Between working a full-time job, maintaining a life outside of work and blogging things can get overwhelming at times and new responsibilities, there are days that I’m amazed that stay on top of it all. 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. 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.
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. Depending on the purse I carry I’ll have both my physical Happy Planner with me or just my digital ones. You don’t have to use both a digital and a physical one, but I suggest you use at least one.
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 I try my best to drink a gallon of water a day.
Make use of the tools you have – I’m sure that most of y’all have used 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 use it at work. 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.
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 6 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!