Times Like These

SHOP THE LOOK

Trench & bag c/o Aritzia, skirt c/o James Jeans,

shoes c/o Sole Society, top c/o Gentle Fawn

One of the things I love most about blogging is that there aren’t any rules, really. Even with a pretty flexible job, you’re never totally free to do exactly what you want per se. I’m coming up on my one year anniversary working for myself soon and while it’s been a year full of learning, growth and at times, challenges, getting to work solo is something I wouldn’t trade for anything. But while having creative freedom usually means I can plunge headfirst into whatever I’d like to do (usually working like a nut job obsessively on it), it also means that if a rare, unusually worthwhile distraction comes around, it’s really hard to stick to your work because there aren’t any set hours, no one to respond to, etc. The summer vibes have been throwing me off big time lately so I’ve had to retrain myself to hold myself accountable again. Click through to read my 5 tips to stay on task!

1. This might sound counterintuitive, but give yourself a full day off first. If you’re just run down then this should be remedy enough, but if you’re feeling a bit off mentally and motivation-wise, then not only will some added rest help, but it also clears away the “I’m tired” excuses and forces you into action the next day.

2. If you’ve been avoiding your work, then commit a solid 10 minutes to just doing a mental dump. Write out absolutely everything you “need” to do, the big and small in no particular order, and get it down in a doc.

3. Once you’ve laid out everything you need to do, parcel out tasks however it makes sense to you – most productivity experts suggest that you categorize it by a. the things you don’t want to do and don’t need to do, b. the things you don’t want to do but need to do, c. the things you want to do but don’t need to do and d. the things you want to do and need to do. By categorizing it all out you’re not only eliminating a whole category (the a. category of course) but you’re also making little hills out of a mountain of work and you’re prioritizing them appropriately.

4. Now take your b. category (aka “the frogs,” read more about it here) and tackle them first thing in the mornings. For me every day, it’s doing my social scheduling and my emails. It’s not that I don’t like doing them, but they’re not exactly my favourite things to tackle – I’d rather do photo shoots, style looks, brainstorm fun ideas, come up with digital strategy, etc. But I have to do social and emails, so how do I get through them so that I can free up my days not only for the fun stuff, but for off time to enjoy the sunshine as well? I’ve begun setting 20 minute blocks on a timer, working under a deadline with zero distractions and then giving myself 5 minutes totally off to have a coffee, stretch, etc. I get so much more done working efficiently like this than just giving myself all day to tackle a massive task list.

5. I let myself off the hook…well, in a large-scale, wide-scoping, seasonal way. Let me explain – while #1 is all about giving yourself that one day off the hook for a quick reset, sometimes it’s worth remembering the seasonal ebb and flow of work and not beating yourself up if you work differently in the summer vs. the winter. I’d rather get up a bit earlier and really tackle my work efficiently during the warmer months, freeing up the rest of my day to actually get outside and do all the fun things (work or otherwise) that I am dying to get to. During the wintertime, I’m totally fine to spend full days from morning until late night at my laptop – if anything, getting out to do a workout is more of a chore than anything, whereas in the summer I can hardly keep myself from running outside for a sweat session. So as much as this isn’t probably the best tip in terms of traditional productivity, in the summer, I likely log fewer hours than in the winter but I more than make up for it when the days shorten. Getting to enjoy the sunshine makes the winter that much more bearable, and remembering that seasonal change allows you to really enjoy your summers properly.

Do you guys have any tips for staying on track? I’d love to hear them, especially as a Psych grad who specialized in motivational psychology – have a weird obsession with reading up on life hacks in this area! Tell me in the comments!