One of my favorite yogis on YouTube is Adriene, and every practice she reminds us to “Do what feels good”, don’t “Twist yourself into a shape, for the sake of making that shape”. Why am I jumping the shark and going all fitness guru on you today, well, because this applies to our business practices too. You need to find what works for you. While it’s great to try new strategies or structures or process, you have to find what will work best for you. You may not be a get it all done by 7:00 am type and THAT IS OK. Reading books/posts/articles and trying out those suggestions on productivity/organizing your day is good, but we get into trouble when we keep trying to force them into our lifestyle and they just aren’t working. Look past what is presented and see how you can apply those principles in a way that makes sense to your life. Maybe your “golden” hour is after everyone else goes to bed? Give yourself permission to recognize and say, that just doesn’t work for me.
Don’t let the to-do list control your day. If you are really in a groove on a certain project or topic, go with the flow, let your energy guide you and push the next task to the another time slot…THAT IS OK. Give yourself permission to follow your own lead.
We all need structure to make our businesses work, but we also need to know when to let that structure flex a little. Being the stubborn hard-headed lady I am, can be great at times, but it can also be a real hindrance when I try to force that square peg into the round hole. I’ve found when I’m on a roll with a project, sometimes I need to let the scheduled tasks go and you know what, that works for me. It also means I might have email replies that have typos at the end of the night, but well that was the price I paid 🙂
Are you currently trying to fit yourself into a square hole? I encourage you tomorrow to keep a journal of your day. What are you feeling? What tasks are frustrating the f*** out of you? How much time are you spending on core tasks, versus routine tasks, versus email/social media? Are you using your “good” hours on those tasks that make the most for your business? Are you taking breaks, are you drinking water?
Want an even clearer picture? Do this for a week. Still not sure how to move forward or break bad habits? I can help with that, plus much more to get you moving in a clearer more productive direction.
What do you do that you feel like might not “fit” the rules of how to be productive? How to you stay on task?