I am all about working from a place of productivity and joy not overwhelm, so I am going to take you behind the scenes giving you a peak at my weekly workflows that have freed up my time to do more of what I love, have margin, take naps and even spontaneous days off with my sweet family!

I wear a lot of hats and let’s just say, I haven’t always balanced them with such grace. As someone who used to be caught up in the hustle and constantly feeling overworked and overwhelmed, I’m here to say, routines and systems are key.

Here’s an insider’s sneak peak at my top 3 productivity hacks to help you get more done and have more time to do what you love!

• My Sunday prep flow
• My morning routine to start my day from a perspective of abundance
• My weekly batch work schedule

For more productivity and business posts…check out How to Create Your Yes & No List and Cultivating Organization and Clarity in Business.

Sunday prep flow

We all know that feeling of sitting down feeling overwhelmed by where to start. Having a Sunday prep flow is KEY! If you prepare your weekly plan of action, on Monday morning you can get in do the work and not second guess yourself along the way. I do this every Sunday afternoon—it typically takes me about 20-30 minutes—so sip on a fun drink, light a candle and prep away!

Here’s my prep flow…

• Look at personal schedule—so any doctors appointments I have, afternoon play dates, any big errands I need to run, make a dinner meal plan
• When are my big work calls, do I need to do any prep for those calls?
• I review my Acuity scheduler (this is where I schedule calls and give my available office hours—so I make sure everything is good to go there and I don’t have any conflicting appointments)
• Review marketing calendar—what’s happening this week. I work ahead usually by a few weeks, but often there are last minute things that need to happen with this week’s content, so I will make a note of that, like add photos or review graphics that my social media manager made, making sure deadlines are tagged in Asana correctly (our team task management system and a lifesaver).

Daily big 3 tasks

Next and most importantly I plan my BIG 3 tasks for each day—Monday-Thursday, I’ll get to why I leave Friday off in a bit.

Now the big 3 tasks are the tasks that move my business and personal life forward—they are the big essentials that have to get done first above all else. My goal is always to have those done by noon, although let’s be real that doesn’t always happen. The big 3 is what moves things forward—this isn’t checking emails or social media—it’s the content, the magic, the secret sauce of productivity!

Then I think about anything else that needs to get done, these are going to be little tasks, like upload photos to blog post, email this person back, send invoice…these are little things that should take about 10-15 minutes max. I have a lot of little to-dos like this so typically I save these tasks for the afternoon when my brain isn’t as fresh. This also includes checking email, which I always set a timer for, if not I will just get sucked in and waste a whole lot of time!

Now this Sunday prep day keeps me from falling into that trap of overwhelm!!! Because on Monday I have a plan, I have a roadmap, I have clear direction to tackle what I need to do. When I don’t do this Sunday prep day, my whole week feels scattered and I end up wasting a lot of time and I go down that rabbit hole of overwhelm and panic…like what do I actually need to do?…Pretty soon it’s half way though Monday and I haven’t gotten anything done. Planning out your week before the week starts will give you so much clarity and productivity!!

Morning Routine

Having a morning routine and waking up early, yes that 5:30 am alarm clock is rough some days, but honestly now I wake up naturally at that time even on the weekends. It’s amazing how much your body thrives on predictability.

You see our body loves predictability and natural rhythms (I talk about that in THIS video)—this keeps our adrenals and body’s energy stable, freeing up more energy for you to function and thrive!

Having a morning routine, especially now as a mom, helps me start my day from a perspective of abundance rather than scarcity. This means that before Remington has woken up and before my work day has begun, I have already filled my cup. Scarcity on the other hand is running on empty and thinking there are never enough hours in the day. Having an hour to my self each morning has totally transformed everything for me. It has also helped me really manage anxiety that still lingers from when I dealt with postpartum depression and anxiety. The mornings when I have a good morning routine, I notice I have no anxiety! Crazy how that works, right?

A few basic things I do:

• Make sure to go to bed at a decent hour—sleep is KEY!!
• Tell myself—I am starting my day with abundance! —> I am a big fan of affirmations
• Make a fun, cozy drink and light a candle. It truly is the simple joys in life!
• Do devotions and write in my prayer journal, that is always the first priority! Sometimes I wake up late and only have 15 minutes, so I make sure devotions happen.
• After that I will check in with my calendar and get started on a work project. Sometimes I will check in with my team via email or just take a few minutes to delete any unnecessary email notifications. Typically I will start on one of my big 3 tasks for the day!
• Then I get all my supplements prepped for the day and head upstairs to make my bed and wake up Remington!

Weekly Batch Work Schedule

This is one of my favorite productivity topics to talk about! I am just going to give you a brief overview, but if you want to know more about batch working, will you leave me a comment below?!

Now this is a concept I can’t claim I made up, I actually learned this from my copy writer Ashlyn Carter, she is amazing by the way and has so much practical business advice!!

Batch working is the concept of grouping your tasks together by projects or themes so that you aren’t switching between tasks but rather completing a task in full before moving on to the next task! I don’t know about you but the days I have something to show for my work are the days I feel the most content…days when I haven’t fully completed something or checked it off my list, I feel anxious and filled with self doubt!

Although many people claim to be great at multi tasking, scientifically we know that multi tasking doesn’t actually exist—it should really be called task switching. This pulls your brain power and energy in a bunch of different directions and every time you change tasks, your loose your focus and end up wasting a lot of time! This can be super taxing on your adrenal system because it is requiring more than the normal amount of energy to do something!

My motto is…”stop being busy, be effective.”

Here’s my sample weekly batch work routine:

Content Monday— This is the day that lights me up but also requires the most brain power so I like to get it done first. I focus on working through our marketing calendar, write blog posts, emails and social media. 

Beautycounter Tuesday— Now I clearly do my Beautycounter work on more than just Tuesdays but this is the focus of each Tuesday. This means checking in with clients and members but also my team of close to 400 people. I will write our monthly team newsletter, encourage teammates and send a lot of emails and Voxers this day. We love this app called Voxer to communicate, it’s sort of like a walkie talkie!

Project Wednesday— So any big projects in the works, like course creation, challenges, filming videos, anything that is a big project that is more long term, big picture happens on this day.

Team and Client Communication Thursday— This is when I will typically carefully go through all my tasks and finish up anything my team needs. We use a program called Asana for project management and it is amazing! I also try to schedule all client calls on this day and make sure they have what they need with follow up, invoices and any encouragement I can provide my sweet clients.

Office Keeping Friday— I like to keep this day super light because I’ll be honest, my brain is fried at the end of the week! I am working towards a 4 day work week, but right now just for my sanity and energy,  I still have help with Remington on Fridays. We will get here but right now I’m not stressing! I always take some time in the morning for myself too, typically I will do a big workout on Friday mornings or go to the chiropractor! 

On Friday, I wrap everything up and make sure all emails are answered! I will also go through my accounting and make sure everything there is good! Any content that needs to be finalized or anything that didn’t get checked off during the week, I do on this  day. And then I nap, yes I always try to nap on Friday afternoons! My body needs it so listening to those queues is key!

I hope this insider peak encourages you that working from a place of productivity and joy rather than overwhelm is POSSIBLE! If you learned something new will you leave me a comment below? Tell me how I can best help you!