Tag Archives: Productivity

Five Things To Do On Sunday To Prepare For A Productive Week

January 27, 2019 Lasonia 4 Comments

Let’s all be honest, Monday’s tend to suck (for a lot of us anyway). Even Sunday afternoons can start looking a little bleak as we anticipate the work week ahead.

But, what if I told you a few small changes could help to totally transform your week. In order for us to really be productive, we have to be intentional about how we’re spending our time. And that my friend starts on Sunday.

I have learned that being productive is all about preparation. By preparing for the upcoming week on Sundays, you’ll know what you need to do ahead of time, and it will actually help to alleviate some of your stress so that you’re ready to tackle whatever comes your way.

Who knows, you may actually start to enjoy waking up and heading off to work each morning.

Here are a few simple and easy hacks I do every Sunday to ensure that I have a less stressful, more productive week.

How To Have A Productive Week

“A Sunday well spent brings a week of content.” – Proverb
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Plan your week in your planner

There’s nothing worse than waking up on a Monday morning and realizing you have three meetings in a row, all before noon! On Sunday, look over your calendar for the upcoming week. Do you need to add, cancel, or reschedule any appointments or meetings? Reviewing what’s already on your schedule for the coming week will help you feel more prepared to handle it.

Don’t forget to plan all the fun stuff. Date night with “bae”, or movie night with the girls, add it to your calendar. I personally, would be lost without my planner. But, if you are not a pen and paper person like myself, make sure that you keep important dates and meetings in your calendar on your phone.

Meal prep for the week

Who wants to come home after a long, hard day of work only to have to try and figure out what you’re going to prepare for dinner? I didn’t think so. By simply prepping a few meals on Sunday evening, you’ll be able to come in and get dinner on the table in no time.

And I know that everyone is different: some people prefer to cook several meals at once and then freeze them, others like myself prefer to make out a weekly menu plan and then shop for meals on a weekly basis. Do what works for you and your household.

Make a to-do list

I love lists! I make a weekly to-do list for things that I specifically need to get done that week. After writing them all down, I check them off as I complete them. Trust me it works! If you don’t write things down, the chances of you forgetting them are inevitable.

Declutter

Take a little bit of time to declutter. Wash the dishes and put them away. Make sure that toys are put back into bins and remote controls and things like that are put in their proper place. Go through the piles of junk mail on your counter and toss as much of it as you can. Put those piles of laundry away sis! You’ll thank me later.
As you declutter find a home for everything that you are keeping and make sure you always put things back in the right spot.

Take some time to relax

Sunday evenings are for self-care. That’s my motto anyways. Read a good book, catch up with your bestie, take a long, hot bath, give yourself a facial, check out a movie — do whatever feels good to your soul, and allows you to start the week refreshed and fully prepared.

Go to bed early

Going to bed early on Sunday night allows you to wake up fully rested on Monday morning. It sounds like such a small thing, but it is not, my friends. I can’t tell you how many Mondays have been completely unproductive because I failed to get enough sleep the night before. By hitting the sack a few hours early on Sunday night, your body and mind will be ever so grateful.

When it comes to having a productive work week, the adage “A Sunday well spent brings a week of content” is one of the absolute best tips.

How do you like to prepare for the upcoming week?

Lifestyle, Mompreneur

Four Productivity Apps That Will Help You Get Your Life Together

October 8, 2018 Lasonia 2 Comments

As the saying goes, time is one of our most precious commodities, and if you’re a girl (or guy) boss there just never seems to be enough of it. Oftentimes our mobile phones and electronic devices can tend to be a huge distraction. However, with the number of productivity apps available, our devices can now become powerful productivity tools for us.
Here are the four productivity apps that I use daily:

Canva

If you need help designing a blog post header or image, Ebook cover, or Facebook and Instagram images, then Canva is the app for you! With the use of this app, I can design both blog and social media images in as little as 5 minutes. The absolute best thing about this app is that you don’t have to know graphic design to use it. Awesome sauce!
Canva is available in both free and paid versions.

Buffer

How would you like to be able to manage and schedule all of your social media posts in one place? With Buffer, you can do just that. You can schedule your social media content for the week or for the month. How cool is that!
I have tried a couple of other scheduling apps, but this one is by far my favorite. There are several versions that are available (including a free one) depending on the number of social media accounts you need to manage.

Google Keep

Google Keep allows you to quickly add your to-do items from your mobile device or a desktop computer. It has a Post-It note style memo format that allows you to add quick reminders and to-do items within seconds. You can also customize the colors of your memo to visually indicate the importance of your task.
I am actually a paper and pen kind of gal, but I use Google Keep as a back-up to my daily planner, or when I am on the go and don’t have a pen and paper handy.

Snapseed

Snapseed is a free photo editing app. With this app, you are able to enhance photos and apply digital filters.
I use it to edit my photos before posting them to Instagram. You can whiten whites, remove red eye, blur backgrounds, and more. This is by far the best photo editing app that I have tried!

What are some of your favorite productivity apps?

Lifestyle, Mompreneur

How To Increase Productivity While Working From Home

July 3, 2018 Lasonia 13 Comments

Do you struggle to prioritize your business with all of the other things going on in your life?

Juggling the demands of work, husband, kids, household chores, and all the other things that life tends to throw at you can be overwhelming. Trust me, I know the struggle all too well.

Here are five habits that you can implement into your day so that you can increase your productivity – and maintain your sanity.

WAKE UP EARLIER

I know there a lot of people who are on the fence about this one, but I have found that waking up at least 30 or 45 minutes before my family allows me to sip my coffee in peace, gather my thoughts and mentally prepare for the day ahead.

If I sleep in, I tend to feel rushed for the majority of the day. Now don’t get me wrong, if I feel that I NEED the extra sleep, I have no problem snoozing an extra hour or two.

I have just made it a habit to wake up earlier in order to plan for the day ahead. And I feel so much better when I do.

GET DRESSED

I know, I know. Many of us who work from home consider wearing pajamas all day an added perk. But staying in your pj’s can actually have a negative impact on your daily productivity.

By wearing pajamas all day, it sends signals to your brain to relax.

Dr. Karen Pine, Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire says, “When we put on an item of clothing it is common for the wearer to adopt the characteristics associated with that garment. A lot of clothing has symbolic meaning for us, whether it’s ‘professional work attire’ or ‘relaxing weekend wear’, so when we put it on we prime the brain to behave in ways consistent with that meaning.”

While there is no science that proves wearing a full business suit while sitting at your desk at home will make you more productive than wearing say, a pair of sweats, according to Dr. Pine, the symbolic meaning of the clothes you wear does matter.

I make it a habit to shower and dress daily, even if I have no plans to leave the house. Most days I wear leggings and a tee, but I add a bit of lip gloss and put on earrings. When I make myself look good, I feel better and actually get more accomplished during the day.

By having a designated workspace, you can actually focus on your work when you are in that space. Without a designated workspace, I can get distracted by the dishes in the sink or the clothes that need to be put in the wash. Next thing I know, I’ve wasted a whole hour running back and forth throughout the house instead of focusing on a single task.

I am fortunate to have an extra bedroom that I use as my office. You don’t have to have an actual office, you can create a separate workspace in a small corner of your home. When creating your workspace, you will want to accomplish three things:

1) Make sure it is a comfortable space.

2) Make sure your space is clutter free.

3) Make sure your space is free of distractions.

Creating a designated workspace helps signal to your brain that it is time to work.

TIME BLOCK

I am definitely a pen and paper kind of girl. By writing things down in my planner, it helps me to remember it, and I also get a sense of accomplishment after going over my calendar and actually seeing how much I’ve accomplished that day. Time blocking has increased my level of productivity tremendously.

What is time blocking you ask? A simple definition of time blocking is “blocking off” a time of day in order to accomplish a certain task. You can do this by assigning a task to every hour of each day, or by blocking off 2-3 hours at a time in order to tackle different projects or tasks.

What I do is set aside blocks of time each day for all of my daily tasks such as checking emails, making/returning phone calls, housework, blogging, etc.

While the time blocking method may seem a bit rigid for some, for me, it enables me to plan my day more easily because I know exactly what I have to do and when I need to do it. I also focus my attention on a single task until it is completed. This helps me out so much because I am one who tends to get easily distracted.

Of course, my schedule has to be a bit flexible because I am a stay at home mom and my husband doesn’t work a traditional 9 to 5 job, but time blocking helps to ensure that I will have enough hours set aside to do what is needed for that particular day.

LIMIT SOCIAL MEDIA

In this day and age, I think this is one that we all struggle with. If I am not mindful of what I am doing, I will have spent a full two hours on social media without even realizing it!

Set aside specific time slots each day for social media. But limit that time! Apart from my specific work time (posting, scheduling and responding to comments), I spend time simply enjoying social media, and interacting with friends.

Try setting your phone timer for 20 or 30 minutes and enjoy scrolling. And then when the timer goes off -STOP, and move on to the next task. You can always spend a bit more leisure time on social media during the weekends.

IN CONCLUSION

Simply put, get up a little earlier so that you can mentally prepare for your day. Plan out your days ahead of time, both business and personal. Create a designated environment free of distractions that will allow you to be more productive so that you can get more done. Rid yourself of time wasters and try not to get sucked down the rabbit hole that is social media.

Lasonia B Graves