With everything going on it may feel hard to stay productive. I’m not here to tell you to start being more productive. However, sometimes it can actually feel good to have control over something in your life. I’ve realized “waiting till everything is perfect” to make a change is just a bad excuse. So I think there’s a happy medium for everyone. For me, I like to make lists and stay organized to keep my productivity up. There are tons of ways that work for different people when staying productive. Not everyone is going to thrive the same way. The main thing to remember is to do what works for YOU.
The main thing that keeps me organized and productive is writing everything down. Whether it’s lists or schedules, my brain is too fast-paced to not take notes. I’ve learned that notebooks just aren’t for me. It’s 2020, we live in a digital world. So I found the app that makes me still feel like I’m writing things down, but I can keep everything in one place without the clutter. GoodNotes is my favorite app because it is super customizable. I can have multiple different “notebooks” and use a ton of different templates. I import photos, documents, and my own templates. It’s honestly better than a notebook for me! I can easily switch back to my email and calendar all in one place.
I’ve seen a lot of people map out their weeks to stay on a consistent schedule. I’m not totally committed to it yet (WHICH IS OKAY) but I like the idea. I made myself a week template to fill in with a loose structure. Mondays are for work housekeeping. Tuesdays are podcast days. Wednesdays are for XLE. Thursdays are for my team meetings. And Fridays are for YouTube. You can even add home chores such as Sundays are for deep-cleaning and Wednesdays are for laundry! This makes it easier to not stress about everything you have to do in a week.
Then, I made a template for each day. Writing out a list of priorities is what keeps me sane. I know if I can do those things, the rest of what is on my mind is just a “don’t forget” item. That means, I don’t need to stress about it and get it done ASAP but I can’t forget to make it a priority. I also like to have a moment of gratitude every morning and night. It really helps my mental health and being able to write it down makes all the difference.
If you want to use these templates, simply click and hold the image to save or drag and drop. In GoodNotes, make sure to create a new page that is blank and white. Then import from your photos and write on top!
Some other favorite apps are simple tools to build new habits. I recommend looking into them if you’re someone who likes everything to be digital and in one place like me.
