Productivity Hacks

Hello, and happy Monday, tender friends!

I have three productivity hacks to share to hopefully get our Monday started off right. One of them is old, one of them is old with a new modification, and one of them is brand new (to me). I’m sharing because I got excited by how effective the new one has been this past week.

1. Let’s start with the old: complete one concrete task as soon as you wake up. The first thing I do when I wake up every morning is feed the chickens. Yes, on those single digits mornings it’s cold, but it feels so good to knock that task out as soon as I wake up. And the cold kind of wakes me up and helps me feel more alert, so that’s the silver lining on those days that I’m sliding around on ice. I also do three partial pullups and three reverse crunches on the pull-up bar every morning. It helps to stretch out my back after sleeping through the night. It also gives me a jolt of testosterone (which women also need.)

2. Make a list of chores that need to get done today, in the next week and this month.

Modification: color code your tasks. I don’t know why I never thought of this, but it makes sense to separate tasks by color. For example, I’m going to color code March using different colors for work-related items (pitches and submissions), preschool requirements (turning in paperwork/bringing in party supplies), and church stuff (helping out with childcare/prayer team). Have I mentioned how much I love my planner?

3. Use the Pomodoro technique. This is the one that really got me excited this week! It’s so simple – all you have to do is set a timer for 25 minutes, complete whatever task you need to complete during that time, and then set the timer again for a 5-minute break. You repeat this cycle for as long as you need.

This has been a game changer for days that I’m sitting down to write without a clear idea in my head about what I’m going to write or revise. Rather than brainstorm (even though I fully support brainstorming and that is still important) I set the timer. As soon as I’ve set the timer, I feel like I’m racing the clock and I take a lot less time to get into a piece than I normally would.

Okay, tender friends, thank you for stopping by, and thank you for sharing!

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