I hope you are having a wonderful start to 2023. One month down, eleven more to go!
This past weekend I sat down to plan February in a live session with the Charmed Life Master Mind.
My monthly planning routine is an essential part of my overall functional planning process and it was great to take some time and walk my master mind sisters through it and answers their questions on how I plan both my life and business in the monthly spreads of the Charmed Life Master Planner.
Here is a recap of the Monthly Functional Planning Routine:
Step One: Perform a monthly review to analyze how the prior month progressed
Step Two:Perform a brain dump to get your thoughts, plans and ideas out of your head and onto paper.
Step Three:Populate your monthly calendar spread with important dates to remember.
Step Four:Keep on track with your goals and projects by filling in your Monthly Tracker with your monthly objectives, weekly actions and daily action items.
Step Five: List all other additional tasks due this month onto the Master Monthly Task List.
Step Six: Assign tasks from your objectives to the weeks of the month you plan to work on them to ensure you have the time set aside to complete all expected work.
So, I definitely want to encourage you to carve out about 30 minutes for yourself, sometime in the next few days, so that you too can map out your monthly plan for February.
If you aren’t in the habit of monthly planning yet, I know it might feel like there is a massive learning curve, but the more times you go through this process month over month, the better you will get at it and the more clarity, confidence and motivation you will feel moving into the fresh month.
Important Dates to Include on Your Monthly Calendar
For a bit of reference, here are some important dates you may want to be aware of for February 2023:
Thursday, February 2nd | Groundhog Day
Saturday, February 4th | JournalingMasterclass inside the Charmed Life Master Mind @ 2pm ET/ 11am PT
Sunday, February 5th | Full Moon in Leo
Tuesday, February 14th | Valentine’s Day
Monday, February 20th | President’s Day, New Moon in Pisces, and Galentine’s Party inside the Charmed Life Master Mind @ 7pm ET/ 4pm PT
Tuesday, February 21st | Mardi Gras
Wednesday, February 22nd | Ash Wednesday
Saturday, February 25th | CEO Power Hour inside the Charmed Life Master Mind @ 11am ET/ 8am PT (This is the monthly planning session!)
I hope you found this information to be a helpful reminder to get you started creating your February Plan!
And, if you’d like to get into my inner circle Charmed Life Master Mind and plan with me on a monthly basis plus get access to dozens of classes, resources and tools to help you create the Master Plan for your balanced and successful life…
✔︎ You have reviewed your progress from 2022, celebrated your wins, made peace with your shortcomings and let go of anything you don’t need to take with you into 2023.
✔︎ You know what your goals are for 2023 for both your personal life and business.
✔︎ You have a plan laid for what you need to do to make your goals happen and have set aside the time to complete the work.
✔︎ You feel like your life is together. Like the successful, productive and organized person you know you are.
2023 IS YOUR YEAR!
→ You can walk into 2023 with a well organized plan to get things done OR no plan and not enough time for you to finish your to do list.
→ You can have a balanced daily routine with room for all the areas of your life OR feel rushed and overwhelmed day to day pushing aside your personal goals yet again in favor of other priorities.
→ You can live life at an intentional and productive pace OR deprive yourself of sleep, space and self care to cram in every single task for the day.
Which situation would you prefer?
MAKING 2023 YOUR BEST YEAR YET IS YOUR CHOICE!
I know which choice I would prefer, which is why for the past decade I have intentionally dedicated time at the turn of the New Year to set my goals, map my plans and get my life and vision organized!
And guess what?
Because I spend a little time planning my vision for the year, I achieve more with less time and less stress.
I want you to embrace this process as well because I know first hand through my own experiences, as well as working with hundreds of women from my community, that this works!
And I believe you intuitively know this works as well, but you just haven’t found a system and a process that yields consistent results for you.
That’s why it’s time you choose THIS IS YOUR YEAR!
THIS IS YOUR YEAR is my step by step process for outlining your vision, setting the right goals and breaking those goals out into actionable steps you can take throughout the year to achieve those goals and experience your best year!
THIS IS YOUR YEAR is a series of four goal setting workshops, replays of live classes I taught exclusively to my inner circle master mind, that will help you organize and prepare your life and business for a productive year ahead.
The bundle includes the video modules, slides, workbooks, my 2023 You Got Goals Planner, and bonus guided meditations.
I’VE ALSO JUST ADDED A NEW BONUS MODULE TO THE BUNDLE
The 2023 VISION BOARD PARTY Workshop | Learn how to create and use a Vision Board to manifest your goals this year. This video module teaches you the neuroscience of how Vision Boards work, provides the step by step for how to create your own, and explains what to put on your Vision Board based on your unique personality. The video module also includes a Vision Board Builder PDF that you can print and use to add style and intention to your Vision Board!
THIS IS YOUR YEAR IS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS IN 2023!
And I want to remind you that there is nothing wrong with you and your life right now!
You are not lacking.
You are not behind.
You don’t need to change your life based on external expectations or comparisons.
You are completely whole and worthy right now exactly as you are.
If you are like me, I truly crave the feeling of ease and comfort of knowing that I have a plan for the year that allows me time for work and space to play.
I love my life, I experience deep gratitude for it, and at the same time, I want to experience more of what life has to offer me.
There is nothing wrong with being grateful for what you have and at the same time desiring more or even different experiences.
I set personal goals because I want to better myself and create a better life for myself and those around me.
I set business goals because I want to reach and help more women like you identify and experience their potential in life as well.
But those experiences don’t happen by accident.
You need a vision, a direction and a plan to fit them into your life.
10 Time, Task + Energy Management Strategies to Manage a Long To Do List
The following 10 strategies will help you to organize and manage your to do list so that you are optimizing your work for time, task load and the amount of energy you have in a day!
Strategy #1: Schedule Tasks
As you evaluate your to do list, identify which tasks need to be completed at or by a certain time and make sure you have clearly set aside that time for them. It’s not necessarily more productive to schedule all of your tasks for specific time frames, but it is important to do when due dates are involved with a task. For any work that needs to be done at a specific time (ex. meeting) what is the prep work you need to do in order to be ready at that time? Also schedule that work in ahead of your scheduled task.
Strategy #2: ID + Block Time for Projects
If you are working off a long to do list for the day or week, ultimately some of those tasks will belong to the same project. So, identify those items first so you are clear that this is one of the main objectives you are working on, and you can also take a moment to ensure that you aren’t missing any important tasks that go along with this project as well. Then block off specific time to work on that project and those tasks together- this will ensure you can go deep on the project and do it well
Strategy #3: Set Your Top 3
Setting your daily Top 3 is a planning strategy I recommend to ensure you are prioritizing your work and key tasks. Which three tasks on your to do list are the most important to complete today? Things which, if they don’t get done, it will cause issues or delays. Clearly ID these three priority tasks and get them done as soon as possible in your day
Strategy #4: Use the 80/20 Rule
The 80/20 rule is a task management principle that explains how only 20% of our tasks lead to 80% of the results we get. This means that there are some tasks we can do each day that have a bigger impact than others, so to save ourselves time and energy, we should ID and complete those few key tasks before worrying about the 80% of tasks that have nominal effects on our results. Hopefully, your top 3 list is comprised of these tasks, but any additional can be listed out on your daily to do list to be completed as soon as possible as well
Strategy #5: Batch Your Tasks
Some tasks on your list will likely be very similar to each other and to optimize your workflow, it would be a good idea to batch these tasks, which means you work on them together at the same time so you are doing the same general activity over and over. Examples: Creating posts for social media, running reports, making phone calls. When batching your tasks, ask yourself if there are any other similar tasks you can add into this process, even if they aren’t on your list for the current day or week, you may be able to spend a little more time working on them now, and save yourself even more time in the future.
Strategy #6: 3D’s: Delegate, Defer + Delete
Remember, you are not responsible for doing all of the work on your to-do list! Which tasks can you delegate to someone else? Which can you defer for another time that might be more optimal for working on the task? Which tasks can you simply delete off your list because they aren’t a result driver?
Strategy #7: Manage Habits
Some of the tasks on your list may actually be habits you are working on, so don’t simply leave them on your to do list to be done whenever, pause and figure out where in your daily routine these habits make the most sense to be accomplished. When a habit sits on your to do list, it’s just another thing to do, but when you assign it to a place in your daily routine, it has a purpose in your life.
Strategy #8: Mindset Check
Our mindset is a major factor in determining how much work we are able to act on each day and how productive our day ends up becoming. So, ask yourself, which tasks on your list will you feel much better once they are accomplished? These tasks may be things we should consider prioritizing because often doing a difficult thing first gives us mental relief and removed roadblocks to our productivity. Yes, you are going to have to do the things that intimidate you, but once you do them you will feel unstoppable!
Strategy #9: Energy Audit
Your personal energy level is going to be a major factor in how much work you can accomplish in a day, so check in with your energy level to understand which tasks you can reasonably expect to complete today. Also consider what time of day your energy is highest and lowest. It would be a good idea to schedule more energy intense activities during your peak energy times, and allow yourself to work on lower intensity work during times when you know your energy will be waining.
Strategy #10: Create Your Workflow
Once you have organized and evaluated your to do list according to the previous nine strategies, decide the most logical order for you to use to work on this list. This may mean that everything doesn’t get done today and you are intentionally moving tasks to the next day or another week, but all of this is part of creating a good plan that sets reasonable expectations and avoids creating overwhelm.
How to Use These Strategies
When it comes to creating a to-do list, I prefer to create lists for the month, and then choose items from that list to apply to my week. This prevents me from keeping too long of a list and it also helps to drill down to the context of my current months priorities. Once you have your monthly to do list, I recommend using the 10 strategies to filter the tasks you need to do for the current week and identify the tasks for you to do each day. If planning ahead for the week works for you, great! But if you find you set your task list for a day and then things don’t get done and need to be transferred to the next day, this becomes a problem if you have pre-planned your week. So, unless things are scheduled for a specific day on purpose, don’t feel the need to fill in every day of the week ahead of time.
Using these recommendations, you are going to start to see that you begin to plan more strategically and intentionally, and stop taking on too many tasks that aren’t necessary. The hard truth for most of us is that we put too many tasks on our list and then fail to prioritize them, so that we are always expecting not to get everything done and when we continue to push tasks off day after day, we accept it. But you can teach yourself to recognize priority tasks. You can learn how to block off time to do deep work. You can practice batching tasks and checking in with your mindset and energy to determine what is reasonable for you.
So give these strategies a try- understand that there is a learning curve with this, but the more you execute on these strategies the more you will integrate and utilize them.
Having a successful year is not about waiting for motivation and inspiration to strike. It’s about creating systems and environments that cultivate momentum and accountability. – Alexis C Giostra @MissTrenchcoat
Hello my Charmed Ones and welcome back to my channel for the first video of 2023! My 2023 Annual Reset Routine.
If you are watching this video around the time it goes live, we are at the start of a new year and nothing says fresh start inspiration and motivation like resetting your planning system. Your planner can be an amazing tool for your success and quality of life this year if you treat it like a system that helps you manage your focus and effort.
So, there is a brief routine I recommend you follow to get your planner reset for the new year that follows along with the Yearly Functional Planning Routine that you can find inside my bookThe Functional Planning Handbook.
Here is a recap of the routine for your reference:
◼ CHOOSE AND SETUP YOUR FUNCTIONAL PLANNER
◼ SET ANNUAL GOALS
◼ BREAK LONGER TERM GOALS INTO QUARTERLYMILESTONES
◼ DEFINE OBJECTIVES TO REACH EACH GOAL
◼ POPULATE YOUR PLANNER WITH KNOWN TASKS,EVENTS AND DUE DATES
Q1 PLANNING ITEMS
◼ POPULATE PROJECT PLANS FOR OBJECTIVES
◼ ALLOCATE TASKS FROM PROJECT PLANS TO MONTHLY MASTER TASK LISTS
Grab a coffee and your planner, and let’s get started with the 2023 Reset.
STOP BUYING PRE-PRINTED PLANNER INSERTS AND DO THIS INSTEAD TO SAVE MONEY AND TIME IN 2023!
It’s nearly 2023 planner people! Make use of advances in planner technology and start using Print On Demand Planner Inserts (aka Print at Home or Printables) to create your perfect Functional Planning System!
Here are 4 Major Reasons Why You Should Be Using Printables:
1 | Instant Delivery: No waiting for delivery and no shipping fees! You get your files immediately and can begin printing and planning with them before you could ever hope to see a shipping confirmation hit your email from any shop. Plus you can shop and assemble your planner from the comfort of your own home, no need to burn gas hopping from store to store searching for inserts.
2 | Choose Your Paper Quality: You get to choose the quality of paper you use for your inserts. So, if you have a specific preference of paper weight, texture and color, that works for you or your favorite pen and ink, you can use it to print your inserts and get exactly what you like.
3 | Use Any Binding Method: Printable inserts are a blank slate for you to use with any binding method you prefer, and if you decide to switch methods, for instance from rings to discs, you can simply print and punch new copies of the inserts. No needing to buy your inserts again because the holes don’t match.
4 | Unlimited Printing: Print on demand means you print as much as you need and can print multiples to your hearts content. So, the next time you spill coffee on your planner, or otherwise ruin your inserts (they are paper after all and easily damaged) you can simply reprint the inserts you need without having to purchase more.
Yes, print at home means you need to have a printer, punch and paper trimmer for best results- but those upfront costs are mitigated over time and you may have most of these tools at home already.
So, if you are a planner at heart and enjoy using a customizable planning system that you can adjust to fit your needs, print at home inserts are the way to go for the best value, experience and reliability in your planning routine!
Don’t know where to start with Print At Home Inserts? Not all printables are created equally!
The BEST Place to start on your printable planner insert journey is THECHARMEDSHOP.COM!
My printables are designed using professional grade print design software that optimize inserts for printing with less ink waste and are based on research backed productivity and time management strategy.
Stop wasting money on pre-printed inserts that are poorly designed and overpriced, and make the switch to Print On Demand inserts from The Charmed Shop as part of your 2023 New Year’s Resolutions!
Any questions?
Leave me a comment and I’d be glad to help you find your next favorite planning insert or tool!
It’s that time of year again!! The holiday season is approaching and it’s time to shop for gifts for the special people in your life. I love giving gifts- it’s one of my love languages and so I love creating gift guides with new and creative ideas to help you find something unique and functional for the people on your list.
I have created a new gift guide specifically geared towards planning and productivity presents that you can give to a planner lover, co-worker, or female entrepreneur you are buying for this year. Or of course, you could forward this gift guide on to the people who are buying for you this year if you see some things you like and resonate with.
These gifts are priced across the board- some are more of a splurge and some are stocking stuffer price. Most of them are $50 or less so they are pretty reasonable gifts.
I love a good facial roller tool and this five in one option is a great way to make the most of multiple tools to help de-puff, sculpt and sooth your face. Use this massager to relax your muscles, apply serums and tone your face through lymphatic drainage massage. This is a great tool to use morning or night, or anytime you want to relax and pamper yourself.
Stop drinking your daily coffee or tea from clunky old mugs and elevate your daily experience with this set of 6 cups with saucers and stirrers. It’s a beautiful set with classic and luxurious lines that will bring some extra elegance and refinement to your workday. Just add your favorite biscotti or croissant!
This chic leather cover can be used to protect your choice of planner or notebook in a compact and secure housing. I love the way a zip cover keeps it’s contents protected, especially on the go and I am particularly enamored with this dark green teal color. This is a gift that makes a major impact on your style, planning and productivity.
An acrylic dry erase board is a perfect accessory for your kitchen, home organization station or office. Use it for notes, announcements, meal planning or reminders.
This adorable cube desk timer is the perfect productivity tool to help keep you on track and working in short bursts or blocks of time. Set the timer before you start a task to track how long it takes for planning purposes, and use the timer to set aside time to get started on a project or task you’ve been putting off.
These Beats Fit Pro Wireless Bluetooth EarPods have been my go to for both work and play. The noise cancelation technology helps me to stay productive while I work and listen to my favorite lo-fi jams. They are wonderful for working out and physical activities, and I love to wear them while I listen to a meditation or relax in the bathtub. Plus the color palette on the Beats x Kim Kardashian collection are gorgeous!
I think my number one most used planning and note taking accessory, aside from a pen, has to be dual tip highlighters. I use them to highlight dates and information, to create check boxes for tasks and to block off time in my daily schedule. I love this set of neural and pastel highlighters because they create a relaxing tone inside your planner as opposed to traditional neon highlighters that look like strobe lighting and often give me a headache looking at it for too long.
If you are looking for an affordable and chic notebook or bullet journal, the CEO Journal has everything you need to organize and plan in one simple bound book. The undated pages allow you to select the date and organize information with the help of a square grid. The pages are numbered for you to keep an index if you’d like to track important spreads or information. And yes, it does fit nicely into the Pebbled Leather Zip cover linked above!
If you are an iced coffee or tea fan and have not heard about the HyperChiller yet, I am about to blow your mind. Fill the dual chambers of this unit with water, let it freeze in your freezer and then whatever hot or boiling liquid you pour into the chiller will cool down in one to two minutes. No more watering down hot beverages to get them cool. This is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, no wires, no batteries or electricity needed. Just water, your freezer and a hot beverage to chill down.
I love this marble desk pad- I don’t think I could work at a desk without one of these desk pads anymore because they act as decoration, a mousepad and a soft place to rest your hands. I have a few of these desk pads with different patterns on them and I switch them out for the seasons to give my home office and desk a new vibe.
As someone who works from home, I have a lot of productivity tools that I tote around the house with me whenever I decide to work from outside my office. I love these little jelly baskets because the large size fits my laptop, planner, notebook, phone, headphones, pens, highlighters and more so I can take my home office into any room of my house. I call it my mobile office basket and if you work from home, either full time or even part time, you will love having a simple tote like this to use to corral your things securely instead of trying to carry everything by hand yourself.
If you are looking to get the most from your planner system, you absolutely need to learn the Functional Planning Methodology and this book is the official handbook that covers everything you need to know to set up, organize and use your planner to manage your life, plus tips on how to stay motivated and productive through the day.
I love filling my home with candles, but as a pet owner, it isn’t always the safest to have candles burning throughout my home. So, using a candle warmer is a must and these warmer lamps are the perfect blend of style and function to give you some extra home decor, and a safe way to use your candles without lighting them.
If you want to be a more productive and successful person, you absolutely need to start a journaling practice. I think getting your thoughts out of your head and into paper is so important, and especially keeping track of your thoughts and self-talk are a major factor in what you manifest and bring to fruition in your life. This journal will help you manifest more money and abundance into your life through a daily journaling practice where you get clear on what you want, your own value and your plan for making things happen in your life.
These remote controlled flameless LED candles are the perfect addition to your bedroom, home office or bathroom. They are a safe way to create mood lighting and help you get cozy at home, helping you to relax and destress from a busy day.
If you are a planner and productivity lover I know you have a thing for pretty pens. This set of neutral matte gel pens is very aesthetic and certain to help you create a planning or journaling routine that fits your energy and vibe. Why use ugly pens when you can use a chic option like these?
I don’t personally use a desktop computer with a separate monitor, but I have seen so many videos and examples of people using these monitor memo boards and I think they make an awesome accessory for your home or office. You can attach this set of memo boards to the side of your monitor to organize sticky notes or to use as a dry erase. And I bet you could use these on other surfaces besides your monitor. You could affix these to the sides of a mirror in your bathroom, your refrigerator or cabinets in your kitchen- anywhere you need to organize notes and some information- these adhesive memo boards would work!
I know these self-adhesive business card pockets seem so random for a gift guide, but they are actually one of my new favorite planner supplies. My planner cover doesn’t have a ton of business card holders built in, and so I have been sticking these pockets onto dashboards on my planner to organize business cards. I don’t use mine for business cards, instead I use them for planning/journaling cards to decorate my planner and to add a little more inspiration.
As someone who is more into using my planner for function than decoration, I don’t use very many accessories in my planner. However, another one of my planner must haves are this set of neural transparent tabs. I use these to mark pages in my planner for reference and also to write out a note or reminder for my planner before it is set in stone. I love the colors in this set and that it includes pointed and squared edge options. I also use these tabs when reading in physical books or to notate documents I am reviewing or editing.
I know it might seem odd to see an acrylic makeup and skincare organizer on this gift guide, but there are a few reasons I wanted to include this. First of all, getting ready in the morning or getting un-ready at the end of the day is an essential part of your daily routine and having your necessities organized and visible like this helps you to remember to do this important self care each day. Also- I think this organizer would also be awesome to use in your office to store stationery and planner supplies. Think of this as a beautiful display case for your office with all your favorite stationery organized inside.
I hope you have enjoyed this gift guide and that it gave you some great inspiration for this holiday season!
Today, I have something very exciting to share with you!
As we are about to step into the Holiday Season, this is the time of year we often see Advent Calendars making their way around the internet and into our local shops.
For many people, Advent Calendars are a really fun and festive way to enjoy the season leading up to Christmas, and I myself have bought a few in the past to celebrate the season, and of course to relive that childlike wonder of opening a little door or a little box each day with a lovely little surprise inside.
And for a few years now, it has been on my to-do list to figure out a way to create my own Advent Calendar for my community… a Productivity Advent Calendar.
I’m pleased to announce that this year I have finally done it!
This is a first of it’s kind Productivity + Planning Advent Calendar that you can open virtually online. It includes 24 PDF downloads that you can print and then add to your 2023 Planner Setup!
The downloads included with the Advent Calendar are a mix of inserts and other printable productivity and planning tools intended for you to use to create your own custom planner for the New Year.
What You’ll Find Inside:
A mix of 2023 dated and undated inserts
Decorative and functional dashboards
Planner organization tools
Inspirational lists and decor items
Functional and beautiful planner accessories
A set of print instructions for the items in the calendar
Print these files at home as much as you’d like (or take them to a local print shop if you prefer)
The insert designs are half letter sized, however, they can be printed at Half Letter, A5, US Letter or A4 with an included set of print instructions you will find on the Advent Calendar Page. There are also some PDFs included in this bundle that are meant to be printed at Full Letter or A4 specifically- this will be explained in the print instructions. I also recommend to make the most of this bundle you have a paper trimmer, hole punch compatible with your planner binding system of choice, card stock, full sheet label paper and 3”x3” sticky notes.
All designs included with this Advent Calendar are unique, and are not sold separately or found in any of my other offers or programs. If sold separately, the designs would total $250 in retail value so purchasing this Advent of Productivity Calendar is a major value!
The Digital Advent Calendar itself resides on its own page of my private membership site, which you will get access to join upon checkout with your Welcome Letter PDF.
Open a “box” per day leading up to Christmas (or the seasonal holiday or date of your choice) or, feel free to open all the boxes and download all 24 of your productivity tools at once to get your planner set up for the New Year.
Take a look at the beautiful page I designed for the 2022 Advent of Productivity Calendar, with it’s 24 holiday boxes you can open to reveal your daily functional planning tool!
I am overjoyed to bring you this new and unique Advent Calendar in celebration and preparation for Christmas and the New Year!
I sincerely hope the tools inside the calendar help you to create your own sense of Planner Peace with a customized setup and unique inserts to help you manage and organize your life in a more systemized way.
THE 2022 ADVENT OF PRODUCTIVITY CALENDAR IS NOW ON SALE
The sales page includes further details about your purchase including a list and preview of the 24 Planning Tools inside Calendar- but be careful if you don’t want to spoil the surprise of what is inside for yourself!
It is said that six months of hardcore focus and alignment can put you five years ahead in life. Let’s kick off Q3 with purpose, intention and an organized planner! In this video you can follow along as I clean my leather binder, cut and punch my inserts, apply planner tab stickers, and rearrange my planner pockets!
> Your internal rhythm may be off after a weekend of relaxing that makes getting back into the weekday routine both a mental and physical challenge.
> Monday’s kick off the work week for many of us, and that means having to face our likely overwhelming to do list, plus having to do that job or interact with some people we may not be particularly fond of.
There are actually lots of reasons why Monday’s are hard for us, but I want to help shift that Manic Monday story in your mind into the anticipation and excitement of a potentially Magic Monday!
I’ve really come to love Monday’s over the past several years and truly get excited for the start of my week. So, I thought, it would be helpful for me to share a bit of inspiration and strategy for you to use to start shifting your mindset and organizing your week so that you too begin to look forward to Monday!
3 Questions to Ask Yourself to Set Realistic Expectations for Your Week
Let’s begin with your specific needs and expectations to determine what would make this week feel successful, productive and a little more organized.
Here are three questions to ask yourself to get clear on your own expectations for a productive week. Journal on these questions, write the answers out in your planner or simply ponder your responses as you prepare for your day- but do try to record your answers for reference and action.
Question 1: What needs to happen this week to make it feel productive and successful? Try to identify three things you can take action on that would make you feel like this week mattered.
Question 2:What drains on your time and energy do you need to watch out for and avoid this week? For each drain, think of a simple plan for preventing these obstacles or dealing with each if they arise.
Question 3:What can you do to support the best version of yourself this week? Think of a few simple habits or actions you need to take this week to make sure you are able to show up each day to the best of your ability. It may mean asking others for help, but you know what you need to show up at your full capacity, so don’t be afraid to ask.
The answers to these questions are going to give you some amazing insight into the few things you need to do to ensure your week feels successful and is supporting you in an effort to live your best and most balanced life.
I know it may seem counterintuitive at first, but the success and productivity of your week isn’t found in the accomplishment of many various things, but instead is found in the fulfillment of just a few strategic priorities.
So, again, record those responses and put any action items into your weekly plan or schedule so you can ensure you make your best week happen.
I hope this post has given you some insight, encouragement or inspiration to make this week amazing.
If you did enjoy it, let me know in the comments or feel free to forward this post to a friend or loved one you think could use the support this week!
How to Create an Inbox System for Busy Professionals
I talk a lot about how to create a solid plan for your workday so you have a clear focus and intention for how you’ll be spending your time, but the real challenge for most busy professionals is handling the additional new action items and tasks that accumulate throughout your workday.
It’s great to start the day with your top three tasks identified, your schedule for calls and meetings, and of course time blocks outlined to do deep work, but what should you do if you get even more new tasks and items that need to be integrated into your existing daily plan?
How do you capture, prioritize and integrate new tasks that come from the multiple different inputs in your workday like meetings, emails, messages, and calls from team members, superiors, clients, and other co-workers?
The solution is to have a well organized inbox system.
Your inbox system may actually be made up of multiple different task and information capture solutions, especially if you are someone who not only receives new tasks throughout the day, but also receives information that may pertain to specific projects, or perhaps needs to capture your own ideas or reminders for future meetings or work that isn’t currently your focus at the moment.
A Place for Everything and Everything in it’s Place
My first suggestion for creating your organized inbox system is to decide the specific places you are going to put specific types of information and the general process you intend to follow for each.
New tasks must be captured and processed in a different way than information you may need for future reference, so having a unique process for each different information type will be important.
It would be optimal to capture new tasks in one centralized location, like an inbox page of your planner, a brain dump spread, or a specific file in a notes application, so you can then determine the priority of the tasks.
I determine the priority of my new tasks using an Eisenhower Matrix that evaluates tasks for urgency and importance. Any new tasks that are urgent and important will be integrated into my plan for the day, while other tasks of less urgency or less importance may be scheduled for another day or kept on a pending list for future reference.
For example: Urgent and Important Tasks | Do Now Not Urgent and Important Tasks | Schedule Urgent and Not Important Tasks | Delegate Not Urgent and Not Important Tasks | Delete
For any information you receive during the course of your workday, I think it’s important to have a separate system for organizing notes and reminders so you can quickly locate and use the information when you need it.
I recommend using a digital notes tool to organize this type of information especially if you are receiving it in digital form most of the time through messages and emails. It’s quite easy to simply copy and paste information, where as rewriting it onto a paper notes system may take a bit more time. Of course, if you prefer to be fully analog and use a paper notes system for this part of your overall system, do what works for you.
I use Apple Notes to organize raw information and ideas, because the app syncs across my laptop, iPhone and even my iPad so that I always have access to it, and because it is digital I can use the search function to quickly find information as well.
I keep my notes app organized by folders for different categories of information, like Personal Notes, Business, Marketing, Content, etc, and then I keep individual note files inside the folders to organize specific topics for quick reference.
If using a notes app doesn’t work for you, you could also use a Google Sheets file or spreadsheet application on your computer to organize information by category and topic as well.
If you’d prefer to use a paper based system, you could divide a notebook into sections for your categories, or include pages in your planner dedicated to specific categories or projects you need to retain information on to act on later.
Turning the System into a Routine
With your Inbox System set up, the next part of the process would be to define and establish a regular routine for transferring and reviewing information.
It’s not enough to have the system set up with the defined place for each type of task or information to go, but you also need to decide how often you are going to review your various other inboxes to transfer information into their appropriate place in your system, and how often you need to review those individual places to make sure you are utilizing the information you captured.
I generally check my inboxes (email, message systems etc) about twice a day, once in the morning at the start of my work and once in the afternoon before I stop working for the day, and that is the point where I will funnel tasks and information to their appropriate spots in my organization system.
Tasks get listed and organized with the Eisenhower Matrix, and information, reminders or ideas get organized to their appropriate folder or note in my Apple Notes.
I keep active notes for each of the classes, products and pieces of content I create so I can quickly transfer or capture information that pertain to each of these individual projects quickly, as soon as it comes to my attention.
When you initially start this routine, it will be a good idea to set alerts to ensure you use the system regularly, and then after a while, it will become a natural process you do as part of your day.
I hope this information helps you create your own organized inbox system to stay on top of your tasks and do your best work, no matter what you do! Let me know how it works out and if you have any questions and I’d be glad to help!
