Part Three || How-To || October

Welcome to part three of this month's How-To series -- How-To Be Productive!! Couldn't tell from the picture or the title, huh? I know -- I'm so sneaky. Wednesday I kicked off the post with the two ways to jump start productivity... jump back and read Part One if you'd like. Then yesterday I unleashed two more in Part Two. And today here's the final three -- enjoy!!!

Final

HOW-TO || BE PRODUCTIVE || PART III

|| plan out what you need done + how much time you think it will take ||

This doesn’t have to be a time table of when you will do certain things and at the exact length of time you will do them, but having a rough estimate of how long it will take you to look up something or write up an email can help filter little activities into the breaks of your day. Having a master list of what must be done can help you pin point ‘big ticket’ items that need completing by a near deadline. This also helps you realize how much time you spend on meaningless tasks like checking facebook for the thousandth time or refreshing the instagram feed. These little tasks aren't bad by any means if you derive joy from them, but they do impede your productivity by keeping you away from your task.

Planning out what needs to be completed can help them from scrambling in your brain and creating a knot of events you’ve scheduled. It doesn’t have to be a fancy planner or crazy calendar – I keep my list on an oversized note card clipped to a clipboard. Just find what works for you and see if keeping track helps you stay on task.

|| be organized + try not to get behind ||

This keeps right in line with the point above – having that master list helps you stay organized, keeps your thoughts close, and the time structure will remind you when to get things done and not get caught behind. Staying organized also helps limit the ‘what am I doing this week’ fuzz where you scramble through your thoughts to pick out the promises you made to meet up and the meetings you scheduled with a prospective client. Hopefully, we can all understand that getting behind can be stressful and that stress inhibits our optimal production and capabilities. If you do get behind, try not to stress. There are many things that can help ease the mind and kick-start your drive again.

Organization really isn’t for everyone – but sometimes its easier to fall behind when we don’t know exactly what we are doing or what our next step will be. See below if that stress bug comes biting …

|| if panicked or getting behind, here are some tips to help ||

Okay, try not to stress! Take a deep breath, five deep ones to be exact, close your eyes and zone into the moment, into your space, feel the seat you are siting in and your surroundings. Are you comfortable? Are you hydrated? Are you ready to work? Adjust your placement until the above answers are yes. Try playing some soothing instrumental music or music that fades into the background and allows you to work harder; try changing into comfortable clothes; make yourself a mug of calming tea and try to stop the overbeating of your heart and overwhelming brain process by being right where you are this moment; perhaps prepare a light snack (i.e. pb + apples, hummus + carrots or pretzels, etc). If these steps don’t work, try taking a break, calling it for the day, packing up and going somewhere to walk, be creative, or just plain not think – lose yourself in a book, a tv show, a quick yoga practice. Find your center and then return – you’ll work harder, I promise.

Try not to get stressed -- even when you get behind and it feels impossible to catch up. Stress chokes us up and getting anything done well impossible. Just take some deep breaths. Everything is working out exactly as planned. Calm yourself down a little, regroup, and get back to the action. You're going to do great!

Remember, productivity is in the eye of the beholder – don’t let another person’s terms of success keep you from feeling accomplished. If you wrote that newsletter and it took you two months, appreciate all that it took to get done: the research, the drafting, the finalizing. Be proud that you finished. It can be so hard not to compare ourselves to others, but in terms of our own success, this is the most important. Only you can define your success. Just you. So sit down with a glass of water, a cup of tea, surrounded by little quotes that motivate and your to-do list, and work hard and strong until you are done (you get to choose when that is too, woohoo!). I bet you are more successful than you think. Happy productiveness!

Feel like you could be more productive?

Do you utilize these tips already?

Did any surprise you (from yesterday or Wednesday)?

[images linked when clicked]

Part Two || How-To || October

Welcome to part two of this month's How-To series -- How-To Be Productive!! Couldn't tell from the picture or the title, huh? I know -- I'm so sneaky. Yesterday I kicked off the post with the two ways to jump start productivity... jump back and read Part One if you'd like. Tomorrow, I'll release the final two -- enjoy!

Final

HOW-TO || BE PRODUCTIVE || PART II

|| find the right caffeine for you ||

Let’s be real here – caffeine is a great way to keep us charged and on a roll when we feel tired and unmotivated. While a need for an excess of caffeine might signal to your body that it really needs some rest and recharge, in the event that you have to push through and stay chugging along, try to find some clean sources of caffeine.

Tea, like black tea or green tea, can give a great push to the system while also urging our metabolism to rev up and push us into power mode. Coffee can do the same thing, but might cause some jitters or a ‘crash’ when coming off of the caffeine high. Disregard those sugar packets in the photo above (the brunch serving platter was too pretty not to snap a picture of) -- sweeten with almond milk and some stevia if black coffee doesn't suit you. If caffeinated drinks are too much on the system, or you know you only have to push through for an extra hour and it is nearing bedtime, a great source of energy that deepens our contemplative state are back bends such as camel pose (ustrasana) or bridge pose (supta bandhasana). These postures delve deep into our central nervous system and can be incredibly energizing in a different way than caffeinated drinks.

Perhaps caffeine works for you, or maybe it does nothing but unsettle your stomach and make you jittery. Remember to do what works for you. A backbend might not be a good idea if you are experiencing back pain – listen to your body. Remember, being productive is all about you functioning at your best level. If caffeine doesn’t help with that functioning, no worries, just keep sipping that water!

|| stay current and reliable in terms of email and phone calls ||

Even though I wish this weren’t true, we have become an ‘instant’ society where sending emails or making phone calls expects an immediate and instant response. Being this person, who responds promptly and thoughtfully, can greatly increase the reputation you hold. A tip that I picked up a few weeks ago was to star each email that required attention or a quick response, and be sure to get through that list by the end of the day. If the email is being treated similar to a text, respond to it in a similar fashion, but otherwise, the list can be great to fill in the spare minutes of your day. Don’t think you have any minutes to spare? The five minutes waiting for coffee, the time waiting for a meeting to start, and the time before an appointment arrives are all examples of minutes that add up quickly! Pretty soon, emails that piled into the thousands will become a handled inbox waiting for the next one to arrive. If there is a great influx of messages, try to get the starred emails down to five, knowing that five is far more manageable the next day than not having responded to a single one in the first place. Also a great trick to make a quick message appropriate rather than abrupt is to add the footer ‘sent from iPhone’. While most of you out there will be responding using your phone, this will probably already be at the bottom, but adding it or taking it out can signal both an appreciation for time as well as an understanding of urgency.

Email has turned into another form of being available 24/7. If it helps you to turn off your email after seven and finish all of your correspondence by then, or not respond to emails over the weekend, that sounds great! Find a schedule of email attentiveness you can stick to and try and work it into your lifestyle. See if it fits. Being able to respond to emails as if they were an instant message just delivers another skill set to your resume and appearing even more so ‘on top of things’. As always, it’s okay if responding to emails right away isn’t your thing – it doesn’t make you any less of a human being.

Four down, five to go! Stay tuned for pt. III coming your way tomorrow...

UPDATE: Read Part III and be fully armed with productivity forces!

What are your thoughts so far? Do you utilize these tips already? Did any surprise you (from yesterdaytoo)?

[coffee by emily // computer picture and yoga image link when clicked]

How-To || October

In honor of being productive, and respecting my own time enough to create thoughtful content, I decided not to rush this post. It was originally planned to be posted in September, a month after How-To Journal was posted. But sometimes, to be most productive, we must accept that other facets of our lives take greater precedence. Researching this post has been most intriguing and especially helpful. I hope it helps you as well. There are far too many exams on my schedule and a busy holiday season going forward for us all -- maybe we're feeling the fall slow down, or we're already stressing about the end of the year so much that we are having trouble being in the present. These tips are meant for us all. This will be a mini series, as I release part one, two, and three over the next few days. Enjoy!

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HOW-TO || BE PRODUCTIVE || PART I

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|| find a space that makes you feel most comfortable ||

Sometimes, when we are uncomfortable, in our sitting position or our surroundings, the work we create can be haphazard and far from our best. We might become frustrated, feeling the need to squirm around, look about, run our hands through our hair, be generally anxious, or unable to focus and unwilling to try. Our sense of unease can manifest its way in many different forms.

At the root of the problem is often the most simple cure; we can boil down our sense of being uncomfortable to the space we have chosen to work. For me, I need to work being able to see the whole room with my back to the wall or in my own room seated at my desk. This way, I can see the flurry of activity in front of me, and zone it out almost meditatively if in a public space, or I can be honed in on one surface working on my writings and projects.

The best space for you will be one where distractions are minimized, seating is comfortable, and there is optimal surface to spread out or hold work items.

Distractions are not the same for everyone; perhaps being in a space that is loud is more feasible to work in than one that is hear-a-pin-drop quiet. A seat that is comfortable for you may be one that is extra cushiony or one that is as hard as a rock to keep you focused. Optimal surface area might be only enough for your computer or writing pad or sketch book, or it might be large enough to house post-its, pencils and markers, and books upon books upon books. Mine resembles the ladder.

The best space is one that makes you feel your best, so experiment and explore, but make that space just yours to escape to and get those work juices flowing. That way, like Pavlov’s experiment, when you sit down in this space (or stand!) than you are at your most productive.

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|| stay hydrated ||

Our bodies are composed of about 70% of water. Water is so important to our functioning; in fact I’ve already planned an entire nutrition post all about water. Without water, our digestion would not be optimal and our brain cells would not operate properly. Imagine, just this liquid could make us work harder, better, and faster. Water also keeps our body temperature regulated, keeping us warm or cool depending on the outside conditions. This means that you’ll be less likely to be distracted by the draft or the heat, because the core of your body will be functioning optimally and maintaining your body’s homeostasis (equilibrium controlled by physiological processes). If plain water isn’t tasty for you, try adding some lemon or fruit – but try to not add crazy flavoring packets and drops or hydrate on Gatorade, as these are filled with sugars and chemicals that will alter the cell functioning in our bodies not for the better.

Staying hydrated is optimal for brain function and staying comfortable for long periods of time. Woo! Where’s your water bottle? What does it look like?

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Two down, five to go! Stay tuned for pt. II coming your way tomorrow...

UPDATE: Read Part II and Part III and pump your productivity through the roof!

What are your thoughts so far? Do you utilize these tips already? Did one surprise you?

[ink + brush by emily friend // picture links when clicked]