Being Intentional with Productivity
In today’s world, it is becoming increasingly easy to get distracted from just about anything you choose to not focus on. Because of the ease of finding distractions right at your fingertips, it has become so easy to push your priorities to the wayside. Choosing to be intentional with the tasks at hand and priorities in your life can lead to you living your life in a much more fulfilling way. Let’s dive into a few ways to get started with being intentional in your day-to-day tasks:
Evaluate things that waste your time - This is quite an easy thing to get started on. Spend a few minutes today analyzing what exactly distracts you. The nice thing about this is that if it’s your phone that causes a large distraction you can look at what is most distracting based on your screen time hours that are tracked in your phone’s setting. Once you can establish what things distract you the most, compare those things to what your priorities are. This can go for homemakers, housewives, and working women alike. We all have tasks that we need to accomplish at home, in our personal lives, and/or at work. Seeing how our distractions pull us from our priorities is a great way to kick-start a transition to a much more efficient life.
Plan out your time - Now that you have been able to determine what restricts your productivity, set aside a moment to plan out how you want to best make use of your time. There are many ways to do this. Either plan out your week and the tasks that you want to do each day during the week or spend a few moments before you get ready for bed planning out how you are going to productively accomplish your tasks the following day. I find that it is still very important to have devoted time to spend with yourself whether that is spending some time on Instagram connecting with a community, watching a video or tv show that you enjoy, or playing a game that lets you detach. I should add that when you plan out your day, it is okay to plan out that you want to take a walk, read a book, take some time to take care of yourself, etc. Part of choosing to live at a slower pace is understanding that there is always tomorrow. There will be things that you need to accomplish by a deadline, ie. household bills, grocery shopping, cooking, but there are other tasks that you can choose to spread out.
Know how long to spend on certain tasks, and know when to come back - This is something that I am very guilty of but I am learning to fix. There are things that you will have to do that will take all, or most, of the day. For me, these things are organization projects. When I dive into organizing or purging certain areas of my belongings I get to be very one-track minded. I am learning to set a timer or choose a podcast to listen to and when it is done I need to consciously get up, complete another task or two, and then come back to get more done. Sometimes there is no way to plan for how long something will take you and giving yourself grace will set you up for a much happier and healthier relationship with nurturing your home.
Slow down - This is a very important tip that I wanted to mention. I believe that many women feel as though it is their responsibility to run, run, run, and get everything done (I know that I sometimes feel that way). But knowing that it is okay to slow down is going to change your life for the better. Society is telling women that we need to have enough time for everything, and some women are put on a pedestal for being a woman that “does it all”. The vast majority of us are not wired or built in a way to do everything. Coming to terms with the fact that it is indeed okay to slow down and focus on structuring your life in a way that is preparing you for the main large life desire is something that I encourage.
I encourage you to try to implement these tips in your life for the upcoming week to see if your productivity increases. This post is not encouraging you to wear yourself thin, in fact, I hope that it does the opposite. My hope for you is that you can implement these tips and bring a bit more peace and slowness to your life. I hope that you are able to know that it is okay to spend your own amount of time on certain tasks and that slowing your life down to be more intentional should bring your much more joy and peace to your life.
What are some of the things that have been limiting you in being intentional with your productivity? How do you plan to be intentional with your productivity and implement a slower pace during your week?
