THREE THINGS I DO TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE

Let’s kick off the new week with a few ways to be more productive! I love nothing more than getting to the end of the week knowing I’ve crossed a ton of items off my to do list and can fully enjoy the weekend without any major tasks hanging over my head. Here are three things I’m doing to be more productive during the work week, featuring some pretty precious pictures of Rory hard at work. 🙂

design darling rory

design darling serena and lily bar stools prada bow flats

 1) Write one master to do list, no matter how long. I’ve experimented with this a ton over the years and I find that if I have separate lists for, say, work, our house, our wedding, and personal stuff like appointments or errands, I’ll rarely even look at all four in the course of a given day. If instead the four lists are all in the same place (which for you could mean a notebook, planner, Google doc, or Word doc), I have no choice but to see the full picture of everything I want to get done. This way when a new task pops into my head, I know to quickly throw it on my list before I get sidetracked on whatever I’m currently working on or worse, forget the new task entirely. Even if the master to do list is 72 items long and several tasks roll over into the next week (particularly relevant for wedding planning!), it helps to see all my weekly goals at a glance.

maison labiche embroidered shirt bonjour and julie vos cuff

design darling rory cockapoo

 2) Create structure in the work day. This can be really hard when you work from home and no one’s putting meetings on your calendar! But it’s important to me to wake up at the same time every day, to try to eat lunch around the same time each afternoon (still working on that…), and to schedule workouts with my mom throughout the week. If I were going to be super productive, I’d try to wake up with Will at 5:00 a.m. every morning and drive him to the train — something to aspire to for sure. 🙂 I’m definitely not a morning person by nature but I love feeling like I’m getting a head start on the day!

prada bow flats in navy and black on design darling

design darling marble table and serena and lily bar stools

3) My favorite productivity hack is the pomodoro technique. Will introduced it to me a few years ago and while I don’t use it every single day, I’m always happier and more productive when I do! It requires setting a timer (I just use my iPhone) for 25 minutes and working on a single task without distraction for those 25 minutes, followed by a 3-5 minute break (when I’ll let Rory outside, refill my water, or take a Pinterest break). “Respond to as many emails as you can in 25 minutes” feels way less daunting than “get to inbox zero,” even though they both tackle the same problem.

julie vos cuff on design darling

design darling working with rory

What productivity hacks help you tackle the work week? I’d love to hear in the comments!

bonjour embroidered shirt by maison labiche

design darling cockapoo

design darling working from home

Maison Labiche embroidered shirt (more sizes here, also love this)  //  Rag & Bone jeans

KJL pearl studs  //  Julie Vos cuff c/o  //  Prada bow flats (similar for less here, here, here, and here)

Marble hightop table  //  Serena & Lily Riviera stools  //  Striped ginger jars  //  Amy Berry dog bed

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