Planning your day is one thing but actually being productive in those blocks of time is another! These are the things that I do running a business on social media with all the distractions to make sure that those time blocks that I set during the day are as efficient and effective as possible. Here are my:
Top tips for increasing your productivity during even the smallest blocks of time!
The first thing I do every Sunday is my brain dump
I then assign those tasks that were outlined in my brain dump to a specific day and time block. From there, every day when I wake up in the morning, I look at my tasks to-do and make sure than any ones that came up throughout the week, get assigned. So for example, last week my son William was sick. We had to go to the doctors for him and so I had to add that into my time-blocking and I had to move some of my tasks around so I could make that happen.
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2. CREATE YOUR MORNING ROUTINE
When you wake up in the morning, either use an alarm clock (not your phone) or self-discipline to say my phone alarm has gone off, I am just going to turn the alarm off and not look at my phone. Morning routines are key to productivity. This is why that even on the weekends, I keep my morning routine. My body is so used to getting up and working that it is routine for me. I wake 10 minutes up before my alarm most days. I don’t look at my phone and I come downstairs to do my morning routine, which includes making my energize. Routine is another key piece of productivity because the more routine something is, the less you think about it. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wore the same clothes every day because it was one less thing they had to think about. One less decision to make, leads to less decision fatigue. Here is a snapshot of my morning routine:
Make energize to wake me up.
Quick journal practice where I write a sentence about a daily memory of my boys.
I read my personal development.
I meditate.
I do my affirmations and gratitude practice.
I start writing my social media posts when I am in my best frame of mind in the morning.
3. NO DISTRACTIONS
Do not allow anything to come into your world until your morning routing is complete. No news, no emails, no notifications. So many of us get up in the morning and we look at our phones and let in everyone else into our day. We have just gone from this really peaceful place where the social media world has not come in and bombarded us with a million things already. One of the best things you can do for yourself when you wake up in the morning is to not look at your phone right away.
4. TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS AT ALL TIMES
I love having my phone with me to take photos and videos of my kids. One Instagram story is a 15 second clip so I do the story, and then put my phone away. So I don’t get any phone calls, Facebook or Instagram notifications. I recently signed-up for Clubhouse as well but made sure to turn off notifications there! So when I look at my home screen on my phone, it is just a photo of my boys, no notifications are there. Notifications take you away from what your priorities are. Turn them off on your computer too. I am also the person who has a million different tabs open on their browser, so when I go do a time-blocked task, I close out of all the other tabs other than the one I am working on. The most important thing you should realize about your productivity is that you control it.
5. LEARN TO SAY “NO”
I was someone (and sometimes still am) who has such hard time saying “no” to others. I want to say “yes” to everyone and please everyone. But, I want you to realize that you can’t do everything. So you have to make a decision and understand that by saying “yes” to one thing, means you are saying “no'“ to something else. Saying “no” to things you don’t really want to do means saying “yes” to the things that really matter to you. So for example (in non- COVID times) if a friend asks you to lunch, and you say “yes” to that, you are saying “no” to something else. That is ok but I really want that to be a conscious decision because that effects productivity. There should be no guilt around saying “no” to lunch because you are saying “yes” to your goals and dreams and that’s ok. Really understanding that has really helped my productivity.
People say to me “oh you must be in your DMs all day.” But in actuality I do not spend all day in my DMs because I have a time-block specifically for answering DMs. This practice of only answering DMS for an hour it makes it really easy to segment things and simplify your day. You segment your day to say this is when I am focused on my family, this is when I am focused on my business, this is when I get to rest, it makes it really easy to manage. But you have to go even deeper into your business time. Instead of just saying I am working on my business for a few hours segment it to say I am working on emails for an hour, DMs for an hour and create content for an hour, be specific.
6. BREAK TASKS UP WITH MOVEMENT
I do not set any blocks longer than one hour. Movement is important and will make you more productive. Work for an hour and then get up and go for a walk because it will give you more energy. Also, don’t schedule work for a 4 hour period. You will become fatigued if you are working straight for that long. Make sure you are moving in between those tasks and make sure the tasks are separated by movement. This is how I incorporate movement into my schedule:
Morning Routine
1 Hour Of Work
Breakfast With My Boys
Workout
Lunch With My Boys
Nap Time Hustle: 1 Hour Of Work
Usually this is when I do my calls
I usually get up and walk around between calls
Play Time With My Boys
Check out the full IGTV if you want to hear how I make each one work in my life!