Coffee Talk #172: 10 Ways to Get Sh*t Done

It’s Tuesday! Grab your cup and let’s start chatting.

If we were having coffee together today, I’d tell you that I’m in the middle of my whirlwind month of travel and training. I completed a fitness training in New Jersey this weekend, I have another training next weekend, a training the weekend after that, and I’m still teaching 10 + classes a week, working toward my 200 hour yoga certification, working on a private design project, working on a project with the husband, and working 28 hours a week for my MBRT job.

Being overwhelmed is a choice. 

Take a deep breath and read that again.

Even after sharing a little glimpse into my calendar, I like to emphasize that you choose to be overwhelmed. I’ve certainly had my breaking points, but I’ve learned to use them as opportunities to understand my best working environment and my values. Ultimately, YOU control your schedule, YOU determine your priorities, and YOU develop boundaries.

I value productivity, pretty and organized things, and moving my body. Those things have to take priority in my schedule.

I’m a high capacity worker. I like tasks, I like lists, and I’ll often complete items before a deadline. I wasn’t always this way, and I believe part of my purpose on this planet is to share my tips and tricks to help others tackle the F out of your day/week/month/year.

Even if you’re nothing like me, I have tips and tricks for you. Let’s be productive together!

Here are some tips and tricks I’ve learned, used, and worked to master in order to fit more into my day.

10 Ways to Get More Sh*t Done

1) Top 3 of the Week: Develop a list, each week, of the TOP 3 items you need to accomplish. Yes, just 3. I’ve found that if my list is fewer than 3, I don’t feel productive. If my list is more than 3, I’ve forced myself to be overwhelmed. It’s a magic number. One extra trick I have is to devote one major item for each area of your life. So, each week I will designate a major item for MBRT, Fitness, and personal. By highlighting something in each major area of my life, I feel super accomplished at the end of the week.

Do not try to list 10 major items of the week. These are TASKS. See #2.

2) Top 5 of the Day: In addition to highlighting 3 MAJOR items of the week, I break my day into 5 Top Tasks of the day. These are items that will help me achieve my 3 major goals of the week. They could also be errands that need to get done that day. But they are NOT major week items. There’s no rhyme or reason to 5; this just seems to be my average number of daily tasks.

Extra tip: Look ahead on your calendar to deadlines and schedule tasks weeks in advance.

3) Fill the space between: Oh, the space between. This is one of my favorite tips. Productivity heightens when you learn how to maximize your time. Waiting in line at the grocery store? Sounds like an awesome time to edit videos or work through a couple of emails. Pack efficiency into your day.

Note: Do not multitask. See #7.

4) Collaborate: STOP! Collaborate and listen. No, really. My life CHANGED when I realized that I didn’t have to do every single thing ever. There are competent people around you who love doing things you don’t love to do. I’m super lucky to have a husband who despises the chores I love, and vice versa. Now, we will help each other out with household tasks (it all has to get done anyway), but our general flow includes tasks that we each like. LET PEOPLE DO SHIT FOR YOU. It’s so easy to fall into a trap of “I can do it myself!” but–and trust me, this is so hard for me to say–you cannot do it all by yourself. So don’t! Enlist the help of others, find complementary talents and pair up with someone. You are not alone.

5) Always Be Closing: This is a line from one of my all-time favorite movies that has changed the way I work. With each task, begin with the end in mind and fight your way to that end. Do whatever you need to do to close a task. Someone isn’t emailing you back? Call them. Go to their office with cookies. Find a way to get the information or the feedback or the items that you need to complete your task. Be vigilant (but carry a soft stick).

6) Ditch meaningless decisions: Stop obsessing over what you wear. I’ve developed a ‘uniform’ for a job that doesn’t require one. If you know me professionally, you’ll see me wear a dress with Jacks, Toms, or boots, a scarf in the fall/spring, and a vest in the winter. I purchase items that fit this uniform. It keeps things simple and I waste zero time figuring out what cute outfit to wear. And I always look professional! Find a style that works for you and coordinate different colors and patterns.

Similarly, stop wasting time every single day trying to figure out what to eat. Frontload the week and spend 1-2 hours on Saturday or Sunday shopping and prepping your meals. Your life will change when you get that extra 1+ hour back in a day.

7) Do NOT multitask: You will never get anything done if you dedicate your brain space to more than one task at a time. I don’t care if you are a CEO, a momager, a mom, a professional, have two jobs. The multitask look is not cute on anyone. If you do multitask, one of the tasks, or both, will not be completed to the full potential. Save your brain space and work to focus on ONE thing at a time. Not prepared to tackle that thing? Save it, close it, and move on to something else.

BONUS: Try to complete your HARDEST task first (eat that frog). You have better chance of winning your day if you start by tackling the toughest thing first.

8) Plan 1 hour ‘me’ block: You need time for you. You’re not too busy to plan an hour (or more!!) for yourself. That’s 4% of your day. FOUR PERCENT! Use this time wisely — move your body (see#9) , meditate (see #10), work on that side hustle. You are precious and wonderful and your personal development matters. Everything else can wait.

9) Exercise daily: My life changed when I started making daily movement a priority. This does not mean you have to go do HIIT or push your body to the ground every single day. Try walking! Get a dog, that will force you to walk. Try riding a bike or yoga, or go to a fitness class where others can motivate you. You get this one body and you have to keep it healthy so you can crush your goals.

10) Meditate daily: I didn’t know how to meditate until I started my YTT journey in September. I always thought it meant that you needed to sit in a quiet space and work to empty your brain. Um, this is impossible (unless you are a monk or live alone in the wilderness). It’s never going to be perfectly quiet and your brain cannot completely empty. Instead, meditation is about learning to be fully present and observe — your thoughts, your breath, your energy. If you’re not sure what focus on, there are tons of guided meditations and apps available. This also doesn’t have to be an hour of your day — I’ve had days where I spend 5 focused minutes on meditating.

The benefits of daily meditation are amazing — lower blood pressure, lower stress, lower anxiety, find focus for the day, solve some of your problems, improve creativity, lower heart rate, and more. Doing it daily compounds all of these benefits.

You’re ready to be productive! Let me know how you do with these tips, and if you have any other ones you like to add to get more sh*t done in your day.