5 Tips To Be More Productive in 2018

productivity tips

Do you need a few helpful tips to be more productive in 2018? Do you always feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish your goals, get your work done, or just feel productive overall? I was constantly feeling like that in 2017 and I am vowing to make some changes for 2018. I have been talking to friends and fellow boss babes about what I can do to help myself, and I thought I would share my 5 tips that I will be implementing this year to try and feel more productive, accomplished and organized! I would love to hear from you guys too – especially mamas out there! It’s so hard to do it all and I could use all of the tips I can get. Leave me a comment on how you stay accountable and more productive and better at this balancing act we call life!

5 tips for productivity

1. Set time aside to answer emails – example half hour in the morning and hour at night. I am really great about responding to emails, and I have always been known to be a fast responder (even when I got hundreds of emails a day while I worked at E!, but that means I am answering emails all day long and it’s often interrupting my work flow. I am taking my friend’s advice and trying to only answer at set times so I don’t constantly feel that stop and go in daily tasks I am doing. I am also going to start archiving my emails instead of keeping all of the important ones in my inbox. It currently looks like a total cluttered mess, even though they are all answered, they still need to be filed away.

2. Daily Priority Lists – instead of getting bogged down with things that can wait or maybe aren’t as important as other tasks, start your day by making a priority list of things you need or want to accomplish in order of priority and work your way down. This way you won’t miss deadlines or spend your time aimlessly. I often do the things that are easier first or things I want to do at the beginning of the day, but then by the time I get finished, I realize I am behind on the work that is actually timely and on projects that have a deadline. There is nothing more stressful, especially when you have so little time to focus on work and then have to be back at mom life.

3. Keep a Calendar or Agenda – I have always loved keeping a calendar and to-do lists, and I love checking things off my list even more, but I have finally decided that instead of just keeping my notes in my iPhone calendar, which is so helpful so I don’t forget what I have scheduled, now I am also going to keep a desk calendar. I did this when I worked at E! and while I was in school and it was so helpful for bigger picture projects and deadlines and for me right now, it will really help my plan my editorial calendar for the blog and social media so I’ll be ahead on scheduling timely content and photoshoots.

4. Boomerang App – Do you guys know about this app? I just learned about it over the weekend and cannot believe how great it is. Do you sometimes forget about emails you sent that were never answered or you were supposed to follow up on setting a meeting time and place? I know I am guilty of all of the above! There is an app for that! Boomerang is a scheduler, send you email reminders and is a smart calendar assistant all in one that works with Gmail and Outlook. I’ll report back on how it’s working soon, but my friends rave about it and say it really helps streamline things all without leaving your email app!

5. Just Say NO – Sometimes you just have to say no. I got a lot better about saying no to things when Smith was born because I didn’t have a choice and because I wanted to be at home with him, but lately I have gotten a little more lax about my schedule and have been really feeling it. I often say yes to too many events, dinners, lunches, spa appointments, projects, you name it, and ultimately end up feeling tired, stressed and on edge because then I don’t have enough time to get work done and/or enough time to spend with Smith. I have also learned that if I am stressed about time and work, then I am not the best mom because I have less patience and I can’t be as present with him as I would like to be because I am thinking about the emails I need to answer or work I need to do. I vow to be better this year, like I mentioned yesterday HERE, I am going to try and keep my schedule more free and to really try and commit to things that serve my family and I and my business, and the rest of it needs to be cut out.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading this post today! Let me know if you liked it and if you want to see more of this type of thing. I am happy to bring in some experts on work life, mom life, etc to do guest posts for me! Make sure to come back here tomorrow for another new post! And then a new Winter Skincare Video on Thursday! xo

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