Five Ways to Bounce Back After an Unproductive Morning

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Asleep at phoneI like to get up at 6:15am, hours before I need to be at work. I know it’s a little crazy, but it gives me a chance to relax and ease into my morning. Unfortunately sometimes I get a bit bogged down and the morning gets away from me. I’m sure some of you have experienced this too – being on a busy schedule can be taxing. But should we let a productivity setback stop us from being efficient the rest of the day? No!

Here are five ways to bounce back after having an unproductive morning:

Talk it out with somebody: When you are too focused on a problem, you can get stuck in your way of thinking about it. Sometimes you need to just step away from the desk and find someone to talk it out with. You’ll get the benefits of face- to- face interaction with the added bonus of a fresh perspective.

Remove distractions: It’s easy to get caught up answering emails and calls all day. They seem like such pressing issues sometimes. If you find yourself dealing with everyone else’s problems, you might need to shut down. Sometimes I turn off my phone and close my email inbox so I can focus on a single task. Read more

10 Ways to Break Up Your Routine

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standupI’m a sucker for a good routine. I’ve been known to stand in the same spot every day while I wait for the subway, eat the same thing for breakfast and even pick out my clothes before going to bed at night.

Goodness knows that you oftentimes need your routines to keep you on schedule. I sure do! They can help you order your life, and bring a sense of normalcy to an otherwise hectic schedule.

However, given enough power and time, they can potentially dampen your productivity. If your “routine” is starting to feel more like a rut, try boosting your creativity by shaking things up!

Here’s how to do it:

Take a different way to work: We take the same way to work every day, and for good reasons: The shortest route, the least stressful way, the commute that takes you past your favorite coffee shop. Occasionally breaking from this rut can bring a fresh perspective. After all, your mind is used to seeing the same sights for roughly the same time every single day. Changing this up could be a stimulating experience to wake you up to a new way of thinking or see a new neighbor you didn’t even know existed!

Change up your lunch: Always grab a burger? End up chatting with the same people about the same things? Change it up! Eating a salad with lots of leafy greens can be a healthy way to get the nutrition you need to focus. Picking a new spot means you might run into new people to chat with too.

Switch up your exercise: Services such as ClassPass offer a variety of classes and workouts you can try. So go give a spin class a shot, or maybe try out yoga. Read more

How to Schedule Meetings in a Snap

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Learn how to become a better schedulerSometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, and in spite of making and maintaining a list to help us streamline our lives, some things still end up causing unneeded stress.

For me, I get a bit anxious whenever I need to schedule a meeting.  It seems silly but the thought of having to look at my calendar and come up with several options stops me in my tracks.  I usually end up putting off those types of emails for a while and they take up valuable space in my in-box for too long.
There are a number of online programs and apps that can alleviate stress and streamline the process of scheduling meetings:

YouCanBook.Me— With a simple setup, you can connect your Google calendar to your YCBM profile. What’s really nice is it allows you to embed your YCBM account directly on your website. This way your clients can quickly schedule an appointment without having to waste time creating an account themselves. It can be a little inflexible, but it’s worth a try.

Calendly— Calendly  is another program that connects directly to Google calendar. Similarly to the other programs on this list, it is rather easy to use and takes the burden of scheduling (often through bothersome phone tag!) off your shoulders. Read more

Be More Productive with a 15-Minute Vacation

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photo credit: Nicole Rouyer Guillet

photo credit: Nicole Rouyer Guillet

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

The most productive people know the importance of taking a break. In fact studies show that brief diversions from a task can dramatically improve one’s ability to focus on that task for prolonged periods. This is a productivity tip I talk about in my book, Listful Living.

But what do you do with you break? Some go for a short walk, others make a cup of tea – but what about something a bit different? Today I’m going to show you how to take a 15-minute vacation and feel rejuvenated and re-energized.

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Go onto Google and choose the street view.
2. Type in your favorite city or a place you’ve always wanted to visit.
3. Use the Google navigation tools to take a stroll around and enjoy
4. Walk down the Champs-Élysées in Paris or relax on the beach in Bali!

Another great way to take a virtual vacation is to use the app Periscope.  If you haven’t heard it’s a new video streaming app that I’m totally obsessed with. Download it and you can watch people live streaming from their phones all over the world. Just recently I watched someone walk along the Great Wall of China. It’s so much fun and a great way to reward yourself after some hard work!

What do you like to do on your break?

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

What’s the Best Planner To Make You More Productive?

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image1 (1)Last Thursday I went back to Long Island, to the town I grew up in to attend a Listful Thinking event. It was at the library I went to as a child, where I first developed my love of reading. I remember joining a summer reading group there when I was a kid and getting a sticker for each book I completed. What a thrill!  So being there to speak about my book felt very much like an Oprah full circle moment.

My very first friend and neighbor Jackie is a librarian there and set up this event for me. While I was there I spoke to a women who was having issues with buying too many planners and not using them. (Sound familiar?)

image5Her friends all raved about how helpful the planners had been for them, but she just couldn’t get into them. So she assumed the problem was with her.

I asked her if she was having any organizational troubles, besides not using the planners, which she didn’t.

I imagine this may sound like something many of you can relate to, so I thought I would share with you what I told her – If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Don’t try to force yourself into a system that doesn’t work for you. You have to find your own unique productivity style and be true to it.

image4It’s almost a psychological thing where we feel the act of buying a new planner/notepad/pen will make us more productive. But the truth is there isn’t any special planner or notepad that will change your life and make you more productive. There is a only the planner or notepad that suits you.

If that’s a simple steno pad or Post-It note then so be it. It’s more important to have a system that works for you. I write my work to-dos for the following day before I leave the office everyday. I do it on a simple steno pad. Where you write the to-dos matters less than the actual system you have for capturing them.

What planners have you tried that worked or didn’t work for you?