Organize Your Life: 6 Ways to become more productive
Choose a productivity app and stick to it.
Like many creatives, I often struggle to balance my business and my personal life. What I have learned, in just a year of entrepreneurship, is that the easiest way for me to remain on task and productive is by using a medium that is: digital, concise, and automated.
Being able to track the progress I am making on my projects and my goals is a lifesaver.
I love being able to view certain statistics and goal reports, enabling me to adjust my action plan going forward. There’s also nothing better than checking off items on your to-do list and being able to rearrange items in real time.
Below are my top 5 recommendations for digital platforms that can help you be more productive:
Asana
Clickup
Trello
Todoist
Notion
Remember that with any new app there is a learning curve and it all boils down to personal preference, so you have to give it time and find what works best for you.
If you want to keep it super simple, I would recommend you start with Todoist. It’s to the point, free, and as minimal as you can get while still enabling you to use the Kanban board view that is so popular.
Asana and Trello are the most aesthetically pleasing and user friendly in my opinion, so if you are all about the vibes, I’d recommend these.
Notion is EXTREMELY customizable, meaning you can keep it simple or as complex as you need it to be. You just have to put in the time to learn everything that it’s capable of.
Ultimately I’ve landed on Click up. I find that it’s a great balance of all of the apps I’ve mentioned above and you also get A LOT just on the free version. My one contention with Click Up is that the interface could use a bit more color and appeal, but it’s an easy sacrifice for me to make.
Get a planner and use it
This is the one I am currently using.
I love an all in one planner because truly who wants to be flipping through tons of books in this digital age. Mine contains a yearly, monthly, weekly and daily calendar. The affirmation and manifestation pages are a huge bonus which allow for self-reflection and goal setting.
However, If you’d like a planner that is simpler and just for everyday use, I’d highly recommend this one:
The combination of a digital productivity app and a physical daily planner will maximize your planning and allow you to break down your goals into clear actionable steps.
(Please keep in mind that as an amazon associate, I do earn from qualifying purchases)
Get your morning and night routine down
I am an NYC based photographer so I am alwaysssss on the move. The city life can be a little chaotic and sometimes I am tossing and turning in bed because my brain is so loaded with my weekly to do list. Doing a brain dump or planning my morning makes it a bit easier to shut down at night.
It also helps to add one thing in your morning routine that makes you look forward to waking up early and getting your day started. This can be working out, yoga/stretching, journaling, podcast, drawing, watching something motivational on YouTube (a creator I like, a speech, music)
Find an alternative workspace
Especially if you work from home!! It was the best possible set up for most of us in the beginning of the pandemic but as time has shown us, working from home can at times be more damaging to your productivity and overall motivation. You don’t have to commit to this every day, but on the days you do you’ll see that changing up your workspace will bring about new energy, motivation and overall creativity.
I like to look locally for a coffee shop, lounge, hotel, and even the public library! You can even look into shared workspaces, perhaps get a wfh pal to go half with you for a few times a month. Whatever you decide definitely make sure you carve time AWAY from the computer.
Time Block Your Day
When there are a bunch of tasks that need to get done you should dedicate a specific amount of time for that task that way you can hold yourself accountable and reassess if that task requires more time than you original allotted.
Parkinson’s Law states that when we give ourselves more time to do something, we take longer than we need to complete it - aka procrastination. But if we set 2 hours to do a task, odds are we’re going to finish it in two hours. That original 2 week deadline just gives us an excuse to wait until the last minute. So… get to that time blocking!
Reflect Weekly
Choose your “reset” day (for me its Sunday) and take time out to journal about your week. How do you feel? What did you accomplish? What were your favorite moments? What are your goals and intentions for the next week?
I can never stick to daily journaling so weekly reflections are the next best thing. Plus it helps you keep track of how close you are to achieving your monthly goals.