So, it is a new year! We have a fresh chapter in our book of life with fresh pages to fill in. Have you been filling it in with your new resolutions? The old ones from last year that you are planning to fulfill this year? whatever it is, the coming of a new year gives us the good feelings of a fresh start, another chance to get it all right. I, like many of you, like to think that I am a pretty productive person. In one 24 hour period I have to find the time to teach my homeschooler, work a part time job at the salon, gain travel knowledge for my clients, cook, clean, budget, rear children, and take care of myself. 
This is not even to mention the other things that pop up on me and sweet surprises to through the monkey wrench in my schedule. I am getting really good and managing my days but the credit is definitely not all mine. I have been doing a lot of reading and listening to people who have little methods that help them manage their time better so that they can get more done. I am so thankful to them and because I cannot just get knowledge and not share, I am going to share the information with you.
If you have any good productivity advice please share! I am always willing to learn more ways to get through my day and have accomplish some important things rather than have played games on my phone and missed opportunities to grow.
The greatest productivity that I have seen for myself would be the word…NO. Words are powerful. The word “no” is a very powerful but also productive word. I am someone who feels obligated to tell people yes to almost everything. After all of the yeses, I am feeling upset because I start to feel like I never have enough time. Part of what I am doing this year is learning to say “no, thank you”. I am not adding any reasons or excuses on to it, just no. I have had a couple of opportunities to this already this year and I have to admit
that I was excited and energized by this very freeing statement. I will be using it as much as I can this year!
Because I have blogger goals this year, I am carrying an idea book with everywhere I go. I do have my phone but when I write things down, I seem to give it more attention. I can write down thoughts, ideas, errands, or anything that catches my eye. I can use it later however I see fit but I don’t lose the moment in the sea of things and encounters that I have experienced in the day.
A scary one that I want to try is deleting Facebook and Instagram from my phone, as well as the games I play. I do try not to visit them 100 times a day but because I have a blog to nurse, I may not be able to do the deleting thing but I bet that is quite refreshing.
Ok, so this one comes from Frederick Douglas and when I read it I knew that he wrote it
just for me (yeah sure). “A man is worked on by what he works on.” OMGoodness!! We waste so much time in toxic work environments, doing busy work and trying to solve unsolvable problems. We need to steer clear of this or we are trapped into wasting a day or two or twenty years and retiring in it. Avoid quagmires, whether in be work-related or relationships.
I have found the very best planner in the world!! My planner is more than just the average and it took me two weeks to find it. This planner has resources to help you set monthly and yearly goals, awareness and self-discovery worksheets, how to make a vision and mission statement, setting good daily habits, making a clear life strategy, weekly and monthly action plans and refection and celebration/rewards. This is just to name a few of the tools provided and I absolutely love it! And to add to its already fabulous tools…there are stickers!!! of course I had to purchase more because you can never really have enough stickers. I will be adding a link for the planner below. Anyway, a planner is an excellent way to aid in you not wasting a day or overbooking your day to cause you to deny yourself daily self-care which I am totally against.
So this isn’t everything you can do of course, just a few things that I am working on to make my days go smoother and not let anything or anyone waste my time. What do you do that has helped you to become a more productive person? OR what have you added to your existing plan this year to make life a little easier?
Enjoy!