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Time Management and Productivity for People Who Can’t Get Organized

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Time management and productivity are the focus of Get Organized Month, Week 2 – although, any time is a good time to streamline and create systems to make life easier.

Time management and productivity tips and strategies for moms, bloggers, and people that want to improve productivity. and be more efficient.

When it comes to blogging, there are so many pulls on your time:

  • creating content,
  • promoting that content,
  • networking with other bloggers and brands,
  • social media,
  • email newsletters and email marketing,
  • taking blogging courses,
  • and on and on.

So, how do we get it all done?

The right answer is that – we can’t! But that doesn’t mean we should throw in the towel and just give up.

What it does mean is that we need to put systems in place that we can rely on to help us get things done.

This is how I like to do things at a very general level. You can adapt this system to deal with whatever you have on your plate.

Compartmentalize Your Life

Most bloggers work from home. I do.

And that presents many challenges – especially if you have a busy household.

It is easy for the boundaries between work and home life to become blurred.

Honestly, I love blogging and my business – and I try to squeeze work in whenever I can. This means that my laundry, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, and paperwork often take a backseat. But when those core functions of life don’t get done – my work life starts to spiral out of control.

I feel like I am always playing catch up and my time management and productivity suffers in all aspects.

Blogging Time vs Family Time vs Household Time vs Me Time

I have learned to create three buckets of where I spend my time.

My work requires daily attention, as do my family, my home, and myself.

So, every day, I block out the hours that I will be focusing on these four areas.

The allocation of hours can change from day to day. On days that my kids have evening activities, I can sometimes schedule in some extra work time – when the house is quiet.

Usually, I designate the morning hours – when the kids are getting ready for school to focus on the home. I can fold laundry, unload the dishwasher, make lunches, and allow the normal interruptions that happen with a houseful of people.

Using A Paper Planner

I have found that using a paper planner to visually plan out my day, really works for me.

The vertical layout in the Erin Condren Life Planner is great because each section can represent a bucket. You can read my Erin Condren review here.

Another option is the Planner Pad because you can manage your tasks and your calendar on the same page. Whichever paper planner you go with, make sure the planner layout works for you.

Create an Action Plan for Each Bucket of Time

Knowing when I am going to focus on each bucket of time, is not detailed enough to increase my time management and productivity.

I need to have an action plan in place so that I don’t squander the time that I allow for each bucket on unimportant tasks.

If I allow myself 4 hours in one day to work on my blog, I usually make a plan for how I am going to use this time.

Often this is referred to as prioritizing.

We might want to get 50 things done – but actually only have time for two or three.

The Four D’s of Time Management and Productivity

When it comes to getting things done – there are 4 D’s that you must follow. There really is no other choice.

You either Do It, Delegate It, Delay It, or Delete It.

It’s that simple.

Choosing What To Do And What Not To Do

Time management and productivity are not about being busy.

We can be busy doing a lot of things. But if what we are doing doesn’t further our goals – then we are just wasting time.

For bloggers, our goals are usually measured by money, website traffic, email subscribers, and personal satisfaction.

When you tackle your to-do list, evaluate each item based on the results you will get if you actually do it.

Organizing My Blogging Process

To simplify my blogging process – I signed up for CoSchedule in the new year.

CoSchedule is an editorial calendar, social media scheduling platform, a blog planner all rolled into one.

What do you do to Improve Time Management and Productivity?

What are some of your life hacks when it comes to saving time? Let us know in the comments below.

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2 Comments

  1. Two of your suggestions are going to help enormously. Because I print everything I am drowning in paperwork. Files are bursting and time is taken to maintain and find everything/anything. I am going to learn to make files online of my email. With 60-70 emails a day that alone would enormous. I am also going to stop all paper statements from coming in the mail. The second suggestion is to set a weekly schedule to accomplish what I don’t like doing and procrastinate over. I will not only have a set weekly time for those items but a schedule and set priorities and a timer to accomplish them. Items I have to have a hard copy of will go in the safe not the file system. These two things alone will eliminate covering the queen bed in my office with items constantly needing filing. Because I love to read books more than magazines I am going to read through the magazines and dispose of them once done before starting the next book. I also won’t renew subscriptions. I am also going to stop printing recipes and set up more accessible files to find what I want online.
    All of this will take considerable time to set up and my procrastination might try to interfere. So I’m going to bribe myself with reading new books, of which I have many on kindle to choose from. I play free cell and that’s only going to be a reward from now on. All this is ambitious but I am ready and I have you to thank for providing the impetuous. I’m grateful. It’s the old adage of when the student is ready the teacher will come. I am making a printing exception of this commitment to myself.
    Warmly, Tia

    1. Hi Tia,
      I am SO happy that this article helped you.

      It sounds like you have the start to a system that is going to work for you.

      Organization is always a work in progress. But if you have systems in place then you can always pick up where you left off.

      So, one thing I would mention is that when you finish your organizing for the day – make a note for yourself so you know where to start when you pick it up again.

      Keep me updated with how things are going. 🙂

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