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HOW TO HAVE THE MOST PRODUCTIVE, BADASS DAY EVER

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First things first, can we discuss this outfit? I found this oversized tee ( similar ) in the festival section at ASOS. They have the best festival section right now- especially if you’re looking for huge tee shirts like this. Lately I like pairing these big ( BIG ) tees with black bike shorts. I feel like you can’t really tell that you’re working with the mysterious bike shorts. ASOS has a bunch of different big tees to choose from. You can go the white feminine route like I did or opt for a more festive pop of neon ( trust me, stalk their festival looks ).

Make sure to pair it with cute white sneakers. I’m telling you this makes all the difference. I got these on ASOS too. AND these oversized gold hoops completed the whole look. My style is simple with a twist but always evolving- I love trying new, cool looks out but not going too trendy ( if that makes sense? ).

Here’s the reason I like ASOS for festival: it’s a one stop shop. You know I’m efficient guys. When I shop on ASOS I can get my oversized tee, sneakers, hoops, & even lashes in one spot. The checkout is quick & not a pain. I’ve been shopping on ASOS since forever & you can never go wrong. The prices are affordable, they have everything from neons to fringe to prints, & their clothes are always on trend.

Basically everything is in one place- YOU WILL LOVE.

ASOS IS EFFICIENT, STYLISH, & PRODUCTIVE ( seriously though, who has time to shop at 6 different online stores, I prefer one! ). Ok, happy stalking.

Now let’s talk about PRODUCTIVITY in general.

 

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A question I get asked a lot via DM’s on Insta is: how can I be more productive?

I certainly do not know all the answers- however, I’m always happy to share what’s worked well for me. I love to share. I do! I do! As long as it provides you guys with some kind of value though.

These are a couple of easy, quick tips anyone can implement. AND BOY OH BOY DO THEY HELP ME WITH PRODUCTIVITY.

…BECAUSE really, let’s face it: time is money.

Ok well, I guess I should quickly get started then? Here is how to have an EXTRAORDINARY DAY, WEEK, MONTH:

GOOGLE CALENDAR THAT SHIT.

But keep it cute. Cute & color-coded always wins in my book. From the second I wake up to the second I go to bed, my day is calendared in the most colorful way. In fact, it’s like a rainbow with a lot of different shades of pink mixed in. It’s real pretty.

 

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GOOGLE CALENDAR THAT SHIT, RANDOM DAY IN THE LIFE:

7:30 AM-ISH: wake up & meditate for AT LEAST 5 minutes ( been priming like Tony Robbins lately )

7:50 AM: breakfast, shower, clean house, eat some eggs with avocado

8:45 AM: drive to workout, while listening to podcasts

9:15 – 10:30 AM: workout

10:30 – 11 AM: conference call & grab a protein smoothie ( sometimes I run into cryotheraphy– I LOVE IT, it’s like crack cocaine but natural, gets your lymph system going! )

11 – 11:30 AM: drive to office, while listening to podcasts

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM: emails & social media

12:30 – 1:30 PM: meet with Westin over lunch to go over TSC strategy/growth

1:30 – 2:30 PM: meet with accountant

2:30 – 2:45 PM: social media

3:00 – 4:00 PM: write blog post

4:00 – 5:00 PM: more emails, go over tomorrow’s shoot, approve photos/collages/graphics, plan giveaway, go over newsletter with team, go over future TSC ideas, podcast prep, etc.

5:00 – 5:30 PM: more social media

5:30 – 6:00 PM: drive home- take a conference call in car

6:00 – 7:00 PM: dinner

7:00 – 8 PM: add photos to post, edit post, emails

8 – 9 PM: read in bed, a little skincare routine/brush my teeth

9:00 PM: plan next day

10:00 PM: in bed, social media check…sometimes watch RHO_____

11:00 pm-ISHHHH: sleep ( hopefully ) or read

This is just one day because every day for me is different. Days change all the time so it’s hard to give you one set day. You do you do here, just make sure you calendar down to the minutes, you know? It will drastically change your productivity levels.

TIP: calendar your days the night before. I sit in bed at like 10 PM-ish & plan out the next day to the second.

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TO DO LIST FIRST THING WHEN YOU WAKE UP:

A billionaire once said ( I can’t remember which one, LOL- perhaps it was T.Boone Pickens? HA ): make a list of 7 priorities you want to get done for the day in the morning. Don’t move to anything else that’s overwhelming ( work-wise ) until those 7 things are done. I’ve done this everyday of my life since I heard this- it works wonders. WONDERS.

AS LONG as I lay my head on the pillow & think of a few ways I built The Skinny Confidential for the day- I’m good. I love progress- even if it’s slow & steady progress. Chip away EVERYDAY. Go with strategic intention. It’s not what you do in the short-term, it’s what you do everyday that determines success, you know? Daily habits are key!

THE POWER OF NO:

I did a post on this years ago & it’s still something I practice regularly. Saying no is powerful. It frees up time.

Lunch in the middle of the day typically doesn’t work for me.

Late dinners are hard because I have to be fresh for the morning time, especially if I’m shooting content for work.

I’m not one to take a business meeting or conf call early in the morning too. I like to wake up & take calls/meetings from 10 am on.

NO, NO, NO, NO! Say no if it doesn’t work for you. Don’t be afraid of no.

I BEG YOU TO READ THIS POST– it’s one of my favorites.

TIME BLOCK:

You know all about time-blocking from this post.

If you haven’t read about time-blocking, well READ ABOUT IT. It’s truly life-changing & something that has REALLY helped with my productivity. To be real it’s kind of stupid how I carry my time dice in my oversized handbag. But when I’m working from a tiny coffee shop ( which is a lot ) it helps me stay focused.

Oh, & it’s very different from your phone- like a whole separate ball game. Your phone is distracting, a time-block is not.

DELEGATE, DELEGATE, DELEGATE:

SO key in growing a business.

I have a team of about 6 people who I’m in contact with all day long. George & Burak do my backend. Cassie is on the graphics. Mimi helps with day-to-day & our house. Val is on email, handling EVERYTHING & ANYTHING! Taylor is on it with stats & the podcast analytics. And Arielle is my photographer. Also, my management team is very helpful at streamlining partnerships.

( One area I’ll never delegate? The writing- no ghost-writer for me! Guest poster, maybe? But no ghost-writer! ).

There’s nothing better than getting a blowout while I’m on my computer- shout out to DryBar. I get so much work done in that uninterrupted hour, it’s mind-blowing. And I walk out of DryBar with a fresh blowout, multi-tasking!

Delegate with grace- make sure you’re in constant contact with your team. I always want my team to be happy with their job- I keep an open line of communication & try to work with them to create their ideal work environment.

Positivity is key.

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DON’T BE RULED BY EMAIL.

Just don’t. Take it from me- I’ve been there & it’s not a healthy place.

Emails will never stop- it’s one thing you can count on.

Now I have a separate email for JUST business. One for JUST questions. One for JUST resumes. And one for JUST my personal. Separating it out helps a lot.

I should mention too: I turned my text message notifications OFF AND RINGER IS OFF TOO.

Reason being? Texts were distracting me during the day- so off they went! No more distractions. I return texts when I can, at the end of day or the next day ( I’m a perpetual 2 day later texter ).

All my other social media notifications are turned off too- SILENT. I don’t want to hear sounds & see screens light up all day when I’m trying to focus, you know?

THERE YOU HAVE IT.

I hope these were valuable.

With that, I am going to go plan my color-coded day out in Google calendar. Before I jet, would love to know: HOW DO YOU HAVE THE MOST PRODUCTIVE, BADASS DAY EVER?

Happy Wednesday x

lauryn x

+ other posts on calendaring: tips & tricks | time-blocking | time

++ this post is in collaboration with ASOS. As always ALL opinions are my own.

SHOP THE POST: white oversized tee ( I got size 8 ) | white sneakers | gold hoops | clutch ( similar )

{ photos }

feminist asos white dress | by The Skinny Confidential

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  1. Such a badass boss babe! I love it and this was extremely helpful! LOVE this outift! Have an awesome day! xoxo

  2. Setting a schedule can be such a challenge for creatives! My plan for the day is essentially ” WEEEEEEEEEEE! WHUPS! WEEEEEEEEE! UH-OH! WEEEEEEEE!” And then I have 2/10ths of 80 projects done and am covered in peanut butter. Definitely going to work on a structure! Thanks Lauryn! ❤
    https://damngirlgetyourshittogether.com/

  3. These are all brilliant tips!! I swear by my google calendar (but sometimes have to give myself some spontaneous unstructured days… otherwise I’m burn-out central). I totally agree with the turning-off-notifications tips too! My phone is alllllllways on silent (i literally have no clue what my ringtone is). Not great for missing calls but who spontaneously calls people now-a-days anyway.

    ? Pia
    http://gymbagsandjetlags.com

  4. Loved this post so much!

    I find I am super productive on days where I work out in the morning. It sets my day on a good note, and then it’s one last thing I have to do at the end of my day. Since I work a 9-5 job, my evenings are for when I spend time with my boyfriend and work on my blog, so it’s nice to get everything done as efficiently as possible!

  5. Love this! Valuable post full of great tips. Thank you!! One question- what is your strategy for getting back on track when the unexpected (insert a million scenarios here) pops up? This is one of my challenges and I love input from bad ass bosses like yourself!

  6. I definitely need to try time blocking, I’ve got the priorities thing down but time blocking & getting distracted with social is something I’m still working on.

    Thanks for the actionable tips, you’re fucking awesome!

  7. I’ve never been one to calendar my day to the minute… but now that I’m running my own business and a full-time teacher, it’s got to happen! Thanks for the inspo! Google Calendaring NOW!

  8. OMG this is amazing! I’ve been using this system for the past couple of days (planning my day the night before) and it’s been great. The most amazing part of it is that it reduces the anxiety over the feeling of HAVING to stretch the day in order to fit more into your schedule. With this, you already know from the night before what you’re going to do. Also, it helps you to be realistic with timeframes (no more scheduling 1/2 hour to write and upload a blog post).

  9. I let the alarm clock on my phone run my day (kind of like your conference calls), I never knew I was even “time blocking”- feeling trendier and more productive just knowing it has a name-ha! I am intrigued to see if I could handle turning off all of my notifications like you mentioned.. Have to find that will power to detach. I know my boyfriend would surelyyy appreciate Instagram not running 14 hours of my day 😉 Thanks for sharing, as always.

  10. This post is so inspiring! I have only recently jumped onto Google Calendar and love it. I still have my trusted pretty hard-copy diary because it’s just so pretty & I love writing my ‘to do’ lists and ticking them off. Podcasts are the best things too, I always feel determined after I finish listening to one everyday. Now just to get people on my team so I can delegate 🙂

  11. This post is so inspiring! I have only recently jumped onto Google Calendar and love it. I still have my trusted pretty hard-copy diary because it’s just so pretty & I love writing my ‘to do’ lists and ticking them off. Podcasts are the best things too, I always feel determined after I finish listening to one everyday. Now just to get people on my team so I can delegate 🙂

  12. So helpful reading this! I’ve always been old-fashioned and just written my to-do lists and calendars down on a sheet of paper or dry erase board. Will look into the Google calendar though! I’m sure it’ll make much more sense in the long run! Thank you!!

  13. This might be my favorite of all your posts. I work from home and I’m a new Mom and I’m really having to learn how to accomplish everything I need to in a day! These are great tips!

  14. I just ordered my time block + turned my social media notifications off {this will likely be huge for me because I’ve been drawn to them so much these days} I did normally have my phone on silent but the screen would light up sometimes + I would then see it + get on it anyway so I’ve turned all notifications off! I did actually always plan my day to the minute on google calendar but I focused a lot on vague terms + used 30 minute chunks, I’m going to try to get more specific about it thanks to your tips! Always coming through with words of wisdom girl! Xoxo

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  19. I loved this post! I struggle with productivity all the time, and your tips are worth trying. My blog myadultinglife.com is where I try to put all of my focus, and can’t wait to implement these productivity tips to my own work schedule!

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