5 Simple Ways to Stay Productive With a 9-5

Working a full-time job can be stressful in itself, so imagine if you throw a family and household dynamic into the mix.  Your blog/biz are sure to suffer as a result because your 9-5 pays the bills (you need to be there) and your family needs your attention (need to be there also).  Well it doesn’t have to be this way! Today, I will be sharing 5 simple ways to stay productive when you are sharing your time with a day job.

1. Stay Focused - remember your end game

Oftentimes all we need is a little motivation and inspiration to stay on track.  When you think about your “why”, it can help to ground you and keep you focused on what you need to be working on.  The first thing you can do is focus on your end game and try to keep it in the forefront of your mind at all times. On the days you get frustrated, sit back and think of why you are doing all this.  Also, imagine yourself with goals accomplished and imagine how it feels to be where you want to be. Sometimes that is all you need to do to keep you on track.

2. Say no to time suckers (people, places and things)

I am a total advocate of using your time wisely.  This means knowing when to say no to things that don’t align with your goals, don’t contribute to a greater good within reason or simply don’t sound like something you want to focus your time and energy on.  It’s not selfish. It’s using the time that you are allotted the best way you see fit so you don’t get distracted. If this means saying no to a birthday brunch or dinner party, there is nothing wrong with that. This doesn’t mean you should totally dismiss your friends, family, etc.  On the contrary! You should just be more selective about who you spend your time with. If you have a friend that is very needy and draining, maybe it’s best to distance yourself from them sometimes so you don’t cloud your head with their grievances. Don’t ghost them, but just be more aware of how much time and energy you are putting into their issues and realize that it is taking away from your personal productivity.

3. Stick to a schedule

Order is what can help keep you...wait for it...organized!  Schedules, though seemingly restrictive, can be your best friend when using it for your side hustle.  Since your schedule is already packed with a day job and other family, school, etc. obligations, scheduling time in your day (or night!) to focus on your blog/business is necessary.  If you have set days and times to work on your tasks (aka Batching), it makes a world of difference than flying by the seat of your pants. Bonus points if you use a digital tool to keep everything organized. For example, I have a Blogging Schedule and Editorial Calendar “done-for-you” digital template available in my shop that is set up and ready for your to fill up!

4. Pre-plan content

Planning out content ahead of time is a game-changer when you want to start being more productive.  I do this in a monthly planning session where I dedicate a block of time to plan out all of my content for the following month.  If you plan out all of your contents to work on, you will no longer have to scramble for ideas when it comes time to get to work. By knowing what you will be working on, you can also easily plan out accompanying content.  For example, if you are going to be launching a new product or service, you can plan all of your content around that launch. This means planning related blog posts, social media content and email marketing topics for promo.  When you have the big picture, the small details easily fall in place. My Editorial Calendar Template also includes space dedicated to planning your content out in advance!

5. Don't try to be everywhere at once

You have heard of the saying “Jack of all trades”, but do you realize the remaining part of that statement is “...master of none”?  This is actually not a good title to have because it means that you dabble in so many things but have not mastered any. Essentially it means you have no expertise or master skill.  How can you when you spread yourself so thin? This is the same for social media. Every social media platform is not for you and that’s okay! That’s why there are so many, so you can choose what you like and what gives you the best results.  Instead of trying to be everywhere at once and trying to keep up with every social platform, just stick to 2-3 that you see great benefits and results from. If you are in a more visual business, perhaps Instagram and Pinterest are where you should focus your energy.  If you are data/educational based, maybe Facebook and Twitter are for you. If you’re heavy into video content, YouTube and IG/Facebook Live may be your sweet spots. By scaling back on the social platforms that you are active on, you will loosen up your schedule and create a better strategy for truly engaging your audience (the whole purpose of social media - hence the word social).

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Now that you know a few simple ways to keep your productivity up, you should begin incorporating them into your strategy to set yourself up for a great new year (new decade even…wow!!).

Productive vs. Busy (aka how to point out time leeches!)

Do you often find yourself saying “I am so busy!”.  This can be a great thing when it comes to your blog/business because it means you’re really getting things accomplished!

...or does it?

Busy and Productive are two words that people often misconstrue.  They think that they are being productive because they’ve been busy working on different tasks all day, but in reality if those tasks aren’t related to bringing in coins or growing your audience, was it really a good day in the lab?

Today I will be discussing productivity, how to recognize result oriented tasks , and how to avoid wasting time on tasks that are just "busy work" (AKA time leeches).

I used to find myself getting caught up working on things that weren't really important. Sure, every task has a purpose, but it's easy to find yourself working on non-essential things and when you look back on the day you find that nothing of significance was completed.

Examples of this:

• Redesigning your site header

• Creating custom social media icons

• Tweaking email marketing templates

• Creating non-essential sidebar images

• Designing a custom email signature
  

Can you relate?

I'm not saying that these tasks aren't important, but they may not need as much time dedicated to them as some other vital tasks on your To-Do list. Ultimately, you need to evaluate if the task is going to directly help you accomplish your main goals or bring in some cash. At day's end, you may feel like you have done so much...but did any of it really matter? Sure, you may have worked on customizing your social media icons for two hours and placed them in your sidebar, but do the social media accounts that they're linked to have current posts in the feed? Which is more important, having current items on your feed or having a cute image linking people to an inconsistent feed?

This is all to say...

“Being busy isn't something to celebrate, producing results is.”

Here are a few more examples of Busy Work (aka time suckers):

1. Posting content to a social media platform where your audience isn’t largely active.

2. Designing a new email header

3. Growing your email list with no retention plan (i.e. never emailing them again after they join your list or seldom emailing them)

4. Planning out content but never completing the content or even starting it

Now here are examples of Goal-Based Work (aka money makers):

1. Goal: Growing your email list
   Various tasks related to this goal:

   • Performing Market Research to find out what your audience struggles with

   • Creating an amazing lead magnet to offer on your site that solves one of their major struggles (a checklist, workbook, free webinar, etc.)

   • Creating an email funnel to ultimately pitch a product/service to your email list

2. Goal: Gaining more website traffic

Various tasks related to this goal:

• Researching SEO (search engine optimization) techniques and applying them to your website

• Directing social media traffic to your website through Live’s, IG Stories or feed posts (not via Linktree - here’s why not and what to do instead)

• Setting up Ads to your products/services

3. Goal: Collaborating with brands
Various tasks related to this goal:

• Updating your website to be clean, professional and cohesive

• Providing valuable info on your blog consistently

• Staying active on social media and engaging with your audience on a personal level (brands are starting to care more about engagement on social media than they are about follower counts)

• Creating a media kit

• Pitching companies that you want to collaborate with

4. Miscellaneous tasks that are goal-based:

• Designing a sales page for a product/service

• Taking product photos for product listings on your website

• Setting up an automated task to complete work on your behalf (automation creates more time to work on your goal-based tasks!)

• Setting up a client scheduling page

• Creating an onboarding and offboarding client workflow

These example goals and accompanying tasks are directly related to money making or a bigger goal, so they aren’t a waste of time.

Now you may be wondering how to tackle non-essential tasks since they need to be completed at some point, right? A simple solution is to schedule a block of time to work on the "busy work" all at once (AKA Batching). I would suggest only two hours a week maximum. You can spread this out over a few days or you can do it all in one sitting.

The takeaway here is that all tasks for your blog/biz are important, but some of them are just a lower priority. Before you start something, stop and ask yourself, "Is this busy work or productive work?". This strategy has really been helpful for me since I am easily distracted and get off track sometimes!

Another great way to recognize if a task is goal oriented or not is to actually define what your main blog/business goals are and determine if the task will get you that much closer to accomplishing it.  By choosing what the goal is for your blog/biz, you can focus on it so much easier and recognize when something is just a leech.

(Related blog post: 5 Ways to Start Blogging With a Purpose)

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Now that you know how to recognize goal-oriented tasks, do you want to know how to increase your productivity level so you can knock out those tasks more effectively?  I have a 16 page workbook that walks you through 6 ways to increase your productivity along with worksheets to help you plan it all out!