There are days that I’m amazed that stay on top of it all. Between working a full-time job, maintaining a life outside of work and blogging things can get overwhelming at times. I wouldn’t be able to keep my head on straight if I wasn’t organized and didn’t listen to my body cues, and I wanted to share a few tips on how to do so with y’all.
Get enough rest – I feel like I can’t say this enough. For some reason people take on the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” mentality and I feel like they’re only bringing the inevitable on sooner. We have to let our bodies rest and recover from everything we put it through on a daily basis. I can’t function at the level I need to be at without an adequate amount of sleep; in fact I actually got with a doctor about this a while back. I was getting sick all the time and was always tired and it came down to me not giving my body enough rest. I was put on a sleep schedule quite similar to the one I was on as a child and my life has done a full 180! Now, I don’t know if y’all need to get on a schedule as strict as mine (in bed at either 7:15pm, 9:45pm or 12:15am and awake at 4:45am on weekdays), but you definitely should make sure that you’re getting enough sleep every night.
Stay hydrated – Like most people there are days that I feel like I’m running on coffee. I have at least one cup every morning and depending on that day’s tasks I might have another cup or two. I also enjoy a good sweet tea, lemonade, Dr. Pepper and some adult beverages. Those aren’t the forms of hydration I was referring to though. For every cup of coffee, tea, lemonade, soda, cocktail or beer I make sure that I have at least 8oz of water. I keep one of my Yeti cups by me full of water and recently it’s been infused water. We got the cutest infuser bottles at work a few weeks ago and I have drinking citrus infused water since. I try my best to drink a gallon of water a day and that infuser really helps.
Utilize a planner – Whether it be a digital one like iCal or Google Calendar or a physical one my like my happy planner, I have to keep track of the goings on in my life. I actually do a bit of both. The first Sunday of every month I sit down and fill in upcoming events (at least the ones I know), and I go back and fill in other things as they come up. I like being able to see it all out on paper and make notes as I go. I then plug those same events in my Google calendar so that I get reminders on my phone. I used to carry my planner with me every day, but it’s pretty big and doesn’t fit in every tote or purse and my Google calendar can be accessed on my phone so that works. You don’t have to use both a digital and physical one, but I suggest you use at least one.
Dedicated spaces – When I was younger my mom often said that there’s a time and place for everything. Well that fell on deaf ears until a few years ago. I was working from home and found myself unmotivated to do anything that day. I just wanted to sit in my bed, check emails and watch SVU. It wasn’t until I moved to my home office area that I got that boost of energy I needed to finish the day strong. I’ve lived by myself for almost 4 years now and made the decision when I first moved out that I was going to use my dining room space as a home office. I didn’t need a dinner table since I lived alone and the space would work better for me as a desk area. That’s actually where I do most of my blogging. I bought the cutest little desk and chair from Big Lots a few years back and decorated the space so that it’s inviting. I have everything that I could possibly need right there to get work and blog related tasks done so I’m not constantly pulled away to another part of my place, and doing that really helps!
Make use of the tools you have – I’m sure that most of you bloggers out there have some sort of word processor and spreadsheet program. I’m willing to bet that it’s Microsoft Office too. Whether it’s using Microsoft Excel to track my budget, blog expenses, or even as a calculator when I don’t feel like pulling out a real one or using OneNote for…just about everything else in life I’m using this suite of programs daily. And I truly mean that I use OneNote for everything! I used it for years in school and I even convinced my team to jump onboard to use it at work (the client loves it). I use it for everyday notes and all things blog related. I have all my posts, design info and the hashtags that I use for all of my Instagram posts in various notes. I love that I can access all of my notes no matter what device I’m logged in on and I can make edits on any device too.
As an effort to help y’all become more productive and organized I wanted to give away a copy of Microsoft Office 2016 (a $149 value)! You’ll have access to the standard suite of programs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote and I’ll let you decide on whether you need the Windows or Mac version! So whether you’re looking to upgrade your current copy or you want to get it for the first time enter via the Rafflecopter below and may the odds ever be in your favor!
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