It’s been a minute since we last spoke, hasn’t it!?! As some of you may already know, the last month has been absolutely crazy for me because my husband and I bought our first home and moved into it, which was a massive undertaking that left me a little overwhelmed and kept me away from my work (and phone and computer!) to a degree that I never expected. Well, good news! Things are finally starting to settle down for us, although we have much work ahead of us, I do plan to get back into the groove of blogging and working come August and I hope that I can knock it out of the park with some great new content that you’ll enjoy! One thing I didn’t want to forget, however, was your monthly free downloads, so I am stopping by today to give you an update that they are ready for you to download over at The Charmed Shop! I’ve got your August Dashboard, a 30 Strategies to Make You More Productivity task list and of course, some beautiful August calendar tech wallpapers!
I have to admit, it’s been very weird for me not working much or interacting with you for the past month, so I would really appreciate it if you guys sent me some love and inspiration over on Instagram! Feel free to snap a pic of your inserts or wallpapers in use in your life and tag me @MissTrenchcoat so I can be inspired by your creativity.
Thank you all so much for your never ending love and encouragement, it really means so much to me, and thank you to all those who sent me messages and well wishes during my absence! Your kindness is so deeply appreciated!
It’s no secret that I love and use essential oils on a regular basis to help me manage my mood and my productivity. For some, the topic of essential oils falls into the woo-woo category, it’s not actionable strategy, it isn’t a true productivity tool that can aid you in staying organized or remaining on task. For some, the concept of aromatherapy is on par with inspirational quotes and meditation, and that’s fine. But I’m here to tell you today that I don’t care how woo-woo it seems to use essential oils, I know that the affects of aromatherapy have drastically helped me improve my life and I want to share with you my number one essential oil secret weapon that does help me increase my productivity!
If you are someone who has a hard time waking up in the morning. If you are someone who looses focus throughout the workday or falls into the afternoon slump where you just want to take a nap. THIS SECRET WEAPON IS FOR YOU! Anytime I use it, my mood instantly turns to one of action and empowerment, and it seriously helps me boost my productivity for the day.
Let me tell you a little story!
Back in April, I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at a planner convention in Atlanta. I flew in for the event, met up with a great bunch of girls and we spent the evening before the event dining and having fun. I admittedly enjoyed myself a little too much, stayed up past midnight and had one too many drinks. My friends were slightly concerned that I may not wake up in the morning on time for our event, but I told them I would be there on time, bright eyed and bushy tailed!
The next morning, when my alarm went off at 6am, I immediately grabbed my secret weapon essential oil, sat in silence with it for about ten minutes breathing it in and waking myself up for the day. After that I drank down a bottle of water, got dressed and headed to the event. I was one of the first to arrive and I was on my feet for a solid 8-10 hours that day full of energy, no caffeine required. All the girls thought I was some sort of wonder woman and wanted to know my secret weapon, which I gleefully shared with them. It gave me the energy and focus to push past exhaustion and a hangover to put my best effort into the day ahead.
So, you’re probably wondering, what is this secret weapon? I’ll tell you…
Let me just take a moment to explain, this isn’t an advertisement or promotional post, I am not being paid to talk about this oil- it’s just seriously a tool in my arsenal that I use to get me up and at em when I need that extra lift. Some people turn to coffee, and I definitely do on a regular basis, but coffee doesn’t always sustain my energy and can leave me feeling even more tired once it’s affects wear off. Some people swear by pills or energy drinks, again, we are talking artificial chemicals or sweeteners and not our bodies own natural resources. When I take a few minutes to sit calmly and breathe in the scent of Doterra Elevation, I am stimulating energy resources inside myself. I’m not adding sugar or chemicals or addictive substances to my body, I’m flipping a switch inside myself that turns on my own juice!
Okay, so you’re probably wondering, what’s inside this Elevation Oil and how do I use it?
The elevation oil is a blend of floral, sweet and citrus to uplift your mind and produce energy. It’s ingredients include: Lavandin Flower, Lavender Flower, Hawaiian Sandalwood, Tangerine Peel, Melissa Flower, Ylang Ylang Flower, Elemi Resin, Osmanthus Flower, and Lemon Myrtle Leaf essential oils.
I like to use this oil a few different ways.
In the morning when I wake up, I like to sit quietly crossed legged, open the oil and keep it to my nose as I breath deeply in and out for a few moments. I will personally tie this to a gratitude or meditation practice where I am breathing the oil and thinking my positive, calming thoughts for the day at the same time.
During the workday I will either diffuse a few drops of the oil in my office space OR I will rub it onto my wrists so I can keep the scent lingering around me as I work. You could also add a few drops to your favorite hand lotion if you have sensitive skin that is easily irritated by scented oils.
Of course, these aren’t the only ways you can use the oil, but it’s the way I use it on a daily basis. I sincerely love this oil and consider it my number one productivity secret weapon for a reason- it really does help me to naturally elevate my mindset and promote productivity when I’m loosing focus! Definitely give it a try today, here is a link where you can purchase the oil if you are curious! If you use Elevation yourself or would like to recommend any other oils to me, I’d love for you to tell me about it in the comments.
If you don’t subscribe to me on YouTube, you have been missing out on a great planning series I am in the middle of called Functional Planning! It’s all about setting up and using your planner to not only achieve planner peace, but to also maximize productivity and organization in your life. I have the pleasure of hearing from my followers on a daily basis, and when it comes to planners and organization, many of them recount the same old tale of planner peace won and lost. No matter which planner system they are using and no matter what planners they have tried in the past, my advice is always the same… It’s not your planner that is the problem, it’s the way you are using it! So, if you are struggling to find a planner or a system for planning that works for you and your life, if you have too many planners and are going crazy deciding which to use and if you NEED a PLANNER INTERVENTION (or know someone who does), my functional planning series will help you find clarity!
Functional Planning #1: Intro to Functional Planning | 5 Reasons You’re NOT Finding Planner Peace
In this video I cover the 5 most common reasons that people do not find or even loose planner peace. For many of us, it’s not just a single cut and dry reason, and for many of the members of my community that I have counseled through this issue, it’s actually a number of reasons which is why it’s important to know what problems are afflicting you so that you can address them!
Functional Planning #2: The Essentials of Functional Planning | 3 Roles of a Complete Planner System
In this second installment of my functional planning series, I discuss the three roles of a complete planner system. When it comes to choosing the right planner for you, it’s essential that your planner be able to do these three things so that you have confidence in your system. One of the problems I find with some planners is that they lack true functionality for users and although you may be drawn to one or another planner because of a specific size or layout, once you start planning and you find that your choice lacks certain functions, it becomes obsolete and you stop using it.
Functional Planning #3: Plan with Me May | My Monthly Functional Planning Process
In this installment of my functional planning series, you watch as I perform my monthly review process. Although this video takes place before May, it’s not the month that matters, but the process of what I do and how I use my planner to prepare for the upcoming month that will provide insight to you in how I functionally plan!
Functional Planning #4: Plan with Me | My Weekly Functional Planning Process
Finally, in this fourth (but not yet final) installment of my functional planning series, I walk you through how I plan on a weekly basis. My weekly review process is another major part of my functional planning process and in this video I share specific tips and strategies that you can implement in your own planner, plus you get a peek into how I use my functional planning stickers to keep my planner looking inspirational as well as functional!
So, I hope you enjoyed this recap of my still in progress functional planning series. If you have no yet enjoyed these videos, I highly recommend bookmarking this post and coming back to it the next time you are sitting down and working in your planner because you will want to take notes and start evaluating your current planner against my functional planning criteria. Even if you believe you have found planner peace, I think it’s always helpful to see how another person plans, so check out the videos and let me know what you thought in the comments below. Which video was most helpful to you and what tips did you walk away with? I’d love to hear about your functional planning experience!
Welcome back to Strange & Charmed for another installment of my Productivity Playlist series!
I feel like I go through phases with podcasts. Although I subscribe to a bunch that I like, I don’t always listen to new episodes unless I’m in the mood and I tend to be a person who prefers to binge listen to multiple episodes in one sitting. I end up training myself for delayed gratification by waiting weeks to catch up on a podcast I enjoy- weird but true (this is why I love Netflix series’ so much… binge much?!?) But a few weeks ago I shared on a YouTube video a podcast I had been loving and asked for you to leave me suggestions for more podcasts to listen to and ever since I have been on a full on podcast binge! So for today’s installment of my productivity playlist I want to share some of the podcasts I’ve been loving lately! Now, just a warning, most of these aren’t your run of the mill podcasts, these are actually all serialized docu-dramas where a story (true or fiction) is told week by week. If you love listening to books on tape like me, I think you’ll love these suggestions if they are in your genre.
You’ve probably already heard about Serial, the incredibly popular and highly controversial podcast that is currently in it’s second season. This is one of the few true story podcasts on this list and blends reporting with great story telling. If you like true crime drama, this is for you!
Less of a serialized doc-drama, Lore is a story based podcast that takes our popular myths and legends of the paranormal, horrific or supernatural and breaks them down into the stories that started them. “Sometimes the truth is more frightening than fiction,” as they say, and this is the concept that Lore is built around.
Right now Limetown is a single season serial doc-drama that tells the fictional story of a girl looking for answers about a lost town she has loose ties to. Of course, things get creepy when she digs in deep. I so wish there was a second season of this podcast!
Now we’re getting into some seriously creepy, may keep you up at night podcasts. Another fictional serialized docu-drama about uncovering an unknown supernatural phenomenon called Tanis. So far the story isn’t creep in a traditional supernatural way, it’s more about fear of the unknown and questioning reality.
Beware, for me this podcast is probably the most frightening of all even though I know it’s another fictional serialized docu-drama, it covers the realm of the paranormal and is like listening to a scary ghost movie. Actually, it’s like listening to multiple scary ghost movies at once because this story isn’t just one ghost story, it’s many built into one.
If you are a fan of The Walking Dead, you will love this podcast that is actually in numerous seasons with a ton of episodes perfect for binge-ing! It’s essentially an internet radio version of every zombie apocalypse show ever but without a lot of the unnecessary drama and character development most zombie shows suffer from. Great to listen to if you love zombies, and it’s more entertaining than frightening!
File the message under creepy alien related fictional docu-drama! This one literally kept me up at night, first to listen to because it was so well produced, and second because I was just that scared of the dark during and after listening!
I hope you enjoyed these podcast recommendations. I realize these are mostly a certainly type of podcast, mainly fiction for entertainment purposes which goes against the grain of things I usually share on this blog, but they have been what I’m loving so I thought it was worth it to share with you! I hope you find something new to listen to and if these podcasts aren’t for you, I hope to continue to share podcast recommendations with you, so don’t worry, this is not the end! Let me know in the comments what podcasts you have been loving and I’d greatly appreciate it!
If you’re reading the title of this post and thinking to yourself, “a paper planner, automated? I don’t think so!” just hang in there for a minute! I get it, when we think automation, we think machines, but at the root of the word automatic is the concept of something happening on its own without conscious thought or effort. I don’t know about you but I am always intrigued by the idea of not having to think about things in order for them to happen, so creating an automated system for my planning means, yes, I need to input data and do the work, but it means not having to put effort into planning. It’s about knowing what I am going to do or how I will be spending my time without having to exert the time and effort of deciding it for myself. The process of automating your planner is akin to laying out your clothing the night before or meal planning for the week. You still need to do things but by systematizing the process you save yourself time and brain power. The human brain really only has a finite amount of processing power for the day and we humans tend to use much of it up on silly little choices and thoughts. Spending 30 minutes agonizing over what to wear means you have less patience at 3pm to deal with a difficult email or customer. Staring aimlessly into the fridge for 10 minutes only increases the chance that you will make the poor decision to swing by the drive thru on your way to work. Time and time again, we prove to ourselves that when we have to make too many choices, we end up making poor choices, when we spend too much time thinking, we loose the ability to focus. So, back to the whole automating your planner concept- not such a crazy concept now, eh? Okay, well, if you are curious to know how I use my planner to automate my life, get ready to take some notes!
Bulk process routine tasks
The tasks we do on a regular frequency should always be handled together to automate our lives. For example, meal planning. Why decide your meals one day at a time when you can use your planner to map out all your meals for a week or more! This saves you time, because you can focus on one topic in a sitting which helps conserve brain power, you can create a single grocery list with everything you need to make your meals, and then when it comes time to prepare your meals you know exactly what you have to make, and again, save on processing power. I tend to meal plan in my planner by keeping a sticker with all my dinner options laid out for the week. Because I like to choose what I’m eating on a daily basis, I keep my options laid out in my planner and check them off as I make them. Although this may not be the most ideal meal planning scenario, I find it’s easier for me to pick from the 7 dinner options in my planner when I have them outlined!
Schedule the essentials
Anything that must be done should always be scheduled, specifically essential life activities like doctors appointments and scheduled maintenance, but you can also use this life hack to apply to any activity in your life from personal projects to office work. When we schedule time to do something, we take the pressure off deciding what to do and when, and we have a ready made period of time available that prevents us from using the excuse of having no time (probably the worlds most overused excuse!). I schedule events and tasks in my planner by writing them on a functional sticker so the event stands out to me. This way, I can literally see how I will be spending my day!
Utilize a next action list
When we don’t have to think about what we have to do “next” we save both our time and our mental energy. That’s why I keep my project plans as part of my daily planner so that I can see all the next actions I need to accomplish in order to complete a project or goal. I transfer my next actions from their project planning pages to my master monthly task list. Some items get scheduled as explained above, but others stay on the list and are moved to my daily to do list based on my workload. That way, when I am planning my days or week, I can look at the list and see what’s next, and if I have extra time in a day, all I need to do is check the list and work on the next item I see!
Theme your days
One of the sneakiest wasters of time in our days is when we switch our focus from topic to topic. Topic switching forces us to stop the flow of ideas and thoughts, refocus to a new topic and then wait for the ideas and thoughts to start flowing again. Because this can be such a waste of time and mental energy, I find that I am most productive and mentally engaged in my work when I deliberately stay on a single topic of focus by theme-ing my work for a day. So, for example, I will decide before the week begins what topic will hold my focus for that day and I will add items to my to do list for that day that pertain to that topic. So I will do all my blog posts on one day, film all my videos one day, do all editing one day, and schedule my customer calls for one day. This keeps my week automated and my mind sharp because I am truly able to sustain my focus.
Keep your routine consistent
Consider your daily routines your automated systems for living. Keeping your daily routines consistent in terms of when you wake up, how much time you spend working or performing certain tasks and the order in which you take care of your day to day minutiae should stay consistent so that your brain is working on auto pilot. If you are’t sure what your daily routine is, keep an eye on it for a week or so and then write it out formally in your planner so you stick to it. If you need to, optimize the routine so that you fit important tasks into your day seamlessly and it will help you plan less because you have automated more!
Do you like this concept of automating your life? If this is something you strive for with your own planning or want to learn more about, let me know in the comments and I will be happy to share more on the subject!
7 Simple Ways to Lower Stress While Increasing Productivity
As a type A control freak, living with stress is a daily struggle! In my quest for productivity, I am always looking for new ways to to remove stress and stressors from my day so I can focus on the events and tasks that will bring me more happiness and gratification. The more I learn about stress and productivity, however, the more I find that the best solutions are often the simplest ones that are essentially common knowledge at this point. But, as we all know, and I can personally attest, common knowledge isn’t always common practice. Yep, I may know everything I need to know about control my stress and increasing my productivity but I don’t always execute. Learning to manage your stress is a life-long commitment. It’s not something you get the answer to and voila, your problems are solved. We actually have to spend time each day developing the positive habits and building the routines that will help us manage stress effectively. Of course, stress and productivity seem to go hand in hand. Whenever I am feeling stressed out, I also tend to lack drive to be productive. Likewise, when I am feeling very productive, I find that I’m not aware of stress presently affecting me, or at least, I don’t feel the pressure of bad stress! So, today I want to share with you 7 simple ways to lower stress while increasing productivity, because at the end of the day, we all want to feel good about our day, what we have achieved and know we put in our best effort!
Sleep: Sleep is the key to everything in life isn’t it? The more time we spend in bed, the less stressed we are (unless, of course, we are spending time in bed to procrastinate on our work which is never good) and the more productive we end up becoming. Try building the positive habit of going to bed earlier at night and waking up earlier in the morning after a full nights rest. The extra time in the morning will give you time for all your work and daily activities and after an action packed day you can turn in early and start the cycle again the next day!
Drink Water: Lack of hydration can be a major stressor in our bodies. It’s common knowledge that we are supposed to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day, but this doesn’t work for every body. In order to determine how much liquid your body needs, take your body weight in pounds and divide it in half and that is the number of ounces of liquid your body needs to remain properly hydrated. Make sure to drink a majority of this liquid in water during breaks between meals throughout the day so your body can clean itself out properly, which will result in increased energy and productivity for you!
Stretch: We all know that we should be exercising but most of us dread working out. If you have a hard time getting into the swing of exercise, start by just building the habit of stretching several times a day. Stretching in the morning and during breaks in your workday will help you alleviate tension in your muscles, reducing your stress and increasing energy! It may not be as powerful as a full workout, but it’s a good place to start and something we all need to do!
Listen to Music: The benefits of music for our stress levels and productivity are undeniable and in fact, earlier this week I even shared my latest Productivity Playlist. Take some time to check out the post and use one of my suggested soundtracks to help you concentrate on your work today!
Have a Healthy Snack: Snacking is a very productive habit to get into. After all, when we are stressed, many of us turn to food to relieve our tension, but if we choose healthy snacks like fruits and veggies, cheese or nuts, we can lower our stress while also providing energy to sustain us for the rest of our work day!
Take Mindful Breaths:Breathing is a very simple but powerful activity that can help us to simultaneously lower our stress and increase our productivity. Yes, I get it, we breath automatically everyday, so how is this helping? Well, if you take a moment to become aware of your breathing, especially in times of anxiety or stress, you have the power to control yourself. You can start practicing mindful breathing very quickly right now by sitting upright and still or laying down. Then close your eyes and inhale for 7 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds and then exhale for 7 seconds. If you have a hard time doing the full seven second round, start with 4 or 5 seconds and work your way up to 7. Once you can complete a few rounds of this mindful breathing, you will start to feel much calmer because of the rush of oxygen to your body, and then with your stress levels subdued you will be able to make progress on difficult tasks in your day! Make sure to practice this breathing regularly, whenever you feel the stress creep back up on you.
Practice Gratitude:Nothing has the ability to instantly change my mental state like gratitude. When I am just feeling stressed, down or in a sour mood, it’s so important to stop and acknowledge all the wonderful things in my life. Even by listing a simple 3 to 5 things I’m grateful for has the ability to turn my negative stress into positive and productive energy.
I hope these simple, everyday tips help remind you that controlling your stress and productivity are completely within your control. Stress is something we all live with, it will never go away, but we can learn to manage it so that we feel it’s pressure less and less in our lives and are able to achieve all our dreams and goals despite its ever looming presence. Let me know in the comments which of these strategies works best for you, or which strategy you need to keep in mind more often!
How to achieve a Zen-Like Focus while you Work or Relax! Productivity Playlist May 2016
It’s no secret, I love putting together my monthly Productivity Playlists. Music is one of the things in life that I’m pretty passionate about. I find that it can help me solve a number of problems from a lack of inspiration to a need for an energy boost, but today I want to talk about some soundtracks I personally use to help me focus while I’m working and then help me relax at the end of the day. Focus is certainly something that is hard for most of us to achieve. I know that productivity is an inconsistent stream that ebbs and flows, but sometimes we need to get ourselves in the zone and achieve a zen-like focus in order to get important things done. For me there are some tasks that always feel like work and in order to act, I turn to music.
I know previously on my blog, I have discussed an app I liked called Focus @ Will, but did you know that other than their paid subscription service app, they also have a YouTube channel where they share free mixes of their music, perfect for helping you with your concentration and focus. Most of their tracks are about an hour long, which is the perfect amount of time to get yourself into the zone and accomplish a solid amount of work, even on a difficult project. I really like a few of their soundtracks and will leave my favorite two below!
These soundtracks will help you focus at work!
Now, once work is over and its time for relax for the evening, I have also been turning to a few more soundtracks I’ve found on YouTube to help me achieve a zen calm in the evenings after dinner. If you are someone, like me, who has a hard time falling asleep because of overstimulation in the evening with our gadgets and media, I highly suggest turning on one of these playlists about an hour before you go to sleep and let yourself fall as sleep naturally to the music. I’ve been trying lately to get into the habit of performing a skin care regimen a night, and I like to turn this music on and listen while I wear a sheet mask or apply my evening moisturizers after a bath. I’ll even add to the ambience by turning on my Dotera diffuser with my favorite serenity oil laced with lavender to help me fall asleep naturally. Not only do I fall asleep on time, but I find that my nights are more restful when I listen to these tracks before bed while I perform my evening rituals.
These tracks will send you naturally to sleep in no time!
I hope you have enjoyed this special edition of my productivity playlist. I am hoping to share more than just Spotify playlists with you in the future to give this feature a bit of variety, so please let me know if you liked this post and what sorts of productivity playlist topics you would like me to cover in the future! Happy listening!
5 Simple Planner Tips that Helped me Gain Control of My Schedule
It’s no secret that I have been struggling this year to get myself onto a regular work schedule. As someone who works for themselves and is also a naturally lazy person, I fell into the bad habit of procrastinating on my work and cutting corners too often this year. It was seriously causing me a lot of stress and anxiety because I had set myself deadlines for important tasks but waiting until the last minute to work on a large project wasn’t going to cut it. My work ethic was lacking and I needed to take control of my schedule. So, I started getting serious about my planning, specifically about setting myself a schedule and now after a few months of work trying to get these good habits to stick, I think I’ve finally fallen into a good work pattern! So, I wanted to share with you some of the key tips I picked up for helping me gain control of my schedule. If you are someone who works for themselves or you are someone who finds that they are naturally a procrastinator, hopefully these tips will help you start implementing better habits into your life so you are executing more and achieving your goals.
Tip #1: Define your responsibilities
The first thing I did that was very helpful to me when I was getting my schedule ironed out, was write out a list of all the work and responsibilities I had to manage. If I needed to find a way to balance my schedule, it was important that I understand how I needed to spend my time. Now, when I first made this list, I found that there were items that I listed that I ultimately decided to remove. Editing your schedule and responsibilities is a crucial part of ensuring that you have time for everything that’s important. If a certain activity isn’t really a priority or if there are things you can take off your plate and delegate to someone else, you are making room in your schedule to complete the priorities!
Tip #2: Write every appointment and task down
This one may seem like common knowledge, but we all know that common knowledge is not always common practice. For me, I was really bad about writing down every task or appointment I had and therefore, I ended up missing things or remembering at the last minute without giving myself necessary prep time. It was hard to train myself to write down everything, but I just kept seeing the pattern I was creating working out which was very motivating. When I wrote things down, I remembered them; when I didn’t, I forgot and became anxious. I wanted to keep myself from feeling that anxiety as much as possible, so I kept writing things down and not relying on my poor memory to serve me.
Tip #3: Utilize block scheduling
Block scheduling has been another game changer for me in my daily work routine. This has been something that has taken me at least 8 months to successfully implement. Basically, each day of the week is assigned a category of work. So Mondays are for blog posts, Tuesdays for filming, Wednesdays for editing, etc. That way, I don’t have to really plan my week from scratch, I have a guide to help me assign tasks and activities befitting with the day’s category. This block scheduling also helps me to bulk my work, which was a major issue for me for the last year. Thanks to the block scheduling, I actually find that I am able to take weekends off more often, which is a great treat for me and proof that I’m now more productive during the week if I can take the weekend off!
Tip #4: Don’t plan too far in advance
Although my block scheduling gives me a sense of what I will be working on for any given day, another tip I use to keep myself on schedule is that I don’t make any exact daily plans too far in advance with the exception of scheduled appointments. Scheduling myself one day at a time gives me the ability to be very flexible with my tasks and prevents me from planning out actions that may not end up coming to fruition. For example, if I were to plan my full week and early on in the week something derails my work, that will end up throwing off all my work for the rest of the week and cause me to loose productive momentum. But if I leave the days possibilities open until it’s time to plan them, I find that I am more open to possibility and it helps to stay motivated.
Tip #5: Check your planner every morning
This is another one of those common knowledge but not common practice tips that has really helped me stay accountable. Obviously, we write down all our tasks and scheduled appointments so that when the day comes we read our plans and then execute on them, but for me, I was in the bad habit of often forgetting to check my planner because I *thought* I remembered everything I had to do. Let’s be honest, this is pure laziness run amuck! It takes a minute to check your planner and prevent embarrassing hiccups in your schedule, so get into the habit of checking yours and if you still keep forgetting, set an alarm on your phone to remind you!
So, what do you think about these tips? I know for me, these seem very simple, but the practice of implementing them has been the struggle. I finally just feel like I’ve reached a point of control over my schedule so that I’m achieving at a high level without having to constantly sprint! If you have any other suggestions or tips for helping to get control of your schedule, please leave them in the comments or feel free to tweet me @MissTrenchcoat and I’ll share your tips with my followers. I know we all appreciate sharing the knowledge because when it comes to time management, the struggle is real!!
8 Productivity Apps that Lower My Stress, Keep me Organized and Help Me Run my Business!
As a tech lover with a planner problem, I am often asked about how I use digital tools in conjunction with analog planners to keep myself organized. I do a vast majority of my business and life planning in my Charmed Life Planner, however, I still love using my iPhone and apps to keep me productive. My planner is wonderful, but there will always be things my planner can’t do like make a noise to alert me of a calendar event, or play some relaxing music when I’m feeling stressed and overwhelmed. There are just always going to be some things my iPhone will be used for that help me with my productivity and that doesn’t diminish or take away from my paper planner, instead, when the two work together, I get more done! So today I want to share with you the 8 Productivity Apps that Lower my Stress, Keep me Organize and Help Me Run my Business!
Plaintext is a mobile text editor that I love to use to write emails and social media descriptions on the go. Because it’s a plain text editor, there is no formatting that gets carried over when I type or edit text in this app which is great because it means I can format my final product manually. Sometimes when you copy text over from a text message, another email or a website, when you paste it into a standard notes application, weird formatting carries over as well and is hard to correct on an iPhone, so I highly recommend this application if you are someone who does write important text from their phone.
DocScanHD is a virtual scanner. It uses the camera on your iPhone to take pictures of documents or images and then the application helps you to format your document properly and then export it as a PDF or JPG. You can use DocScanHD to open documents, sign them and then email them back to senders in a snap. If you don’t have a home scanner or just want to keep it simple with your documents, I’d highly recommend the app!
Hootsuite is a very popular social media scheduling application that I use to schedule my Tweets and Instagram posts. One of the tenants of productivity that I love to follow is to batch your work and when I schedule out my social media posts ahead of time it helps me get more content created in less time and then manages the act of scheduling the items throughout the week so I don’t have to remember to post. So this is like a dual marketing and productivity app for me and my business.
White noise is a sound machine application that can play a variety of different sound effects. The idea behind this app is that you can use the generic sounds as “white noise” to help you drown out ambient sounds around you while you work, study or just try to relax. I love the array of nature sounds the app has to offer, plus some interesting sounds I don’t think you normally think of as being relaxing like a boat swaying in waves or a hairdryer blowing.
Audible is an online platform where you can purchase and listen to books on tape. I have been subscribed to audible.com for about a year now and I absolutely love the service. As someone who is interested in books, but doesn’t enjoy the act of reading a physical book, Audible helps me stay current with popular books but gives me the ability to listen while I work, clean the house or take a walk. It’s amazing how quickly time flies when you are listening to a book on tape- it makes unpleasant tasks so much more manageable for me! If you have not yet tried Audible and are considering giving it a try, I have a great offer you won’t want to miss. Click here to get not one, but 2 FREE Audio Books when you sign up for a free trial of the service. Usually you only see offers for one free book, so this is a way better deal, and witch titles that sell for $30-40 in the platform, this is a major money saver!
My package is a parcel tracking application that stores the tracking information for online orders and then keeps you up to date with the progress of your shipment. As someone who buys a lot of products online, this app makes it easy for me to track my packages in one place without having to manually enter the tracking information for multiple packages into multiple carrier websites. It’s such a time, and peace of mind, saver!
Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud based storage applications. I’ve had a Dropbox account for a number of years for FREE and I use mine to store important business documents and information that I may need to access when I am away from home. As someone who runs a completely digital business, storing files in the cloud gives me the ability to share files from whatever device I have with me, from my iPhone, laptop, or someone else’s computer if I’m away from home! It’s very convenient. Although Dropbox gives you web-based access to your account, I keep the app installed on every one of my gadgets!
Clear is a list making application that I love to use for miscellaneous lists and notes. Since I don’t use my planner as a notebook, I find that when I need to make a “mental note” of something, I add it to a list in my Clear app. I keep tons of different open lists in the application that I add to. Lists with business ideas, quotes, website links, books to read, you name it, I have a list for it! The best part of the app is that once you have completed an item on a list, you can swipe to the right to complete the item and it makes a very satisfying *ding* as the item fades and falls off the list. It’s the digital equivalent of the high you get from checking an item off a to-do list!
So those are the 8 Productivity Apps that Lower My Stress, Keep me Organized and Help Me Run my Business! I hope you have enjoyed this post and that it gave you some inspiration for a new app you can download for your own productivity needs! If you have your own favorite productivity apps I’d love to hear about them so please leave me a comment down below and tell me about which apps you love that keep you on track!
5 Quick PR Tips for Bloggers, YouTubers & Business Owners
For many small businesses and brands, the concept of PR may seem like something that only big business and influential figures have to worry about. We see PR firms that represent brands or celebrities and we may be intimidated by the concept of public relations or think we shouldn’t hire out our PR. Now, as a small business owner myself who also blogs and creates content for YouTube, I am often approached by my fans, and other businesses or brands that want to work with me. All of that falls under the category of Public Relations and although we all can’t afford PR representation, we need to get in the habit of putting our best foot forward when dealing with the public. So today I just want to share 5 Quick PR tips that I have relied on through the years that I believe have helped me streamline my PR without needing outside representation or some cumbersome PR strategy!
#1. Create a Media Kit
I think that all brands and businesses that plan to work with customers or others brands should have a media kit. I made my first media kit for my blog years ago and try to update it once a year or whenever I am pursuing or about to contact a brand I want to work with. You can create a simple one page media kit that includes a brief “about me” along with your key stats and services you are available for. If you don’t know how to structure your media kit, a quick Pinterest search will yield many different examples that you can turn into your own template! Now, when it comes to using your media kit, you will want to send this file in PDF form along with any emails you may send to brands or businesses soliciting a collaborative effort. If you want to work with a brand, having this kit is like a resume that the brand can use to identify whether you and your brand will work with their objectives. You can also create a media kit if you are a service based business to send to potential clients that may outline your services, pricing and experience! I think anyone operating online would benefit from having a media kit, so consider creating yours asap!
#2. Use a business email address
This may be a given for some people, but you’d be surprised how often I see people using email addresses that just aren’t professional or a representation of their brand/business. It’s essential for putting your best foot forward to have a dedicated business email address that you can keep separate from any personal email account you may also use. This is an easy PR tip that you can implement asap with free email clients like gmail or yahoo!
#3. Make sure to engage on social posts that include your brand
It’s a great PR rule of thumb to engage with any and all social posts or mentions you may receive. I always make sure to like, retweet, and respond to all mentions on Twitter, Instagram or elsewhere online that I see! It’s just a best practice that shows that you are present in your brand and open to interaction with your followers. Nothing is worse for PR than a brand or business that doesn’t make every reasonable effort to respond and engage with followers or fans that are talking about you positively online!
#4. Reply to all your emails
I know this one may be hard, but like #3 above, replying to your emails is a best practice for any serious brand or business owner. I know what it’s like to get bulk or spam solicitations from companies and also manage emails for customer service and general inquiries, however, on the other end of each and every email you receive is a person who is reaching out to your brand and if they don’t get a response, you have most likely lost an opportunity for a sale, a connection or even simply the opportunity to create a loyal fan. If you have trouble replying to all your emails, consider creating canned email responses that you can quickly copy and paste to address frequently asked questions or specific customer service inquiries, or hire an assistant to help you manage your email. Either way, make sure you respond to your emails in a timely manner!
#5. Double check all the content and products you create for brand consistency
When you’re managing a brand or a business, I think it’s easy for us to feel like we are getting stretched thin with our ideas for content and products. I know I have felt this way on many occasions in the past few years and the result ends up being that I may create content or products that aren’t consistent with my overall brand. Since your brand is your fingerprint online, you need to keep it safe and strong by double checking that everything you produce is in line with that brand. If not, any content or products that don’t align have the ability to dilute your brand which weakens it. In order to ensure your content and products are in line with your brand, consider creating a litmus test question that you can ask and answer for each item you create to ensure it’s in line with what your brand is all about. For me this question is “Does this help people work smarter, not harder?” If I can honestly answer that question with a “yes” then I proceed with publishing my content or product to the world. If not, I need to reevaluate what I was doing and get that answer turned to a yes before I will release it to the public!
Public relations doesn’t have to be a complicated topic for your brand or business, but it is essential that you implement some simple PR tips to help your business succeed! If you have any other tips you have learned over the years or want to share a PR experience you had as a blogger or business owner, please feel free to comment below!
