7 Proven Productivity Strategies To Get More Hours In Your Day

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

How many times have you been super excited to seize the day only to get half way through your to-do list?

The daily to-do list may seem like a simple concept.

You have things to do.
Write them down.
Do them.
Rinse and repeat. 

However, many people struggle with getting to the bottom of their daily list. Sometimes we add so many things on to our plate during the day that we end up with more things to do than we started with. (Those days are the worst, aren't they?)

How in the world do you eat healthy, work out, work for 8-ish hours, spend time with family, take time for self care, build your relationships AND get a full night't sleep at the end of the day? 

Simple. You don't. 

The incredibly insightful book 168 Hours: You have More Time Than You Think breaks down exactly why we all should stop planning by the day and focus on spreading all of the things you want to do throughout your week. 

Your week is filled with unlimited opportunities to do everything that you want. However, most people create never-ending daily to-do lists that can often leave us feeling exhausted and unaccomplished by the end of the day.

I'm going to walk you through exactly how I plan out my daily to do list one full week at a time. This simple change allows me to get everything done over the course of a week without feeling overworked or overwhelmed.

 

Plan hard due dates first. 

Some of your to-do list items have a due date that you cannot change. 

For example, if you have a project to due on Wednesday you'll have to work on it on Monday and Tuesday. (You certainly don't want to be like the teenage me, who would be scrambling on Tuesday night to throw something together for me to take to school. One Science Fair I created a project titled Which Soap Suds The Best? I put soap and water in a bucket, swished it around and took a picture of it. #Embarrassing) 

This is where planning your to-do list for you whole week at once really comes in handy because you're looking at a birds eye view of your week and can see further into the future beyond the needs of today and tomorrow.

Plan your essentials.

There are certain thins you have to do to survive, keep your relationships strong and maintain your health. These are things you know you'll be doing every single week without fail. So it makes sense to block that time off next.

Here are some examples of essentials. Decide on what works for your lifestyle. 

• Work

• Grocery shopping

• Cooking meals

• Relationship building (with spouse, friends and family)

• Sleep

• Gym

• (If you have small children) Homework, Reading and Bathtime

As you think about the time you have for these, remember you're thinking about your entire week. It's totally OK if you don't have time during the day to go to the gym 3 days a week. Push it to the weekend. Trust me, it still counts. 

Food matters.

Let's be real... We all have to eat.

While you may not really think about it (because it's really a basic need) food can easily take up 10 hours of your week! There's thinking about what you want to eat, going to the store to buy groceries, prepping all of the food, cooking and finally eating your meal. 

Build that time into your week... and find ways to optimize it. 

For example, I try to make a big meal on Mondays and Wednesdays and eat the leftovers on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This gives me more time to spend with my family or get a yoga session in after work on those days. 

Do you see where I'm going with this? If you plan your week all at once, you can see where those pockets of time exists. You can now be intentional where you would've previously spent that extra time wondering what you're going to eat tonight, praying that you have the ingredients you need for that miscellaneous recipe you just found on Pinterest or scrolling Facebook.

 

Events & Appointments

Here's where things start to get a little tricky. Some weeks, you'll have random appointments that throw a wrench into your weekly routine.

It could range from a doctors appointment, parent-teacher conference, networking happy hour mixer or your BFF's Dirty Thirty Birthday Bash. 

Put all of your appointments on your to-do list on the day they fall on. Then move your existing to-do items to around to accommodate these experiences.  

For example, if you have a parent teacher conference Thursday night, you may want to plan to meal prep Wednesday night. 

Set aside daily hustle time.

I don't know anyone that doesn't have their own side hustle these days. I'm using side hustle liberally. You could be running a blog, taking additional courses to boost your skills, building a business or training for a marathon. 

All of these things take time to build if you want to make a meaningful difference. Make sure you block off time to work on them. 

I choose to wake up early on a daily basis before work (from about 5-7AM) to work on this lovely blog you're reading right now. I also block off about 6 hours every Sunday to work strictly on creating products for the blog. 

Don't skip your daily me-time Activity.

When you fail to plan (or plan poorly) the first thing that suffers is the time spent taking care of yourself. 

Use Your weekends

Your week can quickly get stolen from you. When you're early in your career, networking events and working late can steal your weekday evenings. If you have a family, your kid's after school activities can usurp your afternoons.

You can still maintain your productivity and accomplish everything you want by shifting things to the weekends.

You can grocery shop and meal prep on Sundays. You can host a potluck to spend time with friends and family on Saturday nights. You can side hustle, take a class or serve your community on Sunday mornings. 

THREE ITEM MAXIMUM DAILY

One mistake people make is cramming a lot of things into their schedule assuming they're going to work super hard, drink red bull and skip sleep to accomplish their goals.

This rarely works because you're betting on a Sunday that your Tuesday self is going to have enough will power to stay up late. This can be a hit or miss depending on whatever else happened that day.

Have you ever gotten mad at yourself for falling asleep when you had things to do? This is totally irrational, but we've all done it.

Give yourself a three item maximum on your to-do list for any given day. By doing this, you will make sure that you only put the most important and urgent things on your list. (If you're super gangster like me, you only put one thing on your to-do list each day.) This also gives you a fighting chance at finally crossing everything off your to-do list which will leave you feeling accomplished each day and ready to attack the next. 

By planning out your days like this, you have unlimited time and flexibility to move things around like puzzle pieces until they fit perfectly into place. At the end of the week, you'll realize that by putting less on your plate on a daily basis, you will have accomplished more, gotten more sleep, spent more time with friends and family AND took care of yourself more.  The time exists everywhere... it's your job to use it. 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

How To Plan Your Week For Peak Performance + Balance + Happiness

Have you ever sat back on a lovely Saturday afternoon, half way through a mimosa and a thrilling Netflix original and thought to yourself...

"What the heck did I do all week?" 

No matter who you are, you have 168 hours to do whatever you choose. Yet, some people appear to be living their best lives while others are watching time pass them by wishing they had more... time. 

Have you ever thought to yourself... 

If I had more time I could go on more trips. 
I could start that side hustle. 
I could spend more time with my family. 

If only I had more time. 

Here's a bit of reality for you...

YOU HAVE ALWAYS HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH TIME. 

It's just hiding away in all of the hours you spend on social media, the half-days that pass you by as you watch Netflix and every other choice that you make that does not align with your values and desires. 

Here's the approach I use to make sure I get EVERYTHING done on a weekly basis with time to crush my 9-t0-5 and run a profitable blog and love my adorable daughter and take care of myself (and everything in between) - without burnout.

First, PLAN TO Take care of your household.

The worst thing about being a super ambitious goal-getter is that it's entirely too easy to get lost in your work and lose track of the little things.

For example, there have been many weeks where I spent my free time working on my blog - and I'd totally forget to do grocery shopping. I'd find myself scrambling through cabinets to throw together breakfast for dinner three nights in a row. (It's not surprising I get hungry and have to eat, might as well plan for it right? )

With better planning, I could create a meal plan, eat healthy and have all the items I need. #NoScramblingNecessary

Here are things you can schedule in to make sure your home is taken care of each week:

• Making a grocery list

• Grocery Shopping

• Cooking

• House cleaning

To optimize your basic housework, create a time that works for you every week to do the same household chores. That way, it becomes more of a habit. For example, every Monday night after putting my daughter to bed, I do meal prep for the rest of the week. 

Put the time to take care of your home on the calendar first. 

SECOND, PLAN TO Take care of yourself

I'm not gonna lie here, with so many things that must get done (we must work, we must take care of our families, we must manage our finances, be half way decent romantic partners and whatever else life throws on our plates) it's very easy to forget that we are the lead character in the story of our life. 

No matter what you have going on in your life, steal some time back for yourself. You need that me-time to clear your mind and align yourself with what you really want. 

This can look like: 

• Meditation

• Bottomless Mimosa Brunch with friends

• A massage or mani pedi

• Curling up with a good book and hot tea

You should always put a little time on the calendar to take care of yourself. 

I recommend taking quiet time daily. Since I'm a parent, my "me-time" starts strictly at 9PM. I also have a no-work policy on Friday and Saturday nights. (I may not be out clubbing like I used to when I was 21, but I'm definitely going to sit on the couch and drink some wine.)

When will you take your me-time? Put that on your calendar.

THIRD, PLAN TO Take care of your relationships

Whether you're married (or have a super sexy new beau) it's important to plan some time each week to show them that you care. Maintaining a relationship (even those that are ten years old) requires an investment of your time.

I'd also wrap your relationship with your children into this as well. 

As a single lady with an adorable 10-year-old, I always make sure that I make time for her. That can come in the form of playing video games with her or spending hours on the couch watching all of her fav shows. 

When's date night? Are you baking cookies with your baby? Put that time on the calendar.  

FINALLY, PLAN TO WORK TOWARDS your goals

I know it's odd to put this last when you're planning your week for optimal goal-getting, but there's a method to my madness, I promise. :) 

When you know that your home is taken care of, you're not burnt out and your relationships are thriving - you have more energy and focus to put towards your goals. 

That makes the time you set aside for your goals much more valuable because you can throw yourself into it with no distractions.

Set one goal for the week and then break that goal down over the course of a few days. That way you don't feel pressured to rush through your projects.

To break down your goals, start by asking yourself: 

• What do I want to accomplish this week?

• What resources would I need to be able to accomplish this goal?

• What do I need to do to accomplish this goal?

Now, put time on the calendar to get the resources you need, learn any new material and do each step on your list of action items. 

Accomplishing your goals happens over time in small steps that turn into huge shifts and big wins when you string them together over time. 

Every week is another opportunity to get closer to accomplishing your goals but it's also another opportunity to spend time with loved ones and to care for yourself better. The beauty of planning your miraculous week is that you get to choose what your life will look like. You get to create the life you want. All it takes is a little planning. :)

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

 This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

---

About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

The ULTIMATE Monthly Action Plan To Rock Your Goals And Your Life

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Coming up with a goal is actually the easiest part of the goal setting process. You start with evaluating where you are now and then figure out where you want to go - and if you're savvy, you also have a basic outline for how you want to get there.

Related: The High-Achiever's 7-Step Guide to Setting Crystal Clear Goals

But what happens next? 

If you're like 80% of Americans who set a New Year's Resolution... You make 1-5 good attempts at accomplishing your goal and then it falls to the way side is about a month (and likely less). 

What happens for those other people?

You know the tenacious few who are able to persist through the struggle and finally get to the point where they are able to accomplish their goals?

They have a plan. 

We've already talked about how to break down your goals for the year into quarterly and monthly goals. Here we'll deep dive into how to plan out your monthly schedule.

In typical Thrive Lounge fashion, we're going to put a little lifestyle twist on your goal setting ( because we gotta squeeze in time for wine and mimosas). 

Here are the steps to planning out your monthly goals, but do me a favor will ya? Follow them IN ORDER to get the best out of your life AND your goals.

I always set my goals like this to make sure that I remember my life comes first. Goals are important but enjoying your life in this moment matters, too. These steps will make sure you do both. 

Step 1: Don't Miss Out On Important Dates

The first thing you want to do when you look at a blank calendar for a new month is put in the dates that matter in your close relationships. That means schedule in the family + friend birthday parties, weddings, potlucks, brunch with the girls and date night with bae.

All of this needs to go into your schedule first because relationships make a huge difference in your level of happiness. 

Do this step first unless your situation is urgent - like if you don't hit your goal, you can't feed your family. (Trust me, I've been there before. It's not pretty.) In every other case, you'll want to invest time into growing your relationships with the people around you. And making it to the important events, carving out the time for date nights and celebrating birthdays - that's what makes life complete. 

Step 2: Make Self Care A Priority

One thing many goal-getters forget to do in the middle of all their planning + executing + #winning is taking out the time to care for themselves. I've fallen victim to this plenty of times in the past where I get so busy with work and running around that months will go by that I haven't spent any time just caring for myself. 

This could be in the form of a massage or glass of wine while reading a book after I put my daughter to bed. 

Self care is important if you want to maintain your sanity so schedule it in. I walk for about 40 mins in the morning, journal + read for about 30 minutes to an hour after my work day ends. I also have a strict no-work policy on Fridays and Saturdays so I can spend them completely to myself or with family and friends.

Figure out what activities make you feel relaxes and rejuvenated, schedule them in on the calendar and finally say buh-bye to burnout. #NotSorry

Step 3: Break Your Monthly Goals Into Small, Actionable Steps

Ok, now that you have your important dates + self care time on the calendar. Schedule in your action items. 

I like to break my monthly goals down into 4 goals and schedule one goal to be completed each week. Depending on how large the action item is and if it's my first time doing it, I'll spread goals out over a few days, giving myself enough time to do research, hit road blocks and double check what I've done. (Because nothing leads to more mistakes than plain ol' rushing.) 

Putting your action items on the calendar ensures that you'll stay on track in completing your goals.

Step 4: Set At LEAST One Mini Goal In OTHER AreaS of Your Life

Your life is not just work, eat, goals, sleep (though it can really seem like that sometimes). You have family and friends to shoot the breeze with, books you might want to read, a workout routine (and whatever else that makes you your best self.

Try to set one small goal in some of the other areas of your life: fitness/health, education, career, travel/adventure, relationships, personal finance,etc. 

This step ensures that you're not neglecting other areas of your life in pursuit of your larger goal. The beauty of this step is that you only focus on what you want to, depending on your interests and what time you have left over. 

This could look like working out 2-3 times a week, reading that new book you've been planning to read or asking your boss for that raise. 

Related: How To Set The Right Goals In All Areas Of Your Life

Step 5: Put It On The Calendar

If you're used to taking notes about your life on scratch paper or any available napkin, it's time you get a little more legit and put it on a calendar. It doesn't matter if it's a paper calendar, electronic calendar or dates typed up in Evernote (that's how I'm doing it these days because I like to search my notes). 

The point is... WRITE IT DOWN. 

Once you have a place that you can go back to you can refer to your goals on a weekly basis, you can track your progress and you can see visually what your next month will look like at a glance. There's no rumbling to find that napkin you scribbled your to-do list on, no forgetting your best friend's birthday, no guesswork... just grade-A planning. (Oh, and lots of #winning.)

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

How To Set The ONE Goal That Will Change Your Entire Life

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I want to start of with a story of failure. 

Not regular old failure. 

This story starts with a college graduate, that couldn't get a job, single mom working as a receptionist, freelancer AND waitress that STILL couldn't afford to put food on the table. In fact, I'd feed my daughter a full course meal while I'd survive on the free office pretzels at my receptionist job. The days when the executives had leftover sandwiches were a blessing for me because I'd actually get dinner. 

I want to start there because at that time in my life I hit rock bottom and couldn't find my way out.

I thought I needed money. 

I thought I needed time. 

I thought I needed to get a master's degree to figure my way out of it. 

In reality, I needed all of those things, but there's a fixed amount of time in the day - for everyone. I couldn't go out and print money. I couldn't work any more hours. I also couldn't get a better job without going to school.

I would have to choose one thing to focus on if I wanted to change my life.

So, how would I prioritize? 

That is what this post is all about.

You can figure out what's the best goal for you to pursue right now. Even if you're at rock bottom, if you fix the absolute biggest pain point in your life, you'll find that the rest of your life becomes significantly better without even trying. 

Here's what you need to do:

Evaluate Your Priorities

The most difficult thing about rock bottom is that EVERYTHING feels like it needs to be solved right now. Additionally, it's more difficult to make decisions from a state of failure. It's more difficult to make good decisions when you're afraid of not feeding your family. It's difficult to be creative when you're not sure if you'll have a home tomorrow. It's hard to make the right decisions when you have a million things on your mind, a million pain points that all keep you up at night in perpetual thought. 

The first step is to determine what your priorities are in your life. I like to split my life into six key focus areas: 

1. Family/Relationships

2. Travel

3. Personal Finance

4. Fitness/Health

5. Education

6. Career

Spend some time thinking about each one of these areas in your life and decide rank them 1-6 in order of importance for you. That means the area of your life that is the most important  to you right now in your life should be rated a 1 and the area that you don't care that much to focus on right now should be rated a 6.

As an example from my life, when I was struggling to put food on the table for myself and my daughter, traveling was NO WHERE NEAR the top of my list of priorities. (Seriously, I could've rated travel a 10 on a list of 1-6. I was HUNGRY. I ain't have time or money to visit nobody's country.) Similarly, I love my family, but they were not at the top of my priorities list.

We needed food (period). I needed to get my personal finance in order. So I ranked that #1 on my list. 

PS. You must rank all of the areas so you can only use the numbers 1-6 once. #NoCheating

Rate Your Satisfaction

Satisfaction is one thing that no guru, inspirational social media quote or online course can figure out for you. This one comes completely from how you feel about your life. 

Now that you've carefully laid out what's important to you by ranking each area of your life, I want you to take that same list of 6 life areas and rate exactly how satisfied you are on a scale from 1-10. 

I completely stole this strategy from my 9-to-5. Every six months, we walk through our priorities and satisfactions with our job. I'll rank my job, my team, the pay, my workload and my client in order of which is more important to me to optimize. Then I'll rate my satisfaction in each area. The point of this exercise is to pinpoint where in your life you have a need that's incredibly important to you that you're not totally satisfied with. 

You can easily see where you need to put your energy when you look at your life by most important and lowest satisfaction. 

set the goal

Once you've rated your satisfaction in each area take a step back and find the area in your life with highest importance that has the lowest satisfaction score. This is where you'll want to put your energy into fixing.

Find one goal that you can set in this area of your life that will increase your satisfaction. (Side note: If you have no idea what goal to set, start reading books and blogs or listening to podcasts on it.)

For example, I was obviously struggling with finances the most. That was my highest ranking AND lowest satisfaction so it was clear that personal finance is where my energy needed to go.  

I needed to fix my personal finances BAD but I needed some help getting started. I read every book I could get for free at the library on personal finance and downloaded every podcast on money.

My breakthrough came when I read the simple yet oh-so-insightful stories in The Richest Man In Babylon. I realized the reason I was so unhappy with my personal finance. I didn't have enough money but I was surrounded by stuff. I had a car, an apartment and bills stacked up to my head that kept me working all the time and paying bills ALL THE TIME.

I was breaking the first rule of finance - spend less than you make. 

I needed to restructure my life if I wanted my life to change. Rather than focusing immediately on education or making more money (these would be great goals for education or career areas of my life but I was ONLY focused on money), I decided that I'd focus on taking away the bills. I did a voluntary repossession on my car, turned off my cell phone and moved out of my apartment and back in with my parents (taking away my rent, utilities and internet payments).

Suddenly, I had money for food - without increasing my work load, without going back to school or getting a better job. I could finally breath. I could FINALLY move forward with a clear head. Most important, I was FINALLY happy. 

This strategy helps you set goals based on what's most important to you right now AND where you're the least satisfied. This really works because it allows you to FOCUS your energy in the area of your life that will move the needle and make a noticeable difference in every other area of you life.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!