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SERIES: Productivity Hacks // Part 1: Mastering Priorities and Time Management
90 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to our three-part series all about Productivity Hacks! In Part 1 of this trilogy, Lindsay and Betsy break down their 4 top productivity tips for mastering priorities and time management in business and their respective motherhood journies.
Listen in for more real-life, relatable examples of these great hacks:
- Daily and Weekly Calendar Checks
- It's Either a Hell Yes or a Hell No
- The Power of 5 Minutes
- Understanding and Benefitting from Your Energy Rhythm
Come back for Part 2 (Optimizing Workflow and Focus) and Part 3 (Building Support Systems and Mental Space) later this month.
Follow us online & come say hi!
- The Business Playdate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebusinessplaydate/
- Lindsay White's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaywhite.co/
- Betsy Moorehead's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betsymoorehead.biz/
- Learn more about Lindsay's marketing agency here: https://thewhitelabelcreative.com/
- Learn more about Betsy's marketing services here: https://betsymoorehead.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Business Playdate
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Business Playdate, a podcast hosted by Lindsay White and Betsy Moorehead, two internet strangers turned business besties. We're two marketing professionals living across the country, raising our kiddos while running our own individual businesses.
Balancing Family and Business
00:00:15
Speaker
We built these businesses based on our experiences working in corporate management roles with the end goal to be able to show up for our families first. And we did it. We're so happy you're here with us. Now let's get into this week's episode.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello. Welcome back to the business play date. Oh, look at us. I know. Betsy and I just held up like she just took a sip of her coffee and I realized we're using the exact same coffee cup today. How fun. That is so fun. Unplanned. Yeah. Coffee cup from Michaela Quinn. Love it.
00:00:48
Speaker
Anyways, welcome back to the business play date. What a fun little morning over here.
Series on Productivity Hacks
00:00:53
Speaker
Betsy and I actually did some market research this week and I asked some of you guys on my Instagram stories what you're struggling with, what you want to hear about, and we got an overwhelming response about productivity hacks. I think that that's pretty par for the course. I think most listeners here are work from home moms and
00:01:10
Speaker
I mean, our lives are just absolute insanity all the time. They are. They are. And look at us being organized. Look at us. And so we started putting our heads together about the things that we do or the things that we aspire to be doing in our lives to make them as productive as possible. I mean, I think my work weeks are about 12 hours a week at this point in time, and I shove a lot of stuff into that.
00:01:34
Speaker
We actually are going to do a productivity hack series today so we're going to be dropping three episodes over the next three weeks all around productivity hacks and they're going to pertain to different categories so we're going to have today's episode which is all about mastering your priorities and your time management and taking a look at that.
00:01:54
Speaker
And then the next two episodes are going to go into optimizing your workflow and your focus, and then one all around building your support systems and increasing that mental space. So we're just going to go ahead and take it away. We are. All things that we just love so much.
Struggles with Productivity Hacks
00:02:10
Speaker
Honestly, I could talk about productivity hacks all day long.
00:02:15
Speaker
I was just going to say I could too, but I don't do a lot of this and I need to be better at it. I feel like I aspire so hard to be like this productivity master and I implement these things into my life and then it's like, I also think that productivity and anything really, anytime you're implementing something into your life, it's like you have to go at a slow pace or it's too overwhelming and at least for me, I just shut down.
00:02:41
Speaker
If I get one under my belt and I'm able to do that then it's like okay great now my life still feels even keel like I need to add more productivity hacks because like.
00:02:51
Speaker
I'm only incrementally better, but now I've added this incremental space for more chaos. Oh, yeah. I used to be like an all or nothing. I'd go fully all in on something, and then I would shut down if I wasn't all in all the time. Right. I'd be like, oh, well, I've totally just gotten off track, and I'm never going to be able to be productive again, and blah, blah. But what is this saying? It takes 20 or 30 days to make a habit. I think it's 21.
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah, 20 watt. And so I try to like remind myself of that and like take on one small thing at a time if you can like continue to do one thing consistently. So as you're listening to this, everybody out there, don't feel like you need to take on all of these tips at once. Find something that you feel like is realistic that could really work for you and for your life and your season that you're in and run with it and then slowly build onto that.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, take what you need right now. Well, so let's just jump in.
Daily Routines and Boundaries
00:03:50
Speaker
So the first one that I have is starting and ending your days. Right. And so for me, like, I like to wake up, you know, after I do my morning stuff, I like to look at my calendar and be like, okay, here's what I have on the docket today. It lets me know if I need to get ready that day. If I need to take a shower, put on makeup, am I going to be on cameras? Am I going to be?
00:04:10
Speaker
on calls with clients, what does my day look like? But I also like to end my day that same exact way. So look at my calendar for tomorrow so that I have that head space going into the next day of A, I know what's coming, so I feel a little less overwhelmed of like, oh my gosh, what's tomorrow going to look like? But B, so that I can mentally prepare myself of, OK, I have all of my ducks in a row for that meeting. I don't need to stay up all night thinking about what I'm going to talk about in that meeting, because I just did a mental check-in.
00:04:39
Speaker
to make sure I'm prepped for that meeting tomorrow. I also start and end my work weeks that way. So on Fridays, I will take like 15 minutes. So today, actually when we're done recording this, I have another meeting until 12-15 and then I have 30 minutes where I'm like, I know I can't schedule anything then because I have to wrap up my week and I have to be able to forward think into what's going on next week. Yeah, I did the same thing.
00:05:03
Speaker
Cause again, I mean, it just helps with that mental, like I can go into the weekend being like, I closed out my week. I'm not overwhelmed walking into next week now. And then I don't look at my calendar usually again until Sunday night. No, no, absolutely not. Yeah. No, I'm the same way. I love it. That's literally the last thing I do before I put my phone down.
00:05:22
Speaker
for the night to go to sleep is look at my calendar. And I did that in my corporate life too. And it really, you know, the Sunday scariest, but it like really helped to know what was happening the next day so that when I woke up, it was like, okay, I know I have to do today. I don't need to dread it. I just need to get after it and get it done. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it just helps with that.
00:05:41
Speaker
setting yourself right. It does. The second one here we have is either it's a hell yes or a hell no, setting boundaries, exploring the things that it's okay to say no to and don't align with your goals or your priorities, which
00:05:59
Speaker
I understand. Yeah. I mean, I use this a lot. Like if it's not a hell yes, it's a hell no. I use it a lot in work when I'm taking on new projects, especially if it's like a client is coming to me and they're like, Hey, I have this referral for you. This could be a great
00:06:14
Speaker
new client and every time I've ever taken on someone where I'm like, I don't know about this. It is a hell no. I go through the project with them and I'm like, that was not a good use of my time or my mental space or my mental energy. And so now I really look at what I'm taking on and like, is this a hell yes? Is this a good opportunity for me? Is this something that I'm excited about? Great. I'll take it on. If it's not, then it's a no from me because I just don't have the space. It's a no from me, dog. It's a no from me.
00:06:44
Speaker
This is also really difficult to do if you're a people pleaser. I think we both are. I know I am, but it is hard and it does take some work, so just know that it's okay to say no and it's okay to say hell no also. It's okay to say hell no. People pleasing is totally who I am.
00:07:04
Speaker
Um, I don't know if you've ever taken the Clifton strengths finder like test. I think you've told me about it, but I've never done it. I love it. Um, but one of my strengths is called woo and it's where you literally want to woo people. Like you are a people pleaser.
00:07:20
Speaker
Um, and that's one of my things, which it can be a strength, absolutely. But it's also totally a flaw because I, I have to use this rule a lot in my personal life because people will ask me and hopefully none of my family members listen to this podcast episode, but I'm like in the middle of this Thanksgiving, right? Like where we, we had no plans for Thanksgiving and now all of a sudden everyone wants us to do something for Thanksgiving. And it's like, there's only one in my brain. That's a hell yes. And all the other ones are like,
00:07:49
Speaker
Oh, but I don't want to let them down. And I don't want to say no. And it's hard. And I have to be like, no. If I say no to the one that I like and the one that's a hell yes, then I'm going to be so miserable for my whole holiday doing this hell no extravaganza. That goes hand in hand with what we're talking about when it comes to work especially. Right. You can either be a little uncomfortable up front and turn it down and say, no, thank you. Or you can be uncomfortable
00:08:18
Speaker
throughout an entire project or a possible like retainer relationship that you just know and your gut isn't right. Right. I mean, last week we talked about.
Capacity and Managing Tasks
00:08:28
Speaker
Black Friday coming up and how a lot of people are doing big launches over Black Friday are a big deal. And I mean, that's a lot of work to put together a big launch like that. And that's one of the other things where it's like, yeah, I would love to do a big sale on my programs for Black Friday, but I don't have the capacity to do it. And so in my brain, I'm like, yeah, I would love so much to do that because I want
00:08:49
Speaker
people to get a deal and I want people to get excited and I would love to put that energy into it, but I don't have the time right now. I don't have the capacity, so it's a hell no. I can't do it. Next year might be my year for a big sale, but it's not this year. I go through seasons like that with content on social media too for my business. Sometimes I'm like, oh, hell yes. I want to do this. This is so fun. And then there's times where I'm like,
00:09:10
Speaker
Hell no. I cannot manage all of this. I don't want to. And I have to constantly remind myself, it doesn't matter. I'm not actively marketing my business on social media. So what does it matter? So anyway, I love that one. I think that's a great one. I think you came up with that little tip there. I love it.
00:09:34
Speaker
I did. As I mentioned, I use it a lot in my personal life of like, what am I going to do on Friday night? Do I really want to go to this thing or do I want to just stay at home and rest? If it was me, it's like hell no. Thank you. All right. The next tip is the power of five minutes, quick task management. So with that, this is something that I've used for almost forever.
00:09:59
Speaker
I, like when an email comes in, if I'm in and it threw out some of these next episodes, we'll talk about optimizing your workflow and using focus and things like that. But if I'm in a point of my day where I'm in email and I'm like doing a lot of different things, I'm multitasking on the computer, I'm getting things off my list.
00:10:16
Speaker
And an email comes in and it's like, Hey, can you send me this logo file, which is an email I frequently get because my clients rely on me to manage that kind of stuff. Um, that's like a two minute task. And for me to put it to the side and then come back at a later date and do that task.
00:10:35
Speaker
is going to require more time because I'm out of the flow of just getting things done. And it's also going to be slower for the client to get what they need. But it's also going to be more mental energy for me where I'm going to have to pump myself up to do it, where right then it pops into my brain of like, oh, I need to send this logo file instead of filing that away. It's like, oh, check it off. Send it off. Delete that email. Bye. I'm done. It's a quick dopamine burst. And it's also
00:11:00
Speaker
just completely removing something that could have potentially been on my to-do list. So that's something that I like to use a lot.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah, that was in my corporate life. That was the brand director, so I got a ton of requests for local files from promotional people. I mean, I was constantly getting emails for this type of stuff. And that's how I would do it. Even if I was in the middle of doing something, I would just quickly do it. And I remember one time my boss was like, you're being really productive. You're getting things really done, but don't feel like you have to answer someone right away in an email because then they might expect that.
00:11:38
Speaker
And I was like, I understand. I totally get what you're saying. But for me and how my brain functions, it's easier for me just to knock it out real quick and be done with it, and then I don't have to come back to that email. Whereas I had people that I worked with in my past life that did wait. They would wait till the very end of the day or the end of three days before they would go back and do these little nuanced tasks. And then they'd have five follow-up emails from people.
00:12:02
Speaker
Right. Asking them these things. Yeah. And I'm like, it takes two seconds. Just do it. So I too implement this in my, now like my business, if it's something quick that I can knock out, even if it's just like a, Hey, can you, um, can you like add this video into this ad unit or whatever? I'm like, yeah, quick. I know I can handle that like within five minutes. Let's get it off my desk.
00:12:23
Speaker
Well, I think too, when those things, so you get an email that's like a quick to do or a quick task, you're already shifted from whatever you're doing. And it's like this perfect opening for you to get distracted and start scrolling Instagram or doing something like that. And so if you can just stay in motion, it'll be so much easier to get back on track to what you were originally
Peak Productivity Times
00:12:42
Speaker
doing.
00:12:42
Speaker
Yeah. I also do this at our old house. We had a two-story house and stairs, things just pile up on the stairs. I'm already going up the stairs and it takes way less than five minutes to put the shoes in the shoe closet or whatever.
00:12:59
Speaker
It's like, that was something I was trying to get really good at at our old house was bringing the things up the stairs. Like, you know, like that's a less than five minute task. Like just bring it up the stairs. No, I totally agree and understand. And we have like a catch all little area that is the same way. And I'm like, it'll take me like all of two minutes just to clear this and put it all where it needs to be.
00:13:20
Speaker
Do I do that? No, but I'm working on it. We're all trying to be better people. We're trying our best. We're just flying right through these, but I love this next one. So the last little productivity hack for this section is understanding your rhythms and your scheduling for energy. So knowing when you have your biggest energy moments,
00:13:43
Speaker
when you know you're going to be the most efficient and just understanding when those peaks come and getting it done. So for example, for me, Monday mornings after I drop my girls off, I try to get them at daycare between 7.30 and 8 so that I can get home. And I know that Monday morning, I'm going to be productive as hell because I'm like,
00:14:01
Speaker
fresh off the weekend. I know Mondays are like catch up, get things done day. So I like do a ton of work and that, I don't know, two, three hour period in the morning on Monday mornings. And then that just sets me up for a less stressful week. So for me, that's, I know my Monday mornings are going to be very productive and just mornings in general, I have a lot more energy because as the day goes on, you kind of
00:14:26
Speaker
get more tired and it gets more difficult to focus for me personally. I listened to a podcast by Liz Bagwell and she talked about this
00:14:41
Speaker
sit, this like rhythms, right? And how there's different, I guess there's like three, and I'm totally going to butcher this, but I guess there's like three different types of bio rhythms that are like normal. And so some people are morning, some people are night, and then some people have like two different seasons of energy, I guess, on their day, which I found very fascinating. But I'm definitely the morning person. Like I know the hours between, honestly, the hours between like 7am and 10am are my best hours. After that, I kind of just start to go downhill.
00:15:10
Speaker
which sucks because right now a lot of that time is monopolized by driving my kids around. But a lot of good voxer conversations in or getting tasks delegated during that time, so I make the most of my drives. But I think that I'm definitely the morning person.
00:15:29
Speaker
I would say on a week by week basis, it doesn't really change daily. Tuesdays tend to be like my least productive day. I don't know what it is. I think it's something about how the weekend is so far away, but I do know that, you know, between seven and like 10, 30, 11 is when I need to do any of my really intense work, like work that requires me to focus and have my brain like totally on. So that can be like content creation or building out a new platform or program or
00:15:56
Speaker
building a marketing strategy for a client. Um, and then in the afternoons or like that lunchtime is when I like to schedule meetings because I'm like, I get energy by talking with people. So that can help me get through that kind of like lull of where I don't have enough energy.
00:16:13
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, very similar over here. I, after about one, two o'clock, I start getting that like late afternoon, um, like where I need another cup of coffee or something. Yeah. But, um, I, I know, you know, I'm going to go pick my kids up in an hour or two. So I'll try to like do something active during that time period. Like after I've like had lunch and you know, kind of get like that sluggish feeling sometimes after you've eaten.
00:16:40
Speaker
I try to then do something active, whether it's starting laundry or doing something in the kitchen. I'm trying to keep my body going so that if I am sitting at my computer at that between 2 and 3 o'clock time period, I know I'm going to just get very easily distracted, overwhelmed, done so over the work.
00:16:59
Speaker
Um, and so I agree. I mean, there's just, it's interesting because I do feel like I get like a little burst of energy after everyone goes to bed and like between, between like eight or nine o'clock. And so I'm trying to establish like a nighttime routine, pre going to sleep, smart thing. That's like, you know, okay, the girls are in bed. Typically what Ryan and I do is we just like sit down and watch TV or we sit down and we're on our phones, but we've been trying to be a little bit more like,
00:17:24
Speaker
cognizant of putting our phones away during that last hour before we go to bed. We've done it once over the last week. We haven't been great at it, but we're trying to make an effort. Either make sure I've moved clothes over from the washer to the dryer or making sure there's no dishes in the sink or the little catch-all area has been cleaned up just to set up the next day. It keeps me a little bit busier. Think about it with your kids.
00:17:53
Speaker
They get this little burst of energy when they're so tired right before bed. They start acting so crazy. I don't know if your kids are like this, but mine are. I know that's because they're about to just hit it hard. That means they're so tired. They're about to just
00:18:09
Speaker
hopefully have a good night's sleep. So if we can kind of keep them a little bit busy during that time without getting too crazy, then I know that it's probably going to hopefully set them up for a good night of sleep. So I feel like having, keeping my brain busy, but not by scrolling during like that last hour. So before I go to bed kind of helps me then maybe have a better night's sleep and then wake up and everything is like handled for the next day or the morning is like reset and ready to go.
Recap of Productivity Hacks
00:18:34
Speaker
I really need to implement that in my life. This is something I'm just trying to aspire to get to. It's so hard. It is so hard to put your phone down, especially when you've been on all day, either as a mom or just working on calls with people. You just want to veg out.
00:18:56
Speaker
kind of escape for a little bit. But man, sometimes that can just make it even worse. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Well, I mean, I think this concludes the first segment of our three-part series. So next week, we're going to be talking about optimizing your workflow and focusing on your focus. So stay tuned for that. We have a lot of really awesome tips there.
00:19:19
Speaker
We do. Should we just real quick go through the four, like just, yeah, let's, let's go through the four. So the first one was start and end your day, right? Daily and weekly calendar checks. And then the second one is if it's not a hell yes, it's a hell no set your boundaries. And then the third one, the power of five minutes, quick task management, get things done very quickly off your desk.
00:19:43
Speaker
And then last but absolutely not least, honestly, this one might be the most powerful is understanding your rhythms. So scheduling for where your energy is each day. Yes, I love it. And if you don't know where your energy is at each day, do a little energy audit, you know, spend this week doing a little energy audit. Yeah, I love that. Each hour, just so you know how you feel. Yeah. Journal it down, write it down.
00:20:06
Speaker
Well, this was lovely. I love this. Okay. Well, we'll be back next week with some more productivity hacks. Yeah. And if you liked this episode, drop a review, tell us your favorite productivity hack in the review. Yes, please do. We would love that. You'll have a good one.