Productivity Tips To Help You Slay Your To Do List

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hello, and welcome back to anotherepisode of the Organized Mom Show. I'm
your host, Gemma, and I'mhere to hold your hand through all of
the life admin, the housework,the work work, self care, to
do lists, relationships, and everythingelse, the one hundred and one things
that you might be trying to fitinto your day to day. So,

(00:26):
without further ado, let's dive intotoday's topic. Welcome back, my little
busy bees. It is half termprobably where you are now, or maybe
isn't. Maybe you had half termlast week like we did. It was
my birthday week last week. Wehad lots of fun. Mike got me

(00:48):
tickets for Harry Potter and The CurseChild, which I am looking forward to
seeing. I feel like I'm thelast person in the world to see it.
Anyway, we're going to be goingand seeing that in a couple of
weeks time. So if you areon half term, maybe you are a
really squeezing so much in into whatseems like a very, very, very
packed schedule. So I wanted totalk to you today about my favorite productivity

(01:12):
tips, the things that like whenI'm feeling a little bit these sort of
things really help to give me alittle bit of avavum. Essentially, if
you are looking for a three minuteproductivity challenge, then I just put one
live on my Instagram and my TikToktoday. Save that, save that on
your socials. So when you're justfeeling like your bomb is cemented to the

(01:34):
sofa, it's just going to giveyou a quick burst and I challenge you
to do one thing. I'm kindof writing an email that I've been putting
off writing, So I did thatwith you. So go and have a
look. Check out the social Soif you're not following along, then search
me. I'm the organized Mom andlisten. I know how much you've all
been looking forward to this. WhenI say it's been one pain in the

(01:56):
next to produce, that will bean understatement. I am putting live on
Wednesday, the Productive Day over onTom Rock's The Guided Sessions. I know
how much, especially those of youthat work from home, I know how
much you all love the productive morningand the productive afternoon. So the productive
day will be ready and waiting foryou on Wednesday. And if you can't
wait, if you are like no, I need to get something done before,

(02:19):
then then there is a twenty minutelike a Daily Rumble that went live
today, which is great, especiallyif you are on half term. That
is going to help you just sortof hit the main areas, the downstairs
of your home and the bathroom intwenty minutes. So we really that is
a genuine speaking We get that donereally really fast. So maybe you might
want to revisit that two or threetimes over the next week or so.

(02:43):
So let's talk about these productivity tipsthen. So when you feel maybe like
you are up against it, ormaybe you're just a little bit tired,
maybe you've not been well, theabsolute first thing, and you know this
is my go to all the time, is setting a timer. Be really

(03:04):
intentional about what you are going toget done and the amount of time that
you are going to a lot tothat task. So we say all the
time, don't we, that youcan only ever be doing the very best
with the time and energy that wehave available. And you know, if
you are on half term that timeis going to be squeezed. Maybe that

(03:24):
energy is going to be squeezed aswell. And if we do our best,
if we show up and genuinely dothe best and are honest with ourselves
about that, then you know youcan actually get quite a lot done,
But it's about focusing, it's aboutbeing really intentional in that moment. So
setting your timer. My favorite chunkof time to do this for is thirty

(03:46):
minutes, especially if it's something likecleaning or paperwork or something like that.
If you go as fast as youcan, it's kind of like a little
bit of a hit workout for thebrain and say, right, Okay,
for thirty minutes, I'm going todo my emails, and then when that
timer goes off, I'm just goingto go and make myself a cup of
coffee, and then I'm going tocome back and do you another thirty minutes,

(04:10):
and instead of doing my emails,I'm going to I don't know,
plan out that report that I needto write. Or it could be that
you're like, oh, for thirtyminutes, I'm going to go and clean
the living room, which, obviously, if you are following the organized one
method, you probably have already doneor are about to do today. Potentially
maybe you're doing it right now asyou're listening to this podcast. Who knows
that would be weird, wouldn't itif I've just shouted you out? So

(04:31):
assessing a timer really helps to focusthe brain. And puts an end,
like a full stop really on thetask. So you've compartmentalized it and it
becomes less overwhelming because it's a small, smaller chunk of time rather than thinking,
oh my god, this could likedrift bleed into my whole day.

(04:56):
And another thing I absolutely love,and you might have heard it being used,
the term eat the frog. Imean, I think that's the most
conjures up an image, doesn't itthat none of us want to be imagining.
But if you start your day withthe one thing that you have just
been putting off, or the biggest, ugliest task that you have, like

(05:19):
the frog essentially, and the ideais that once you've done something that big,
everything else will just like pale intoinsignificance. I remember watching there's this
I don't know if he's still onYouTube or not, but there was this
man. I think he was basedin New York and I think he'd been
on a reality TV series about sellinghouses. I don't know, but he

(05:40):
always starts his day like mega earlyin the morning, and the first thing
he does is he goes to thegym and he like does like a really
intense gym session, and he wasbeing interviewed and he was like, look,
I know that whatever I've got comingup me the rest of the day,
whether it's an angry client or whateverit is, if I've lifted be
in the gym, I've got likeit kind of gives me a psychological superpower.

(06:04):
So by starting your day off provingto yourself that you can do hard
things, that you have overcome thatobstacle that potentially was the hardest part of
your day, it's literally all downhillfrom there, and it puts you in
a good mood to speak. Butall the time, don't we about like
dopamine hits about making your brain happy. Your brain is happy when it seems
like it sees progress. That's whyI don't know if you ever like,

(06:27):
I'm not really a morning workout person, but if I do work out in
the morning, it sort of setsthe stage for the rest of the day.
Something positive has happened early on,which sets the tone, which means
that you know that the remaining decisionsare decisions made in the shadow of that
positive decision earlier in the day.If that makes sense, eat healthier,

(06:49):
you know, I'm more inclined tobe more active if I've started my day
off active and so that can beapplied to lots of different things. So
if you dart your day off bymaking sure the kitchen is really lovely before
you set off for the school runor before you set out, you know,
for a day out with the kids, and when you come back it's
nice, it can carry on throughoutthe rest of your day. Or maybe

(07:12):
you say, right, I amgoing to get the dinner preps. I'm
going to get it in the slowcooker now, first thing in the morning,
and then that job is ticked offand it just helps day to seem
less overwhelming. So we've got settingyour timer, We've got doing a difficult
thing at the start of your dayto set the scene for the rest of
the day. This one's slightly different. It's the ability and this is really

(07:36):
hard, but the ability to recognizewhen to say no, and this can
obviously massively boost your productivity because you'retaking less on right, it's like finding
a secret time, like a secretroom, or more minutes, bonus minutes
in your day that you didn't knowexisted. And it's really hard. I

(07:58):
know, it's really icky saying noto people, but you have to sort
of shift away from that mindset likethat you're being mean. It's not about
being mean, it's about actually prioritizingwhat truly matters. You know, maybe
you haven't got time to join anothercommittee, and no, you can't volunteer
for every school event. So bypicking and choosing what you say yes to

(08:22):
and what you're saying no to,you're making sure you're being your future friend
and you're making sure you have theenergy for those things and for the people
that truly mean things in your life. And if you struggle with this,
the killer thing that I always wetalk about is ask yourself what would happen
if you didn't do it? So, if you are on half term or

(08:43):
maybe just this week is just lookingreally busy, like you're staring at your
diary thinking I actually don't know howI'm going to fit this all in,
write a list of everything that youwant to do today or this week,
and then next ask yourself what willhappen if I didn't do it? What
will happen if I don't go toset PTA meeting this week? Not a
lot? Really, the world isn'tgoing to end. What will happen if

(09:07):
I don't go to work or won'tget paid, right, We've got to
do that then. So it's aboutreally, you know, really sort of
auditing and cutting away all of thethings that are draining your time and will
be making you less productive. Anotherthing that makes you less productive technology your
phone. Get off your phone.I'm swimming again as a tide with those

(09:30):
TikTok and Instagram posts that I putup today because I want people to stop
scrolling. Because if you're procrastinating,the chances are that you're on your phone
scrolling, losing lots and lots oftime on TikTok or YouTube or whatever.
But if you give yourself a periodof time in the day, whether it's
an hour, half an hour,and say I am going I'm going to

(09:50):
own mini tech or digital detocs forthis period of time, could be that
you do it every day. Rightwhen I get back from school. The
school run between four and five.For me, it's no phone, and
I'm going to blust through as muchas I possibly can, because if you
find yourself regularly scrolling mindlessly, youcan lose so much time. I mean,

(10:15):
no one is I mean to thisliterally, this is the algorithms are
so clever. The TikTok algorithm,especially, it learns so quickly what you
like to see and it keeps youin the scroll hole. It is the
app's intention to keep you on thatapp, on that platform for as long
as possible. So whether you chooseto go tech free and now before bed,

(10:39):
some people do like a whole screenfree Sunday, which I think is
marvelous. I could personally never dothat, So I'm plugging from your devices
actually helps you recharge and gives youmore time to be productive and less time
procrastinating. Plus your eyes and yourbrain. Well, thank you for it.
Another activity tip that I love islow fi music. I don't really

(11:05):
know what genre of music that is. I just know that sometimes it comes
up on my Spotify. I don'tknow. It's like really calm, kind
of like it melts into the background. Music really helps me to concentrate.
Music in general really helps me toconcentrate. Always has done, ever since
I was doing my studying for myGCSEs and my A levels and that sort

(11:26):
of thing. And what I diddo was I created a concentration playlist for
myself and I actually created it whenI first started writing books, and I
kind of trained my brain the playliststarted off with the theme tune from Forest
Gump, So I kind of trainedmy brain to click in to productivity mode

(11:48):
when it heard the first two orthree bars of that opening title for that
song. Is it a song?Piece of music? Piece of music that
you call it, and it's thesort of music that melts again into the
background. You know, it's notTaylor Swift, It's not going to have
to be jumping around or singing alongit kind of can I can coexist and
be productive whilst listening to it atthe same time. So if you are

(12:11):
that sort of person who kind ofdoesn't like complete silence, then that that
really really helps me. And ifyou listen to the same one again and
again and again, your brain willdevelop muscle memory. And also you can
create two or three different playlists.You could have a longer playlist like an
hour or something like that if it'ssomething that you need to do deep focus

(12:33):
or deep concentration to, or youcould have a shorter, sharper one as
well, for like maybe you wantto do that daily just to file you
paperwork and that sort of thing.But my favorite productivity tip without a doubt,
is just doing something for three orfive minutes. It's why I put
those Instagram and TikTok challenges up todate, because sometimes you just need action

(12:56):
to stop that procrastination. You justneed action and just to give you that
little bit. And once you've actedon something, then it makes acting on
something else an awful lot easier.It's like that saying, isn't it's much
easier to get a job when you'vealready got a job. So it's about
creating that momentum, creating that movementin the right direction. Even if it's
just one step followed by another step, you will eventually get to what you

(13:20):
need to do. You will eventuallyfinish that to do list, but it
has to start with one single action. So those are my favorites that we
whip through. Those those are myfavorite productivity ticks. I would love to
know yours And also if you takepart in the three minute productivity challenge or
the Procrastination Buster over on my TikTokor Instagram, don't forget to pop in

(13:41):
the comments what it was that youdid with those three minutes. All Right,
that's a wrap for today's episode ofThe Organized Moum Show. I Hate
You enjoyed it. It's been anabsolute pleasure chatting with you. Before you
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out on all the tips and conversations. And if you want to send me
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(14:01):
in the future, then your wishis my command within reason. And if
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info you need for that will bein the podcast notes. So until next
time, keep rocking it and rememberyou're doing an amazing job, and don't

(14:24):
forget to charge your headphones for thenext episode. Bye.