Two Productivity Hacks I Recently Discovered
- Candice Suarez
- 15 minutes ago
- 4 min read
I don't know about you, but I hit a metaphorical wall around 3pm most days. I've been pondering why that is and what I can do to combat it. Some days I give in to it and read in my bed. I choose personal development and/or business books, because I feel like I'm actually "working" on something productive, even though I'm in my bed. Oh the joys of self-employment. On other days, I admittedly totally give in and spend time scrolling or catching up on my cooking competition shows. But I really, really don't want to do that.
So my thought is to make my morning and early afternoon as productive as possible. Being self-aware on my peak productivity times is valuable.
I made two discoveries in the past week that I am hoping will help me to get some momentum to power through my afternoon slump, or get so much work completed before 3pm that I can relax a bit.
A friend of mine introduced me to an app called Lemio. It's a free app that's main purpose is to help you monitor your time on social media. What you do is choose the apps you want to block (for me it's Facebook and Instagram), then any time I want to log into either one, I choose the Lemio App instead. It has great features that ask me what I want to do instead of scrolling and has me make a plan for doing that instead. Then I have to pause and breathe. Then I choose how long I want access to the blocked apps. And finally, I have access. I know it sounds complicated - but that's the whole point! It makes me really pause and think about why I'm going on social media, what I could be doing instead, and it limits my time there. It's the basic principal from James Clear's Atomic Habits - if you want to break a habit, make the cue invisible and difficult! It has made a big difference in my time on social media in only the past 8 days. I have been writing more and reading more articles.
The second thing this week came from an unlikely place. I have been listening to light books on Audible while driving and walking in my neighborhood, and my most recent one was Talking As Fast As I Can, by Lauren Graham. I'm sure most of you have heard me talk about how much I love Gilmore Girls and how I have watched the entire series numerous times (maybe 3 or 4 times, start to finish). She has a chapter about her lack of a writing habit and a desire to become a bit more structured. Now the productivitiy method she shares is not rocket science. It's called The Kitchen Timer Method (for obvious reasons). The basic idea is to schedule One Hour (or less if you feel you need to build up to it or you have an especially busy day). Set a timer for that fixed amount of time, and completely rid yourself of distractions. This is not the time to check your email, or go down a rabbit hole of jumping from one task to the next. Make yourself completely inaccessible. Put your phone out of reach. Then you let that hour pass. The idea is the behavior of keeping your commitment. You can spend that alotted time on your project. But here is the beauty - have your journal with you. When you stuck, or bored, or frustrated with your project - write in your journal. That's it. Don't judge yourself too harshly for the output. The idea is that you keep your appointment.
My plan is to start the Kitchen Timer method this coming week, setting my appointments for it on Sunday during Weekly Draft. Knowing that I have an energy lag in the afternoon, I will definitely plan to schedule this time earlier in the day. Who wants to join me?
Journal Prompts
What patterns have you noticed about your productivity highs and lows?
What are 1–2 "productive comforts" you can choose instead during a slump?
What is one small win from today you can celebrate?
What does “keeping your appointment with yourself” mean for you today?
When you feel the urge to scroll or watch TV, what are you really seeking?
Affirmations
I keep my appointments with myself.
I choose intention over impulse.
I build momentum, not perfection.
I protect my energy.
TheWeekly Draft
What is it? I have talked to some of you about how I set up my week every Sunday evening. During that time I write/reflect on how my previous week progressed — the things that went well, the things I wish I had accomplished — and I plan for my next week. I set my priorities and goals, I reflect on habits, I timeblock my calendar, etc.
So I would like to invite you all in to my planning space.
I will open my personal zoom room every Sunday evening at 7pm for whoever wants to join me. We will co-work on setting up our weeks and have an accountability checkin for whoever needs it. HERE is the link to join (hit: it’s my personal zoom link)
ACTION NEEDED!
I'm moving over to my new website fully by mid-June. That means that I will need to shift all of your auto payments over to the new platform. I will be sending you all individual emails with the date you should do this and the link to follow.
Office Hours: Monday, May 19. This is for Basic Coaching Members as well as any Premier Coaching Members who would like to touch base between scheduled coaching appointments. HERE is the link to schedule a 30-minute slot
The Weekly Draft happens every Sunday evening at 7pm at this link. Come prepared to reflect on this past week and plan for the coming week, including the idea of implementing your own Kitchen Timer hour. Join me HERE.
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