Productivity and I did not always get along. It took me having a new born, working from home, being a single mom and moving out of my "home" state to finally get with the productivity program. And even that did not fully convince me that I was going to have to learn some major productivity hacks to make my life work.
Productivity and blogging go hand in hand. Having blogged for decades but never seriously and now wanting to take it to that proverbial "next level", I can tell you that changing how I approached my blogging life as well as my actual life, is what changed how productive I was going to be that day. Taking all I had read about getting productive, I created my own system using the tooks and tricks of the trade to create the perfect productivity system. And that system has been adopted by several of my friends, family and even my clients!
The Tools You'll Need:
- A Daily Docket (I use Jenny Collier's FREE printable. Just sign up and you'll get access to tons of great printables from Jenny. Bonus: her blog is pretty awesome too!)
- A Weekly/Monthly Planner (Right now I am using the 8x10" Sugar Paper LA planner with the 5x8" spiral bound companion. Since the start of the year I have purchased this Plum Paper Planner which will start in April for the new quarter. Update to come!)
- A Notepad, Notebook, or Padfolio (Also a Sugar Paper product, I have the 8 1/2x11" padfolio that I keep a notepad with graph paper on one side and lined paper on the other)
What You May Want:
- Planner Stickers (I cannot recommend PlannerPenny enough. Keep reading this post to see all the cuteness and how I make it work for me. Other shops I have purchased from are Little Planner Prints, Stickers For Katy and Little Pixie Paperie)
- Colorful Pens (I like color coding everything and it really does help you when you are looking at your life at a glance.)
- A Bag or Box (to store everything in. I actually have a tray I keep on my work station/ottoman that holds the weekly necessary and I invested in a Sugar Paper LA document keeper so it all looks pretty while keeping me organized)
Ok. Now let's get started!
Set aside a day when you know you can have no interruptions. Sunday's are usually prime for me, I like to binge some TV shows that I haven't been able to catch up with all week. I pull everything out and spread it all around me on the couch, kick my feet up and settle in for at least an hour.
{ Since you'll be starting my system for the first time, You probably want to grab all your previous material so you know what you're up to and need to plug in for the coming week }
Then I take a look at the previous week and ask myself a few questions:
Was this past week really busy?
More so than normal?
Will that level of activity be happening in the week to come?
Did I accomplish all my goals and tasks that I set out to do?
What do I need to carry over from the previous week into this week?
Do I have any projects I am still working on?
Now I need to look at the upcoming week and ask a few more questions:
What appointments, dates or events do I need to make sure I am scheduling in?
What birthdays or holidays do I need to factor in?
Am I expecting any happy mail?
What bills are due?
Any other notes for the coming week?
{ I like to write all this down on my notepad before even touching my planner so that I can make sure I am not adding in unnecessary details }
Next, get ready to plan!
Now that I have my list and I have checked it twice (chuckle at my own silliness), it's time to take everything on my little piece of notepaper and start applying it to my week. Since I plan my content and editorial calendars at the start of every month, I will only need the monthly section of my small planner so that I can ensure I am plugging in my blog posts to both the daily docket and my weekly planner.
As you can see here, I write the full blog post in with where I need to share it on the daily docket but only use a color coded dot to remind me of what I am posting in my full planner. This is just easier for me because my planner is my life and without it I will be lost. However, I do not necessarily need to know every blog post title when I am out and about, pulling out said planner to book a massage. Little details like that go in the daily docket.
I prefer to start plugging the week ahead with my TV Shows. I picked this little pad up from the Target Dollar Spot eons ago and could never figure out what to use it for. It's super pretty and I love the minty colors so I never got rid of it. Then it occurred to me that It's the perfect size to keep track of my TV shows without cluttering up my planner or the daily docket. Then I just add a single TV sticker (these from PlannerPenny) each day one of my shows is on in my planner as a reminder.
Once that's finished I start with my color coding system and go down the line. Anything of priority (red) gets placed in it's scheduled time or at the top of the to do list. Next is my personal schedule from working out to doctor appointments, same for the to do list. If I need to clean it, cook it or do it and it's personal, it gets marked in purple. Following this is orange for my virtual assistant work. I schedule in my times and tasks then move in to turquoise for design clients. Because both my design and VA clients have client files kept on my computer, I just schedule in the time I will be working on or for them and refer to the OneNote file when it is time to do so. Next is pink for coaching and this blog and green for my personal blog. The last thing I plug into the daily docket is the dark blue for family (think, meal plan, play dates, work schedules and events).
Taking care to follow whatever also appears in the notes I wrote down at the beginning of my planning session, I can get each day filled in and organized on the docket before taking it to my weekly planner.
I don't write everything out in my weekly planner in the same manner or even as much detail as I do my daily docket. My daily docket is meant to, quite literally, rule my day. Whereas my weekly planner is meant to keep me on task and ensure that I do not over book or over extend myself. This is where a lot of stickers come into play.
Not only do I like to decorate my planner with a weekly theme but I also utilize stickers for my TV shows, chores, mail, hydration, FitBit, personal care, etc. I like the way my planner appears both beautiful and also organized when I do it this way. Not to mention, I am an extremely visual personal so having these stickers in place of words to read allows me to catch a glimpse and register in my brain faster than I process wording.
Overall, each planning session takes me about 1-2 hours depending on all the brain dumping I am doing at the start with my notepad and how much needs to be plugged in to the coming week. I see my planning sessions as the biggest reason I am able to accomplish so much each day and also quite relaxing because I know my brain is clear - even if my calendar isn't!
Now it's YOUR turn!
Will you be trying my getting organized planning system?
What productivity hacks do you use??
How do you keep organized each day?
What planner do you use?
Until next time,
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