While I continue to recover from that dirty ol swish, I’d like to take a moment to discuss productivity. Different things work for different people, so I’ll share what works for me, hoping that it might give you an idea of something that’ll help you.
I wasn’t really taught how to organize anything as a kid, especially my time, but I always craved some sort of structure outside of school. So, I started reading books about it as a kid, & I’ve gotten pretty good at it over the years! This article is mostly about my business, but covers my personal time as well. Please note- I’m not getting paid to mention the following apps, I just find them that useful!
My most useful tool isn’t an app at all, & it will have its own post in the future. I highlighted my business notebook in a previous post, and mentioned that it works better for my business needs than a “bullet journal“; but I’ve been using bullet journals for my personal needs for 3-4 years now! I use it to keep track of monthly events & appointments, plan my dinners for the week, track my bills & checking account, maintain daily to do lists & habits, and more! I even made a separate bullet journal for my recipes. So, visit the website and keep an eye out on my blog here to get an idea of how this system might work for you!
I used to use a very visually pleasing notepad app on my Nook, but something happened & they discontinued the app, suggesting that users try either Google docs or Evernote as a replacement. I opted to transfer my old notes to Evernote, & have been using it ever since. Evernote is almost as awesome as the old app, just not as visually impressive as the old app, as far as organizing notes goes. There are some restrictions with the free service (which is what I use), but it’s still super useful. You can save almost any type of media (including personal notes), organize everything by tags & categories, and access everything either through their app or their website. I use it for my business to maintain checklists, bookmark things from the web, & organize ideas.
To keep myself moving, I use a method commonly known as “time blocking” – setting aside specific times to do specific things, & nothing else. Kind of like making appointments to do certain things. I’m a little lenient with these blocks, however, in that I tend to set periods of time to do things (such as doing housework or creating products for the shop, for an hour straight), but I use a stopwatch to monitor myself. If something comes up while I’m doing something, I stop the clock.
Breaks are important so that you don’t burn yourself out, physically and/or mentally. So, between tasks, I tend to play a couple games on my tablet or do some yoga & meditation for set periods of time, depending on how long I’d kept myself busy.
I also use a time-tracking app called Jiffy. With Jiffy, you can either use it as a stopwatch or log your activities after. With the free version, you can create 3 categories, which can be divided into “work” & “non-work”; you can also add notes to each entry. Jiffy takes the information you entered & creates graphs, so you have a more visual representation of how you’ve spent your time.
Just DO it!
The hardest part of doing anything is getting started; but if you just get started, momentum will eventually get you where you want to be. Make time for whatever is important to you, and just DO it, if even for only 5 minutes! Stay as organized as possible, reevaluate when you feel stuck, and take worthwhile breaks once in a while. You’ll thank yourself.
What productivity apps and/or techniques do you use?? Let’s chat in the comments below! 😄
And don’t forget to check out my shop at zen BLITZ 💚🕉💜
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