So I started making to do lists and checking things off. This made me feel productive. But maybe doing things isn’t the point of being productive. Maybe having a to do list and checking things off is simply a mask for making me feel good. Which isn’t the point. I shouldn't need to do things or accomplish things or get things done from a list in order to feel good about myself or the way I spent my day.
Then I began to think what is productivity, is it the same thing everyday?
I was chatting with a friend and she sent me this great graphic that helped me out.
But even more than that maybe each day requires something different and by seeing it, leaning into it, and doing it that day is productive. And maybe it doesn’t matter to you at all for a day to be deemed productive, but I have a bit of a wing three in me, enneagram, (which is the achiever and I am processing how it can be a good thing and not allowing it to take over and then become a stumbling block.) If you do not struggle with this please share with the group what your average day looks like. I would love to know.
Here are my five tips to help you remain productive, but not allowing it to become your identity
1. Access what is needed for that day
This may be where you think what you need that day. Or you process your emotions and what your are feeling. Maybe you are a tad drained and you need to sleep a bit more, or maybe you need a really long walk to gain perspective. May be you sense that you are off balance emotionally, so you need to spend more time that day, praying, reading, meditating, or out in nature. Or maybe that day requires a lot of work. Each day may require something different from you, see if you can figure out what that is and then give into it. Now at the end of the day process how you feel and what was good and maybe what could have been better for the next time you have a day similar to that.
2. Create a schedule
This can be for anything, work, cleaning, teaching the kids, whatever it may be. Pre quarantine I would do all my cleaning on Saturdays and I didn’t really enjoy it. My Saturdays were exhausting, but I was always so tired from all the weekly activities that I could not fathom doing housework when I got home in the evenings. During quarantine a friend posted this cleaning schedule, I copied it down and have stuck to it this week. When I can clean I get very distracted, anyone else? I will be doing dishes and then see something that needs to go to the bathroom, so I take it to the bathroom, then I see something in the bathroom out of place, and 20 minutes later I am returning to the dishes. And this goes on for a long time. With this schedule I found myself saying, nope that is done Thursday’s, or I will not do that today that is done on Friday. I found that to be helpful because then I wasn’t getting distracted and could get the task done quicker. This also meant I wasn’t cleaning on Saturday. So Saturday was a treat this week. Cleaning schedule you can buy on Etsy. I simply made one that was similar.
This helped by dealing with productivity as well. My list was shorter each day and more enjoyable things could end up on the list, rather than it being all these things I HAD to do it was now more of a balance of HAVE to and WANT to.
3. Take a break
Maybe this is in the morning before the kids wake up, I know that means you have to wake up earlier. Now I do not have kids, so I do not know sleep deprivation as others may, but I do hear it is nice to wake up and have some you time before they get up. Sometimes I imagine that is impossible, those 430 am risers. This time for me is taken when I wake, with a cup of coffee, my Bible, journal or other bible based book that I am reading at the moment. I take time to breath, pray, be silent, center myself before the day gets away from me. This helps me have more grace others, patience, and more balanced emotions. (My emotions can dictate a lot of my day). This could be during nap time, screen time, or while they eat breakfast, whenever works in your schedule.
4. Get it done first
I get all my essential stuff done right away. During this time I am teaching kids from about 8:30-12 each day through Skype. Then I have lunch and get the important stuff done right away. I know that if I sit, I may not get up. So I use the energy I have and get it done quickly, but as I mentioned because of having the schedule my essential things are not very many each day, thus I am not spending a ton of time getting stuff done. I will try and get at least 1 big thing done each week, this last week it was removing the old caulk and putting new caulk in my tub. I also deeply scrubbed our kitchen floor, it had been awhile 😬 and it was a two day job. Once I am done with essential things, which should only be a couple hours unless you are doing a bigger task that day, you have the rest of the day to do what the day needs. It really is whatever you or others may need that day (going back to number 1 and processing what that may be).
5. GRACE
I have heard a lot of people saying this, give grace, but it doesn’t hurt to hear it one more time.
Give it out like the toilet paper you have been hoarding. Just kidding, but really. Give grace to yourself, Give it to others. Tomorrow is a new day, treat it as such. Something I saw posted from the Mindgeek on Instagram was
Hopefully these tips will help you as they have helped me, if you have any others please leave them in a comment so others can see.
Happy quarantining!!!
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