best answer in short is: they all have a certain mentality and a plan.
Alright so let's back up a little bit and get into the bigger picture of things. Think about this: if you just found out that your going to die tomorrow, how happy are you with the way you've been living your life? Like would you have any regrets or would you be 100% happy with the way you lived. This is living with the end in mind. My guess is a vast majority of people would definitely have regrets: not enough time spent with people they love, not enough time doing things they love, not accomplishing goals they thought were beyond their reach. Three big ones I'd imagine. So first key to being productive is starting each day with the big picture in mind.
My big picture is: My family is my priority, make people I love feel loved, take care of myself, have a successful lifestyle brand, learn learn learn, travel and strive to inspire.
When you have a big picture behind why it's important to do what your doing everyday it's easier to do things you don't feel like doing. For example: I don't feel like going to the gym pretty much everyday. But I remind myself that one of the things I want is to always take care of myself. Or when we are saving money every month for a year, I remind myself that even though it could be spent now, it will allow us to travel later.
So that is a biggie on your mentality. You do all the crappy things for the end goal. Sometimes you get lucky and like tasks you must do. Mostly though they are crappy but bring you one step closer to your end goal.
The next part is planning. Honestly, planning is everything. A goal without a plan is just a wish. A day without a plan is a waste of your day. Now don't misunderstand me. Every day doesn't need to be bullet points and lists. But you can plan to have a day where you don't plan at all. I however am going to talk about the days you do have a itemized plan. And how to break that down.
Every Sunday, I get my planner and I write down everything I am. Mom, self, wife, photographer, blogger, friend/family member. All of which are centered around my life's mission statement you could call it. Next to each title I write things I want to accomplish that week.
Here are some from this week:
Photographer - Purchase domain, finalize website design, email clients, collect remaining invoices, design and order new business cards, run promo.
Mom - Plan Friday fun day, story time, call gymnastics class, get birth certificate, pick waterpark day
Self - Gym 4x, nails done, take 30 minutes each day, return clothes, check on fall classes
There's an example of three from my week. Now it looks like a lot, but my favorite part is planning my week around the things. So next, from Monday to Sunday I will then start dispersing everything throughout my week equally. Even though it looks like a lot, once it's distributed throughout your week, honestly you have tops...4 things to do a day. That's totally doable.
So Monday might look like: Finalize website design, emails clients, call gymnastics, nails
Tuesday might look like: Purchase domain, plan fun day and waterpark day, get birth certificate
Wednesday: Gym, story time, return clothes, design and order business cards
Generally I like to have three must haves per day. Because we can all totally do three must have things per day. Basically if you do NOTHING else, do the three must haves. It's easy, it's super efficient and it ensures you do everything that important to you while leaving you plenty of free time.
Now to actually make sure you do those things and don't get sidetracked (hello social media and internet) is set a time block. Literally say "for 30 minutes I will only work on this". Then for 30 minutes, set a timer and ONLY work on that. Kick the task in the ass. This works especially great for things you keep putting off that you really don't want to do.
The result of all of this is intentionally designed days. Getting you closer to a life you want for yourself and get rid of chaos. I've been doing this for a long time now and I luh-luh-love it. For more inspo and great reads check out the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" or Youtube Gary Vee.
I've linked below my favorite productivity tools.
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