Checklist For Trying New Things

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We all have our daily routines, it’s what keeps us productive and gives order to our busy lives. But without trying anything new, you can easily get stuck in a rut.

So here is a checklist to get you motivated for new exciting things!

1. Do Not Be Afraid: This is the very first thing you need to check off your list. You can’t start anything new if you don’t think you can do it. You have to get into the mind set and be confident in yourself! I mean, what is the worst that can happen?! You hate it, you stop doing it? So what. At least you tried it and did what you said you would. Here is a motivating speech from my girl Oprah to pump you up.

2. Find The Time: It’s easy to have the excuse “I don’t have any time,” but you can make it. Want to try a new workout regime? Wake up an hour earlier or wait to clean the house til tomorrow (a sink full of dishes isn’t the end of the world!) Want to learn Spanish – all you need is 15 minutes a day to pick up a few words. Write down a schedule and stick to it. Once you put it in your calendar it’s much easier to commit and make sure you do it at that time. There are some great scheduling apps that will remind you to sign up for that hot yoga class.
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It’s My Blog’s 3rd Birthday!

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Happy BirthdayToday is my blog’s 3rd birthday, my “baby” is now a toddler! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone and I have all of my awesome productive followers to thank for making this such a success and supporting me.

For today’s post I thought it would be fun to go back in time and see where it all began! I started the blog after my husband Jay and I found our first apartment in Manhattan. We had a checklist of all the things we wanted in that apartment. Now three years later — we purchased our first apartment in Manhattan (also with a checklist!)

I’ve learned a lot through writing this blog and it has been through the good, the bad, and the ugly! So here is a look back at some of favorite posts, along with a few mishaps. You grow from mistakes as long as you learn from the, right?

Oldies But Goodies

Is Productivity Making Me Rude?:  In my never ending quest to be more efficient, I realized that perhaps I’ve become more short and rude.  This post is one of my favorites because I think it really addresses the things we miss when trying to do it all.  Check it out. Read more

Uncommonly Productive Tasks

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productivity

productivity (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Twenty-four hours is not nearly enough time to accomplish your daily routine while still having time for yourself. If you are not a naturally productive person, it can be hard to get into the habit of allotting your time correctly for all your to-do’s. If you attempt to be a super star of productivity, you can get frustrated and burnt out fast! Trust me – it takes some trial and error to see what works best for your needs.
Recently, I came across a Forbes article that lists 24 ways to be uncommonly productive.

Here are 5 of my favorites:

1. Get up an hour earlier: The early bird gets the worm as the saying goes! I know the snooze button is easy to hit but getting up a little earlier everyday can help you be more productive. Whether it be reading the newspaper and enjoying a cup of coffee, finishing a pitch for work, or doing that last load of laundry, your day starts out with crossing SOMETHING off the to-do list. Check out what the most successful people do before breakfast!

2. Avoid meetings at all costs: Impromptu meetings, unless totally necessary are a waste of time and energy! You will not be prepared and the things you want to accomplish will most likely not get done. Having a schedule of weekly meetings is the best way to go – even during the meetings you should have a set schedule of talking points and goals.

3. Take a proper break – after one or two hours take 10-20 minutes to dance to your fave song, do some push-ups, or get out in the fresh air.  You always need to give yourself a break to refocus your energy. Working on a task for too long can burn you out.  Madonna (another fellow list maker) is great to jam out to when you need a break.

4. Don’t answer your phone: This is also one of my mottos. I NEVER, I repeat never, answer my phone during the work day unless I have scheduled a phone call (I even have a YouTube video dedicated to it). If it’s really important that person will leave a message. You don’t want to get stuck in a conversation for a half hour that is not on top of your priority list or that you’re unprepared to have.

5.  Ask yourself “Is what I’m doing right now getting me closer to what I want to achieve?” I think this would be great to put on a Post-It note on your computer, or as the background of your phone. It’s a simple reminder to keep focused on what really needs to be done throughout the day!

Try out one of these tips this week, and build up to the rest! Rome wasn’t build in a day and neither is a productive lifestyle. Check out the rest of the productivity tips from Forbes here

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Spring Clean Your Digital Life

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Spring

Spring (Photo credit: Charalampos Konstantinidis)

It’s finally here! It is officially Spring! Usually when this day rolls around I am packing up my sweaters and bringing out the tank tops – – but with the chilly weather still here in NYC (UGH) I thought I would get into the mood by spring cleaning my digital life instead.

It seems like a daunting task to go through the TONS of files and folders that have been clogging up your hard drive but never fear I’ve got you covered. Here is a list (of course) of ways to help refresh your desktop, emails, and your social media accounts! Your computer will thank you for the fresh start 😉

Untweep: Get rid of those lingering twitter accounts that you follow with Untweep. This will go through and pick out accounts that haven’t tweeted in x amount of days (you decide, can be 1 day of not tweeting or a whole month) and unfollow them for you. This is a great way to clean out your account!

Unfriending binge: Not a bad a idea to go through Facebook and unfriend people you don’t interact with! You come to realize you may not even know some of the people on your friend list or you just may be sick of seeing those old acquaintances status updates you skim over anyway! This way — you won’t miss the good stuff.

Unroll.me*: We all sign up for newsletter after newsletter to get promotional deals but all they end up doing is clogging up our inboxes. I was subscribed to almost 300 without even realizing it! Unroll.me will handle this messy problem for you. This site will go through your email account and locate each and every newsletter you’re signed up to receive and unsubscribe for you. (Except for the ListProducer.com email updates — I know you want those. Sign up here!) No need to go to each site and do it yourself- such a time saver! See more about it here!

Clean out your Browser: I bookmark things all the time that I find on the web like recipes, fun articles, or sites that I want to go back to and explore. Because it’s hidden away it builds up quickly. Go through and delete unwanted items. It’s also smart to go back and delete cookies and your browser history – tidy everything up nicely!

Backup your data: It’s smart to keep files safe and back them up! Sites like Dropbox are perfect for this. You can store as many files as you want including pictures and images. This allows you to make sure nothing gets lost in case a coffee spill on your laptop happens and it opens up some room on your hard drive! I’d also suggest going through your Dropbox account and clearing that out too. Any old photos or documents that you’re not going to use anymore should go. Do not forget Evernote either! The same goes for your work data too. Backup as much as you can. No one likes to think too much about losing their data or crucial work documents, but you can never be too safe.

Clear out the apps: We download so many apps with the intent to “try them out,” but usually never do! This happens to me all the time and I now have two full screens of random apps that I never use. I cleared them all out and now I have much more space on my phone – more room to try even more apps now 😉 Test out a few of my faves here.

I hope these tips help with the start of your digital spring cleaning! What other ways do you organize your cyber life?

Happy spring everyone!

*Unroll.Me makes money by learning what people stay subscribed to and what they unsubscribe from – that data is valuable and helps corporations learn what people want and what they don’t want. Your email address is NOT sold. If you’d like to keep your subscription list private you’ll need to unsubscribe manually from individual email subscriptions. If you appreciate the swiftness that you can unsubscribe from multiple sources while helping brands service customers better then Unroll.Me is for you!

I’m Going To B-School!

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Screen shot 2014-03-09 at 9.17.42 PMI never thought I’d be going back to school — but I am!  Today is the very first day of Marie Forleo’s B-School and I couldn’t be happier to get started.  I found Marie a few weeks ago through Twitter and have been devouring her content ever since. She teaches people how to be entrepreneurs and turn their passions into much more.

It’s an 8-week online course and there are people from almost every inch of the globe participating.  Just check out the map of participants — insane, right?  I’ve done a few continuing education classes here and there since graduating college. I’ve taken a novel writing class, a children’s book writing class and of course a bunch of cooking classes — but never anything like this.

Getting ready for class has been exciting and scary.  Here’s a list of my preps in case you find yourself in a similar situation one day:

1.  Get a notebook you love.  Seriously — this helps calm my fears.  I chose a notebook that a close friend gave me for my birthday — so it has some sentimental value.  It’s the perfect size to stick in my purse if I need to take my work on the road.  And the best part is the cover.  It’s plastered with stamps from fabulous places all over the world that I want to visit.  It’s an excellent inspiration for the traveling I’d like to do in the future.

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