Have you ever looked up after a busy day and wondered what actually got done? Was our busy day really productive? At the end of the day we could feel so “productive” but really spent all of our time on tasks that were indeed urgent but NOT important.
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More Ways to be Productive in a School Pick Up Line
In our last episode, Ep 48, I shared my kids are at 3 different schools this year, which means 3 different pick up lines and a long time waiting in the car!
The good news is afternoon pick up is going better and here are a few tips that have helped me spend a little less time in my car.
- Have your kids walk a block or two away from the school to move away from the traffic. Thanks to Ann for sharing this tip with me. This has been working great for my middle schooler but my other two kids still need to be picked up from their teacher.
- Rethink your route to and from school. Just like a UPS truck avoids left turns, can you make your route more efficient. I found avoiding the freeway exit and approaching the school from a different direction really made a big difference in how much traffic I encountered.
- Don’t be right on time. Arrive at the school 5 or so minutes after school lets. This usually is enough time for all the early bird parents to clear out. To be clear to Bethany and all teachers, I am not suggesting you are late to pick your kids. However, if you wait just a few minutes there is less traffic and you are still on time to pick up your kids.
- Join a carpool. This is such a time saver, not to mention all the benefits of reducing cars on the road. Again, if you have ever organized a school carpool outreach, I would love to hear what you have done!
We are still looking for tips! What do you do to stay productive as you wait in line? Please share! We’d love to add more ways to our list!
Summer Photo Organizing Challenge
We’ve been focusing on getting our photos organized based on Molly Bullard’s advice from Episode 41 Organizing your Photos. Click on over to check out our interview with Molly because she had a lot of great tips for all those digital photos slowing down your phone!
The good news is Bethany started this school year off already emailing her parents the link to classroom photos from August. Although there are still photos from last year to organize, I love how Bethany isn’t letting disorganization from the past stop her from organizing today! Start with today first and then you can work backwards.
Have you been organizing your photos along with us? Share your progress with us below in the comments or on social media. Use the hashtags #AtoBpodcast.
Meal Planning
Kids are back in school which means more time for parents but less free time for Bethany as a classroom teacher!
This year Bethany has been focused on eating at home more which necessities planning out her meals. We detailed simple steps to menu plan in Ep 44 Simplifying Meal Planning and I shared some of my favorite quick meals in Ep 43 Quick Summer Meals.
Amy Berryhill, a professional organizer from Spiffy Chicks, recommends the program Plan to Eat. It looks like a fantastic way not only to organize your recipes and plan your out meals but also makes you a grocery list too!
Could our Brain be lying to us about our productivity?
We’re continuing our conversation about productivity. Back in Ep 46 Getting Back to Basics, we shared an article about getting back to the fundamentals, like sleep and meal planning, to really boost your productivity.
However, did you ever consider that your brain might be tricking you into thinking you are productive even though you’re not making progress towards your goals? You’re only running around putting out fires.
The article, Why Your Brain Tricks You Into Doing Less Important Tasks from the New York Times, explains why we jump to completing urgent tasks that aren’t necessarily important.
If you have ever seen the Eisenhower Box or Matrix, this idea of putting off important tasks that aren’t urgent will already be familiar to you. We mentioned it briefly in Ep 47 Tackling Mental Clutter. We may be spending all our time complete tasks from the wrong box.
Here is a visual from James Clear.
Let’s pause for a minute for some reader participation. Think of a few tasks that are at the top of your mind right now. What box would they go into? Sketch your own matrix and sort out a your to-dos. You might be tempted to skip this, but give it a try!
Important/Not Urgent
The category that tends to be ignored is the Important/Not-Urgent box which we are going to focus on today This is where long-term projects and goals fit but we often don’t schedule a time to do them and big projects get pushed to the side.
A great example is our Photo Organizing Challenge. Getting our photos in order is important but not urgent. The project gets pushed down the list to a future, undetermined date which in other words means never.
Schedule time
We all have experienced the Not Important/ Urgent tasks eating up all of our time! That’s why it is so important to schedule time for those Important/ Not- urgent tasks.
Micro Progress
Once you have a set aside time to work, that’s where the magic of micro-progress comes in. You are able to give your brain that same satisfaction of being productive by slicing up bigger projects into tiny goals to make them more manageable. Now you can work with your brain instead of against it!
Our Challenge
Our challenge for you and ourselves is to pick one important/ not urgent task that you have been putting off, and first break it up into smaller tasks then schedule it. This is key before become important and urgent!!!
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