8 ways to squash the Sunday scaries

I hate the Sunday scaries, and as I come up on a full month of working from home only half of the week, I have found the last three or so weeks to always begin with the threat of the Sunday scaries. For some people, the Sunday scaries might be because they really don't want to go to work or school – they dread it so much that Sunday is a horrible day for them.

For me, the Sunday scaries is just the culmination of everything I have to do and haven't yet done, staring down at me, saying, "It's time, Paige." I think we all have this on Sunday evenings/Monday mornings, though. We see what we have to get done in the week ahead and see what we didn't get done over the weekend (probably for a good reason!) and ... well ... freak out.

My mom was with me this weekend, and if there's one thing my mom and I have in common, it's our ability to knock out tasks on a to do list. And that's exactly what we did on Saturday evening and Sunday, so the Sunday scaries were just a myth yesterday evening. I got to enjoy a book I've been reading, work on my novel and take Theo on a walk – all without feeling guilty or stressed.

I have a few things I do every Sunday to make sure I set myself up for success for the rest of the week and don't feel stalked all day long by everything I need to do.

Here are my tips for making the most of your Sunday and setting yourself up for scary-free success:

1. Write down (or type out) everything you'd like to get done on your Sunday – or your weekend, if that is easier.

Y'all know how I feel about the power of the brain dump. Get it out of your head and onto paper.

2. Include fun stuff, like watching a movie or reading – it's not ALL chores and laundry!

I literally wrote down, "Take a shower." *shrug emoji*

3. Treat yourself with accomplish goals. 

"If I finish this really annoying task I've been putting off, I'll watch an episode of Seinfeld while I fold laundry.

4. If long lists are the reason why you have the Sunday scaries in the first place, separate your list into things that MUST get done before you go to bed and things that you'd just LIKE to get done.

I like really detailed lists because my list looks like I accomplished more! To each their own.

5. Don't lock yourself in the house all day. Work in errands that let you get some sunshine, talk to other people, etc.

i.e., I always go grocery shopping on Sundays!

6. If you have a roommate or a partner, ask for help.

Maybe this is just me, but I like to take things on and try to do it all myself. 

7. Make sure you are actually accomplishing tasks that will make your life easier for the rest of the week.

Are you really going to be happier come Thursday because you dusted your blinds but didn't make a meal plan for the week? Hmmmm?

8. Listen to great music or an engaging podcast or audiobook while you work.

I clean and accomplish my Sunday task list to the soundtrack of Hipster Cocktail Party, the ultimate Pandora playlist. (Well, this Sunday was to the soundtrack of March Madness.)

What my Sunday list looks like every week

– Load dishwasher.

– Empty dishwasher.

– Do all laundry in the house.

– Fold & put away laundry.

– Bake bread.

– Make meal plan & grocery list.

– Grocery shop.

– Pack lunch for Monday.

– Monday blog.

– Wash sheets.

– Make bed.

– Clean bathrooms.

– Run Roomba (I usually run it 2x on Sundays. Theo is a beast.)

– Schedule social media for the week.

– Read 30 minutes.

– Work on novel for 1 hour.

– Set up planner for the week.

(But more detailed than this, tbh. I'm holding back.)

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Y'all, my house is so clean. How long will it last? Just ask Theo.

Leave a Comment life, productivity

6 things I (try to) do every day to keep things running smoothly

I have been trying to live life in a more focused and mindful way (my words of the year!) by cutting out multitasking and keeping my eyes on the prize, making sure I take care of myself and don't make myself busy at the expense of making myself happy. There are a few things that I have always done randomly when I want to be more organized/keep my life put together that I am trying to implement every day or at least consistently, to keep my life and our household running smoothly.

Now, an important disclaimer: I am not perfect. I do not always remember or make time to do everything. In fact, a lot of the time, only one or two things get done each day – but when everything works out and everything goes as planned, my day goes a lot better and I feel a lot less pressure to get a lot done in not a lot of time! Planning ahead and making time for small tasks takes away the urge to multitask and rush and not take care of yourself, later!

Here are the five things I push hard to do every day so I can keep my productivity high and my stress level low.

1. Every night, I sit down and plan out the next day.

This is a no-brainer for me and unless it's a weekend, I always make time for this. I ordered a Day Designer planner and this has been a great system for me. I make a list of everything I need to do and then block out time for it around my meetings – making sure to leave time for random tasks and the inevitable projects or assignments that come up during the day and need to be done ASAP. 

This can be as small as "Put frozen chicken in the fridge to dethaw for dinner by 9 am" or "Start the breadmaker at 3 pm for pizza dough." Just knowing what my day holds makes me wake up with a lot less holding me down.

2. When I say I'll do something or am asked to complete a task, I write it down. 

This is my worst flaw: I say yes to everything, but I don't write it down so I don't remember I ever said yes to it. What's the good in offering to help people or participate in a project if you totally forgot you offered? So, I am working hard to make sure I add things to my Day Designer to do list or to Trello when things come across my desk – whether in an email, a text message or a Slack message, or in a conversation with a person in real-life. I take a lot of notes in my bullet journal and on sticky notes, and then I make sure the notes get somewhere where they won't be lost.

3. I throw a small load of laundry in the washing machine every day.

Patrick looked at me once and said, "Does it feel like we are always doing laundry?" Well, that is because we are. I try to do one load a day and put it away, because I hate folding and putting away laundry in huge batches. Small batches here and there are way less horrifying.

4. I let the dishwasher run overnight and empty it first thing in the morning.

Nothing holds me back more than knowing my sink is overflowing with dirty dishes. Or knowing that my favorite coffee mug is still dirty. I hand wash most of my pots to make sure they last as long as possible (they are All Clad and super nice, I baby them!) as well as my nice knives that I got for Christmas, and I try to do that every night before I go to bed if it didn't get done after dinner (usually it does, love you, Patrick!) and make sure the dishwasher runs while we're asleep, then unload it in the morning or early afternoon while I'm making something to eat. 

5. I set an alarm to be in bed an hour before I really need to be asleep.

This is huge for me. Days when I fall into bed and go straight to sleep are days when I probably didn't get to read, or plan out the day ahead, or have some time to myself to think and snuggle with Theo before I go to sleep. Our bedroom is (mostly) my happy place: 99% of the time, I don't work in bed, I only read and journal and plan. So, that hour before I go to sleep is a great time for me to make sure I start my next morning happy and in control. And of course I have to make time to read! My books are taking over my house!

6. I delegated tasks that I hate and take me more time than they're worth.

I got two things for Christmas that were huge for me: A Roomba and a food processor. 

Why I got a Roomba: I hate to vacuum, and I would put it off for days and days and days until it took hours to get all of the fur and Theo dirt up off the floor. Now, I vacuum three to five times a week and just let Roomba do the work in the mid-afternoon or morning when we're not up to anything. All I do is pick up Theo's toys and bones and call it a day.

Why I got a food processor: I love to cook, so getting pots and pans and a Crockpot were just ways for me to cook more, not to make something I hate easier. But I HATE the time it takes to do prep work! Using my food processor to cut onions, peppers, even tomatoes and spices makes my life 1,000 times easier and cuts the time I spend chopping things in half. 

I also ask Patrick to fold laundry and load the dishwasher after I cook dinner – two things I hate to do – as his share of the household work. And he doesn't mind that nearly as much as he minds things like cleaning bathrooms, which he hates and I don't mind at all! So it works out.

Basically, my strategy for this is: Determine a few tasks you hate, and figure out what you can do about those tasks to take them off your to do list entirely or make them easier, at least. For example, do you hate grocery shopping? Consider using an app like Instacart or pickup at your local grocery store so someone else shops for you – there's a fee, but if you'd be able to dedicate time to something more important to you, it's worth it. Do you hate cooking? Use a Crockpot and whip up some dump meals. 

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Those are my strategies for being more focused on my goals in 2018! What do you do every day to keep your life and your house running smoothly? I'd love more tips!

Leave a Comment organization, productivity

how I'm managing my to do list (+ a free printable!)

I have been on a mission to find the perfect planner/to do list/brain dump/task manager/note-taking system solution for all of my organization and productivity needs, but I haven't been able to find the right thing. I am still thinking about the white marble Midyear Day Designer and I've been working in a Moleskine cahier for a bullet journal over the last couple of weeks, but nothing was quite right for me.

When I lived at home and was juggling so many tasks, I actually typed up a to do list every morning and categorized it in my usual way [you can read more about my Trello system here] and absolutely loved that. I had room to add in additional tasks, it was a very visible way to see what I had already done and I became far better at completing tasks that absolutely had to get done before I moved on to fun tasks that I'd rather be doing.

I stopped doing that when I moved in with Patrick because my computer wouldn't connect to his printer. I do love my Trello system and it works great for me, but I like to have a visual piece of paper with my to do list written down on it. At the same time, I also wanted to be able to block out time for tasks and meetings, so I could visually see my tasks on my schedule and make time for everything.

If it's not clear to you, I am very particular. I wanted a very specific kind of page, and every other option I've tried or researched wasn't quite right. The Day Designer was too big and didn't allow me to categorize my tasks in Must Do, Should Do and Would Be Nice. (You know, my frogs.) I can't have anything that will weigh down my carryon. Mainstream planners like the Ban.do and the Lilly Pulitzer day planners didn't have room for my expansive to do lists, just a few priority tasks and events. I was making it work in my Moleskine, but I didn't want to invest in a larger Leuchtterm or hardback Moleskine and I was tired of redrawing the same things over and over again.

Here's what I needed and wanted in a to do list:
• Enough room to write with whatever pen or marker I choose (I can write rather big if I'm using a Crayola Supertip or a Papermate Flair pen, and some planners/notebooks are too tight for that!)
• The option to categorize my tasks the way I prefer
• Space to block out time and keep track of my appointments on my to do list, on the same sheet of paper as the to do list
• The freedom to skip a day and not lug all of the previous days around with me

In the end, I had one option: I had to make my own. And voila.

[Want to try out my to do list system? Download a free PDF version here!]

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How do you manage your tasks? Are you as picky as I am? (It's OK if you aren't – I am definitely special in that regard!

Leave a Comment organization, productivity

how to stay productive when you work from home

If you haven't heard me talk about this before, I truly don't know how, but I do work from home at least 75 percent of the time, when I'm not traveling to our various newsrooms. My boss is centered in Austin, Texas, and the other members of our team are in Vermont, D.C., Fort Worth... a little bit of everywhere.

I work from the comfort of my home and my laptop, and now that I'm going on a year with McClatchy, I can say that I am almost an expert at productively working from home. It's the productively that I struggle with from time to time.

But I've gathered some tips and advice and some of my own mistakes and learning experiences here, in case you've suddenly wandered into an opportunity that allows you to work from home.

Set a morning routine and stick to it. I don't advocate for waking up early if that's not your jam, but I do think that everyone should have a routine that they stick to whenever they're working, regardless of when they choose to wake up and start their day. Know what your routine is and keep it going from day to day. It will get you in the right state of mind to start your day. Most people have the time it takes them to get ready for work plus their morning commute to prepare, but if you work from home, you don't.

Actually get ready. Don't think that working from home means you can work in your pajamas. I mean, you can, but I don't recommend it. I spend a lot of time on Google Hangouts so that's one reason why I can't just lay around like a hot mess all day, but you will actually feel like an adult with a job if you dress like an adult with a job. I don't do my hair and put on makeup every day, but I do get dressed in clothes I'd wear if I was working in our newsroom.

Set boundaries. You'll want to know what your supervisor expects of you, hour-wise, and then you want to stick to those hours. If your workday ends at 6, end your workday at six and start your personal life clock. Spend time with loved ones, cook dinner, read a book – do not work. I am the worst about this. It's really tough when you work from home to not just make the argument that you can (and should) work anytime you can.

Have multiple places to work. Everyone and their brother says, "Have a desk!" OK, listen. I work in a handful of different places in our apartment: 1) my desk, 2) our dining room table, 3) our couch, and 4) my chair on the patio. I can be productive in all four of those spots, although I do prefer to do different kinds of work in these spots. So, if I'm on a Google Hangout, I tend to sit at the dining room table or my desk; if I really need to get work done, I'll be at my desk in the office. At the beginning of my day and as my day is winding down, I tend to work on the couch. And I move outside when I get cold. You can be productive when you're sitting on your couch. The difference is, are you laying down with a blanket or are you sitting comfortably with your laptop achieving the same goals you were achieving at your desk?

Resist the urge to multitask. Don't try to participate in a Google Hangout and start a load of laundry. Don't work on a spreadsheet while you empty the dishwasher. There's no way to avoid doing some house chores while you work at home, but if you try to be everything at once, you will end up getting nothing done properly. Dedicate time during your day to get your house chores done, but don't try to be superwoman.

Take regular mini breaks. A mini break for me can be taking Theo outside for a walk or starting a load of laundry or tidying up the kitchen or making a snack. I try to take a mini break once every hour or 90 minutes (No more than 5-10 minutes at a time.) and then two to three longer breaks throughout the day.

Put your phone on silent or keep it in another room. Especially when I'm sitting at my desk or the dining room table, this is a necessity. For one, I hate the sound of my phone vibrating against a hard surface.  But because you can get pretty much every notification you need on a computer these days, especially if you are using a Mac, there is no reason to have your phone on you too. I put my phone into Do Not Disturb mode and put it to the side. Periodically, I'll pick it up to check it for anything I might have missed, but my phone calls, important emails, Slack messages and texts come through on my laptop, where it's easier to monitor them without derailing my productivity entirely.

Leave the house. Seriously. Once a day, you need to actually leave your house. Leave your neighborhood. Leave. Go away. When I first moved in with Patrick in January, we both would work from home all day, cook dinner together in the evening and then sit on the couch and watch TV. Very quickly, we were absolutely miserable. Theo has kept us a little busier but I still always make an effort to leave the house at least once a day, whether it's for a grocery run or a trip to grab Starbucks or a Coke at McDonalds. Usually I have errands or things I want to do that pull me out of the house, but when I don't, I make myself leave anyway. The pressure is lower for me to eat out so I don't mind smaller expenses like that here and there.

Keep food in the house. Our house is well-stocked with lunch meat and cheese, bread, milk, eggs, cereal, snack foods – everything I could ever want to eat, unless I have a very specific craving. Keeping food in the kitchen is huge. If you have no groceries, you're going to feel the pressure to leave and grab lunch out of the house; while I advocate for leaving the house once a day, I don't advocate doing it right at lunchtime, which is a really productive time for me. I also don't advocate trying to work hungry. Keep food on hand and never work hungry.

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If you enjoyed this post, consider sharing it on Pinterest!

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Do you work from home? What do you love about it or hate about it? What are your tips? And if you don't work from home, what keeps you productive in your office or workplace? 

Leave a Comment career advice, productivity

how I'm changing my mornings to boost my productivity (+ a free routine printable!)

Ever since I started my job last August (woah, LAST AUGUST?!) I have been trying to master my morning routine and be as productive as possible in the mornings. Let's be clear: It has not gone well. When I lived at home with my parents in the fall, it was a lot easier to wake up at a reasonable time, but I would get distracted with Lularoe or Daisy or talking to my mom instead of getting started on my day.

Now that Patrick is waking up and going into his office for work, I actually have something helping me get out of bed, too. I like to start my day with Patrick whenever I can, especially if he's going to be gone for a while, and I usually get his lunch ready and help him get his stuff together when I can.

What I want to avoid is what happened on Tuesday – I woke up late for Theo's vet appointment at 9 a.m., ran out of the house with Theo after showering super fast and throwing on clothes and didn't eat anything or drink any water before I got to the vet. My body reacts to dehydration and low blood sugar pretty dramatically – I am prone to fainting. I had a spell in the vet's office while the vet was doing Theo's bloodwork; thankfully, I had my sugar pills and got a cool, wet paper towel to put on my face until I started to feel like myself again. But if I was waking up on time and establishing a real morning routine, I would've eaten breakfast already and that would not have happened.

Here's what I want to integrate into my morning routine, so I am all warmed up mentally and ready to start my workday by 9:30 a.m.

THE NIGHT BEFORE

• Pick out my clothes for the day, if I have somewhere I need to be or a call where people will see me

• Pack Patrick's lunch and make sure there is something in the kitchen for breakfast and lunch for me

• Clean up Theo's toys, the kitchen, the dining room table, the living room, etc.

• Plug in my computer, iPad and phone

• Put away any clean laundry
• Block out time commitments, meetings and other events in my bullet journal

IN THE MORNING

• Wake up at 8 a.m.
• Shower, brush my teeth and get dressed before 9:30 a.m.
• Open the blinds and make the bed
• Eat a protein-packed breakfast, not just a granola bar
• Start promoting my blog – posting in Facebook groups, scheduling my Facebook posts and Pins, shooting Instagram photos
• Read for 15 minutes while I eat breakfast

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Want to download a printable to help you establish your morning routine? Follow this link!

If you liked this post, consider sharing it on Pinterest!

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Leave a Comment life, productivity

[5 things] the best time management advice I've ever gotten

One of my favorite things to read about is productivity. Time management, time blocking, bullet journaling, Google Calendar tips, email advice... all of it. I consume this sort of news at a crazy rate – you should see my Pinterest boards.

Here is some of the best advice I've read or gotten from colleagues or friends!

Set office hours.

Whether you are working in an actual office or a creative entrepreneur who works on your own schedule, you need to be clear to yourself and to others when you are on and when you are off. I map out my hours for work and for my other commitments on my Google Calendar. This is my weakness – I want to work on feedback reports on the weekend when I have spare time, and I want to answer Lularoe emails or messages at 2 a.m. when I should be asleep. 

If you honestly tell yourself and your clients that you are unavailable after 7 p.m. for family time or that you cannot be reached from 9 to 5 because you're working your day job, you will know that you have to accomplish the tasks you have on your list in the time frame that you have. It makes it harder to push things off and it sets clear boundaries in your life.

Block out your time.

If you're clear with yourself about working hours and what you need to do when, then you can be honest with yourself about how much you can get done in a period of time. If you know you're working from 9 to 5, block out what you need to get done in those 8 hours. A lot can be done if you have a clear picture of your day. If you're really busy, block out time for little things like answering a single email or stopping to eat lunch. You know how it can get.

Delegate.

You can't and you shouldn't do everything that needs to get done. I'm not saying that you need to hire people to do every single task in your life, but find ways to delegate tasks that you can't take on yourself or that you can't do alone. Ask your child, your spouse, your partner, your coworker to help you when you are overwhelmed with tasks. If there's a task that you absolutely hate but your spouse doesn't mind – for example, I hate emptying the dishwasher but Patrick doesn't mind doing it at all – then that's delegating. You cannot accomplish everything.

Focus on one thing at a time.

You cannot multitask. I know you think you can. Sometimes I think I can. But you can't. And when I try, I do a worse job, I make mistakes, I have to go back and redo things, I leave things halfway completed because I got distracted. You will do a better job if you are aware of what needs to get done and you work your way down your list one thing at a time. You are not a robot – you are not capable of splitting your mind three or four ways at once. And honestly, it hurts your head! At least it hurts mine.

Give your tasks deadlines and categories.

Everyone manages their task lists differently, but I stand by this – every task needs a deadline. Don't fool around and think you'll do the laundry if you have no deadline for doing the laundry. Be real with yourself and what you can accomplish in a given chunk of time, but give yourself a real deadline for every task and organize those tasks into categories. I use Trello to do this but everyone has their own system.

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What are your time management tips? Leave a few in the comments! I love to learn what others do to be productive.

Leave a Comment productivity

a day in the life of me

I love reading "A Day in the Life" posts from other bloggers, and I wanted to share mine. My job is a little weird, since I travel almost every other week, but I wanted to share my daily routine with anyone who's curious what it looks like when I'm not traveling and am working from home.

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8:30 a.m. My first alarm for the day goes off. I say first because I hate waking up to begin with, but I especially hate waking up and rolling out of bed right away. I set multiple alarms – there's one for actually waking up and one for physically hauling myself out of bed. 

9 a.m. OK, OK, I'm physically up. Probably. I probably snoozed my alarm at least three times. I check my work email, first thing's first, and take Theo outside for his first (short) walk of the morning. Since I've been working from home almost always if I'm not traveling, I pour a bowl of cereal and settle down on the couch or at the kitchen island to start my work day. 

I also feed Theo and give him something to chew on or play with while I work. Patrick sleeps later in the mornings because he stays up later than me, so I'm on Theo duty in the mornings. This has become a lot less stressful lately – when he was a brand new addition to the household, it was horrible. 

9:30 a.m. My mornings when I'm not traveling pretty much looks like this: Check email. Work on feedback reports or training materials. Repeat. My email is my to do list most of the time. On Mondays, there are usually a lot of things to filter through. I also check my personal email and clear it out at this time. 

My emails could look something like...

• Story coaching for reporters.

• Headline help or brainstorming requests.

• Project planning – if a newsroom has a bigger series going live.

• CrowdTangle training or dashboard requests. (This is one of our main social media analytics tools.)

• Schedule and/or travel changes.

• Preparation for our next trip.

Or all of the above.

10 a.m. Theo goes outside once an hour. I won't repeat this every hour, but it's pretty standard. Sometimes we forget because he's asleep or chewing on a bone, but for the most part, it's once per hour until after dinner. 

10:30 a.m. Since I have a work call at 11 a.m., I hurry up and shower, brush my hair and try to make myself look like an adult.

11 a.m. Almost every morning at 11 a.m., I have a check-in call with my team. There are three of us – one is stationed in Vermont, one in Fort Worth and then me in Charlotte, so we catch up on the day before and what's on our calendar first thing in the morning. Lately, though, at least one of the three of us is traveling. 

11:30 a.m. Time to organize myself for the rest of my day. Sometimes, I do this the night before, but usually, I leave it for the morning once I've cleared my inbox, finished any super time sensitive tasks and had my morning call with my team. I manage all of my work and personal to dos using Trello and a priority-based system (I sort my tasks by must do, should do, would be nice to do and use labels and deadlines to keep me organized within those columns). 

[If you're curious about my Trello system]

12 p.m. I grab a snack or eat a sandwich (or, let's be honest, eat a bowl of cereal that I forgot to pour for myself when I woke up) and pack my bag to head to Starbucks to work for a couple of hours. Patrick plays golf one or two times a week, and when he does, I usually go to Starbucks, to give Theo some kennel time – we're still trying to warm him up to his kennel – and to give me some quiet time. 

12:05 p.m. I arrive at our way-too-close Starbucks and order a Violet Drink and settle down at a table by the window that has plenty of outlet availability and is only slightly wobbly. I probably end up working from Starbucks once or twice a week, and I earn enough stars from going on work trips that it's not outrageous. I plug in my noise-cancelling headphones, start playing the Hamilton soundtrack and get to work.

12:05 p.m. to 4 p.m. I chug away at my work, using Trello as my guide. By the end of the day, I usually try to completely knock out my Must Do and Should Do columns. Depending on the day and my mood, this works out great. On some days, it's more of a battle.

I do try to insert smaller "fun" tasks in between huge marathon tasks. So, if I have to finish a feedback report for a newsroom – which is a marathon task – I'll also put something like "Respond to blog comments" or "Post on Instagram" on the list. I give myself some small things to look forward to, and I feel more accomplished when I push them over to the COMPLETED card!

4 p.m. I look outside and it is pouring rain. Welp.

4:10 p.m. Still raining.

4:30 p.m. I don't like to leave Theo for more than five hours, so as soon as I see the rain has slowed down, I jump in the car and drive home. 

4:40 p.m. Once I let the little man out, we walk around the apartment complex for 15-20 minutes and wait for Patrick to come home. 

5 p.m. Patrick traveled a little farther for golf today so I start preheating the oven for enchiladas and boiling water for rice while I finish up my workday at the kitchen island. Theo is, inexplicably, asleep in the middle of the living room.

6 p.m. We eat dinner – enchiladas and cilantro rice, both from mixed stuff we buy at the grocery store and requiring very limited work on my part – and start watching one of our many shows we're in the middle of on Netflix. This time, it's Orange is the New Black, the new season. Holy heck, this season is bizarre.

6:30 p.m. It's time for Theo's long evening walk. The length of the walk depends on the weather and Theo's mood – read: is he being an ornery little shit? – but ideally, we try to be gone for at least 30 minutes. When he gets a little older and a little less wild, we'll start walking farther distances in the evening, possibly taking the trail behind the apartment complex.

[Read more about Theo's daily routine]

7 to 11 p.m. We take Theo outside once an hour, and we also do his training sessions in the evening. Otherwise, I sit on the couch and read or work on my blog/Lularoe on the computer (or, more likely, play games on my iPad) while Patrick sits next to me and works or reads articles (or, more likely, plays this golf game on his phone). 

11 p.m. I am usually asleep on my feet. We take Theo out one last time and then take him to bed. He sleeps in the human bed because we're weak willed. He stretches out between us, Pat starts playing The Office and I fall asleep within four minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

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And that's my day! What do you make part of your daily routine? 

Leave a Comment productivity

5 5-minute things to do if you really need a breather today

Today, I wanted to talk about a few of the ways I try to take care of myself when I bite off a little bit more than I chew. If you're anything like me, you probably try to tackle 10 things at once, when you only have time and patience for maybe two of those things. I love the feeling of being productive and wiping my to do list clean, but I have to take 5 minutes here and there to take a few deep breaths, lower my heart rate and refocus my priorities. 

You'll notice what's absent – no social media, no email, no aimlessly scrolling through my phone or playing a game. I try to step away from technology for a few minutes when I need to refocus, and I recommend the same to you!

I'd love to hear your strategies, too!

Take your dog for a walk. Or go for a walk by yourself. Every time things get a little wacky, I take 5 minutes, leave my phone in the house and take Theo out for a quick walk around the apartment complex. I like that for five or so minutes, I focus entirely on Theo – does he need to potty, is he walking properly, does he behave well when he meets a new person or a dog? – and not on the immense to do list I left inside the house.

Drink a glass of water. Get up from your desk, fill a glass with water and drink the entire glass. Not only are you probably not drinking enough water, but this is a simple, easy task that clears your mind and can be done anywhere you are.

Fold laundry or make your bed. Maybe folding laundry isn't relaxing to most people, but both folding laundry and making the bed are easy, monotonous tasks that are probably low on your to do list but will need to get done eventually. You'll feel so much better to say, "Hey, I did this thing!" than you will if you keep pushing yourself to get stuff done.

Write down 10 things you're excited about. Whether that's the date night you've got planned or the delicious dinner you're about to make, give yourself a list of things to look forward to. I love doing this in my bullet journal – I can look back on it whenever I need a little push, and just writing some happy things down brings me back to center.

Call your mom. OK, this is the only one where technology is required, but you aren't staring at a screen. You don't have to call your mom, necessarily, although I usually will – call your dad, or your significant other, or your child, or your best friend. Call one person who will have something good to say when they pick up on the other end – not someone who will have a laundry list of complaints, but a funny story or great news or something interesting they saw on Buzzfeed to share with you. 

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What are your strategies for taking a breather and refocusing?

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