How to make the Last Months of the Year incredibly Productive
It’s hard to believe that this year is actually in its final few months! It seems that 2018 has literally flew by and I can’t believe that 2019 is just around the corner. With the holidays upon us, days seem to go by faster than ever, making you feel like you have a lot less time on your hands than you’d hoped.
A lot of people have already started thinking about their new year’s resolutions! January 1st has a fascinating effect on most people, acting as an opportunity to change everything. But 2018 is not over yet. So, instead of worrying about what changes we can make next year, let’s focus on what we can still achieve in the next few weeks.
It’s hard to believe that this year is actually in its final few months! It seems that 2018 has literally flew by and I can’t believe that 2019 is just around the corner. With the holidays upon us, days seem to go by faster than ever, making you feel like you have a lot less time on your hands than you’d hoped.
A lot of people have already started thinking about their new year’s resolutions! January 1st has a fascinating effect on most people, acting as an opportunity to change everything. But 2018 is not over yet. So, instead of worrying about what changes we can make next year, let’s focus on what we can still achieve in the next few weeks.
With 77 days left in the year, you still have time to achieve more. Go through the goals you had set for yourself in the beginning of the year and check what you’ve already achieved. Then, see what’s left and decide on the most important goals. Choose the ones that you really want to accomplish before the end of the year, and focus on those. You still have time!
However, in order to be super productive and achieve as much as possible in the time you have left, it’s important to be focused and to have a plan. Today, I’d like to show you 5 ways that can help you boost your productivity and finish 2018 with a bang!
1 | Workflow Chart
I am a creature of habit. I love setting up routines and to have some sort of system for my various tasks. I find that when I have an order of operation, I finish tasks faster and in a more efficient way. I like to know what I’m doing and when, and I prefer to follow a step-by-step process whenever possible. When I have projects that require me to do a set number of tasks in a specific order, I like to use a workflow chart.
This is a chart where I create a list of each step of my process horizontally and then I can make another list, with all the different projects where this process can be applied to, vertically. Then I just cross off each step as I’m doing it. That way, I can take on multiple projects and keep up with everything that needs to be done. I apply this to my freelance work, but also to my blog and my YouTube videos.
The Workflow chart definitely helps me to boost my productivity! It helps me to keep up with all the tasks at hand and to make sure I don’t miss anything.
2 | Weekly Improvement Plan
I’ve been reading ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ by David J. Schwartz and I’ve been impressed by how much this book has inspired me! One of the things that I’ve implemented after reading this book is the ‘Weekly Improvement Plan’. This is a plan that helps me to do things better as each week rolls around.
Usually I would do a monthly review at the end of each month, to see what has worked and how I can improve my performance in the next 30 days. However, after reading this book I realised that doing a review once a month is not enough to see the details. And it takes too long until the time comes to make changes. So instead, I decided to do a review at the end of each week. That way, I can make changes fast and be more aware of what needs to be done.
I ask myself these questions:
How can I do more?
How can I do things better?
What can I do to increase my productivity?
How can I work more efficiently?
I also have a notebook where I write any ideas I have during the week. At the end of the week, I review all these ideas and then I choose the ones that can be helpful with what I’m working on that the moment. Then I make a plan to implement those ideas in the next week.
And I tell you what… it works! I’m more aware of new ideas when they come me and I make sure to note them down, in case I forget. Also, I’m constantly checking what works and what doesn’t, to see what I can improve for next week.
Give the Weekly Improvement Plan a try and you’ll see for yourself how it can help you to achieve more in a short space of time.
3 | Journaling
After stopping for some time, I decided to start my morning routine again. However, instead of adding all these various things that I’m “supposed” to be doing first thing in the morning, I decided to adjust it to my personal needs and the time I have available.
My morning consists of me waking up at 6am every day, getting the kids ready and taking them to school. When I come back I do some of my housework and then I work from home until the kids come back. I remember before, I was pushing myself to squeeze in a morning routine that included 5-6 different things that I “had" to do. However, I realised very soon that it was not helping me. On the contrary, it was making me very stressed and upset. The reason for that was, that the time I have in the morning when the kids are going to school is my most productive time of the day. That’s the time that I have the peace and quiet I need in order to work on my projects and deadlines. Instead, I was spending it on doing my 2-hour long morning routine and by the time I was done with it, I didn’t have enough time to finish my work.
I decided to be honest with myself. I realised that I don’t have the time in the morning to exercise, read, meditate, journal, visualise, do affirmations and lots of other things that I included in my morning routine. I can still do all these things during the day if I want to, but not in the morning. So, after some thought I decided to add only one thing for 30 minutes in my morning routine and that is journaling. And that has made all the difference!
So, for half an hour every single morning I take my notebook and write down all my thoughts. I journal about whatever is in my head at the time, and that puts my thoughts in order and helps me start my day right. It is unbelievable how positively this has affected my thought process and my productivity.
If you choose one thing to do in the morning, I would highly suggest that you do some journaling. Spend some time with yourself and your thoughts and see how this will help you with your day and your productivity.
4 | Screen Time
When Screen Time was added on the iPhone, I was amazed to see how much time I was spending on Social Media every day. You might think that you go on Instagram for 5 minutes here and there, but when at the end of the day you add everything up, you’ll be surprised with the amount of time you spend on there!
So, after seeing how much time of my day I was procrastinating online, I decided to do something about it. I set up a downtime period and I added limits to specific apps during the morning, when I’m working. That way, I block all the apps that prevent me from using my time efficiently. And let me tell you, I’m amazed with the results and how many more things I manage to do in the same time that I have available each day!
Get more productive by switching off notifications, avoid picking up your phone every 5 minutes and focus on getting things done.
5 | Wake Up Early
When I wake up early, I feel that I have more control over my day. I have more time for planning, strategic thinking and getting organised. I feel more energised and more focused.
Did you know that if you were to get up just one hour earlier each morning you would gain 15 days in a year? When you put things into perspective, it’s amazing to see how many days you can ‘gain’ if you just set up your alarm a bit earlier than usual!
So if you haven’t already created the habit of early rising, start tomorrow. Build the discipline and set your alarm to wake you up very early. You’ll soon realise that you are more creative and more effective in the early morning hours. It may take a couple of days to adjust, but stick with it. You’ll be amazed with the results!
Start implementing these effective productivity-oriented strategies today and see your life transform.
What are some practices that help you stay productive? How do you make the most out of your time? Let me know in the comments below.
How to use batch days to be more productive
Up until the end of last year I thought I had it all figured out. I had a weekly schedule, where I would spread all my tasks throughout the 7 days of the week. My thinking behind this, was that spreading the workload through the week, was going to make things easier for myself.
So, for example, I would set different parts of my housework for each day, i.e. Monday: hoover, Tuesday: dusting, Wednesday: Kitchen + Fridge etc. The same would go for my work and blog. I tended to add lots of little tasks every day on various topics and sections of my work - from website updates, to emails, reading articles I needed to catch up with, replying to comments, writing blog posts, promoting them, being active on social media etc.
This way of doing things, resulted in me having huge to-do lists every day with lots of little tasks on various areas. And while I was trying to stay on top of that list, I would start doing each of the tasks, and then move to the next one. But there was no cohesion. So, for example, I would start to dust the house, then sit down to reply to some emails, and then go and hang out the laundry. And it would continue like this. Also, most of the times I would get distracted by something else (like an incoming txt or email), resulting in me spending more time than I thought on each task.
At the end of the day, I would find myself exhausted, looking with bleary eyes at a half-done to-do list, surrounded by lots of post-it notes with things I needed to remember throughout the day, feeling deflated and near to tears!
Multitasking is definitely not good for my productivity!
But then, I came across the term ‘batch days’ and my whole world changed!
Up until the end of last year I thought I had it all figured out. I had a weekly schedule, where I would spread all my tasks throughout the 7 days of the week. My thinking behind this, was that spreading the workload through the week, was going to make things easier for myself.
So, for example, I would set different parts of my housework for each day, i.e. Monday: hoover, Tuesday: dusting, Wednesday: Kitchen + Fridge etc. The same would go for my work and blog. I tended to add lots of little tasks every day on various topics and sections of my work - from website updates, to emails, reading articles I needed to catch up with, replying to comments, writing blog posts, promoting them, being active on social media etc.
This way of doing things, resulted in me having huge to-do lists every day with lots of little tasks on various areas. And while I was trying to stay on top of that list, I would start doing each of the tasks, and then move to the next one. But there was no cohesion. So, for example, I would start to dust the house, then sit down to reply to some emails, and then go and hang out the laundry. And it would continue like this. Also, most of the times I would get distracted by something else (like an incoming txt or email), resulting in me spending more time than I thought on each task.
At the end of the day, I would find myself exhausted, looking with bleary eyes at a half-done to-do list, surrounded by lots of post-it notes with things I needed to remember throughout the day, feeling deflated and near to tears!
Multitasking is definitely not good for my productivity!
But then, I came across the term ‘batch days’ and my whole world changed!
What is a batch day?
A batch day is when you dedicate one day (or part of a day) to work on a specific topic, with no distractions so that you have maximum productivity. By batching similar tasks together and minimising distractions, you’ll be able to focus more on the specific tasks, and finish them quicker.
What can you batch?
Everything! From your blog posts, emails and your social media, to your housework, reading, cooking, calls and errants. It’s really up to you!
How does it work?
You create a list of tasks and things you need to do on a specific topic/category. Once you’ve created your list then you allocate a specific day as your batch day for this list, and you add it in your calendar. So, when that day comes, you’ll know exactly what needs to be done.
But there are certain rules:
No distractions: During the time you are working on your list, you can’t look at your phone (put it on a ‘do not disturb’ mode), check your emails or social media accounts, and generally you can’t get distracted by anything that doesn't have to do with the tasks on the list. Use the time when the kids are at school or, if you can, hire a babysitter.
Make sure that you’re prepared and you have everything you need. Check your list from the day before and make sure all the equipment, tools and devices you may need to finish the tasks for the day are ready. Charge your camera, download the right workbook, have the notebooks and pens you'll need at hand. Generally, make sure that there’ll be no surprises, which may prevent you from finishing all the tasks in your list.
Prepare everything else in advance. Obviously, you may have more responsibilities during that day that you cannot avoid or postpone. For example, being a mother of two, I know that when my kids come back from school, they want to eat straight away. So, on my batch days I’ll make sure that I’ve prepared something for lunch from the day before. That way I don’t have to stop what I’m doing to start cooking.
Utilise your time efficiently. You can make sure that you use those hours even more efficiently by using the pomodoro technique, and further blocking out your set time.
Take breaks. You need to give yourself some time off in between the tasks to mentally rest, so that you have the energy to continue. Every hour or so take a 10-15 minute break. Get up from the computer and have a snack, go out in the garden, meditate. Do something else and for a few minutes change environment.
You can’t do anything that’s on that list before the set day - unless you have some spare time and you feel like doing so :)
How does it work for me?
Changing my routine hasn’t been easy, but since I started implementing the batch days to my schedule I’ve seen some great results and lots of checked off to-do lists!
The following are a few things that I am batching in order to make myself more productive:
Housework - While before I was spreading all the tasks throughout the week, now I do most of the cleaning on Saturday mornings. I know exactly what needs to be done, and I don’t schedule any other work for that part of the day. Obviously, there are still things that I need to do during the week like laundry, cooking etc., but generally 90% of my cleaning is done on a Saturday.
Blog - I try to write and schedule the blog posts of the week on Mondays, so that I don’t have to think about them for the rest of the week. I have to admit that this doesn’t always happen, especially the last few weeks that I was moving to Squarespace, but generally speaking, I try to allocate one day for the blog posts. My plan is to have at least two week’s worth of blog posts pre-scheduled in order to use that time to batch other things. ;)
Social media - I have to admit that I get so distracted when I check my social media accounts, it’s ridiculous! I can spend anything from 10 to 30 minutes without even realising it! So, in order to avoid this distraction as much as possible, I use Buffer and Hootsuite to pre-schedule my social media. I set one day every 15 days to pre plan my pins on Pinterest using Buffer, while I use Hootsuite once a week to plan, organise and schedule my day to day social media interactions on Twitter and Facebook for that week.
Planning - I plan all my week every Sunday afternoon, while I make my weekly spread in my bullet journal. It helps me to have a clear view of the week ahead, put my thoughts in order, plan as much as I can and set batch days for various groups of tasks.
Brainstorming - I tend to set up 30-45mins to brainstorm ideas for my blog once every 15 days. It helps me put my thoughts on paper and come up with new things I can do. I tend to have a brain dump list in my bullet journal, where I can add ideas when they come up to me.
Errants - I’ve set every Thursday as my errant day. I know that I will dedicate that morning for all my shopping and errants, so that I won’t schedule any work for that time.
I’ve also created a FREE set of printables to help you when you plan your batch days. It’s a brain dump page and a batch day planning page. On the brain dump page you write all the ideas and tasks you think, without any order. This page is just to collect all your thoughts and empty your brain. The batch day planning page is where you group similar tasks from your brain dump page in lists, and you allocate a specific date as the batch day for them.
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Have you used batch days before? What are your thoughts? What other ways do you use to keep yourself focused and productive?
How to make a better to-do list
I like to make to-do lists. They keep me focused, organised and more productive. I prefer using pen and paper for my lists. Call me old school if you like, but I find that my brain functions better this way. I remember things easier and I'm more productive. I also like my to-do lists quite detailed, to make sure I don't forget anything. I'm always on a quest to find the best ways to create the perfect to-do list that will help me achieve my goals and be very productive. Today, I'll share with you some of the ways that I found to work for me.
I like to make to-do lists. They keep me focused, organised and more productive. I prefer using pen and paper for my lists. Call me old school if you like, but I find that my brain functions better this way. I remember things easier and I'm more productive. I also like my to-do lists quite detailed, to make sure I don't forget anything. I'm always on a quest to find the best ways to create the perfect to-do list that will help me achieve my goals and be very productive. Today, I'll share with you some of the ways that I found to work for me.
1. Create a Brain Dump List.
I found that getting everything off my mind and into paper, ensures that I don't forget to do things and it also empties my brain from constantly thinking about those things. You can create one list where you write everything, or you can make more than one list for various categories i.e. for work, housework, personal, family and so on. In the case that you want to create only one list, you can colour code it to separate the tasks this way. Me personally, I have two Brain Dump Lists: one for work, and one for everything else, which I then colour code, in order to make it easier to visually see the tasks that need to be done in each category I've created.
Every month I check my Brain Dump list and I choose 1-5 tasks to tackle on that month. I break each one into smaller more manageable steps and then, I allocate a few steps of each task for each week of the month. So, when I'm writing my daily to-do list, I check my weekly spread and choose what steps/tasks need to be done on that day.
2. Break the big tasks down into smaller more manageable tasks/steps.
You can do that directly on your Brain Dump list, or you can create a separate smaller list for the specific project or task with all the steps that you need to take.
3. Mark the Important tasks.
I break the tasks down into
Urgent if they are important or need to be done as soon as possible, or
Not Urgent if they can be tackled at a later date. What I do, is to place a little red dot next to the important tasks, so that I know straight away which ones I should do first.
4. Start with the most important tasks.
Each day I start by noting down the 3 most important tasks on my list. Again, I do that by placing a little red dot next those tasks. These are the tasks that have to be done no matter what. So, if I only do those 3 and nothing else, I can still consider my day quite productive.
Tackle your most important tasks first and don't waste time on trivial tasks.
5. Time everything.
I write an estimated time next to each task. I use this in conjuction with the time management bar to see when I have enough time during my day to allocate for each particular task.
6. Time yourself.
I find that whenever I use a timer when doing a task, I do it quicker and more efficiently. By timing myself for each task, I can also see if my time estimates that I mentioned above are reasonable. And funnily enough, while doing this exercise I found that I have a completely wrong sense of time and my time estimates were completely off! I also like to use the pomodoro technique.
7. Pick a time every day to write your to-do list for the next day.
I prefer to do this before I go to bed. I tend to spend anything between 10-20 minutes to plan my to-do list for the next day. I go through my future log, my brain dump list and my weekly spread to see what tasks I have to do for the next day.
The above steps / techniques have helped me immensely to plan ahead and to be more productive. Please share in the comments below any tips or tricks you use in order to create your perfect to-do list.
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