Have you ever had a chaotic week that you thought would never end!? The tasks and commitments just kept piling up overwhelming you!? 😟 More realistically, does that sound like your life?
I've had so many of those weeks and at one point, that was my life! I have ADHD which means I struggle with time management and I'm the queen of overloading my schedule because for some reason, my energy today said I'd have energy on that day in the future to do the things I've said yes to.
Relatable?
Inevitably, these turn into chaotic weeks and months!
Here are my 5 tips to getting through that chaotic week(s)
🧡 lots of rest whenever possible
🧡 ensure you have food, snacks, and WATER! (I'm hollering this one at me!)
🧡 make sure you have a 100%, or as close to that as possible, day to rest following that chaotic week(s)
🧡 see if you can minimize your workload/commitments moving forward
🧡 it's ok to say no to the things that will stress you out, overstimulate you, or you simply don't want to do AND you don't have to have a reason.
Many of us LIVE in this chaos consistently and that quickly leads to burnout, exhaustion, sickness, and mental health issues. The holiday season just adds to this...
If you are someone that wants to create a life and business without those things consistently knocking at your door, keep reading...
Step one is evaluating your workload, commitments, and schedule.
What can you remove, what can you minimize, and how do these things make you feel?
If you really want to dig deep into these things, you have options. As a productivity strategist for your business, household, and life that works specifically with ADHD & neurodivergent entrepreneurs, I get it, things are hard - from RSD, time blindness, executive dysfunction, etc.
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Have an amazing day💖 your fav productivity human
In a society where hustle and busy is normal, it's hard to go against the grain. It's quite literally painful. Our minds are conditioned to be busy, be stressed, and essentially be exhausted and burnt out. So how do you become more productive to not feel like you're constantly behind?
It's a process, when you've made it to adulthood, you've already been conditioned to say and do things how you were taught as a child. That means it takes a lot longer to change it when it's become a part of you.
During my transition of slowing down the hustle and busy, I felt incredibly strange. I felt like I was missing things, my mind kept going in circles because it had so much time to think, I was stressed about not being as stressed! It feels so foreign to not be busy all the time!
Here are the steps I took to start slowing down:
1. I evaluated my schedule and removed things I hated about it where possible.
2. I started to say no A LOT.
3. I started to think about the reasons I always had to be stressed out to feel successful.
4. I started to rest more often and take better care of myself.
5. I stopped striving for perfection and instead I started striving for my best.
There are so many thing we can do to become more productive, but if we are already maxed out and burnt out, not taking care of ourselves, there's nothing I can do until you're willing to let go of the stress and hustle.
I can support you in doing that in your business, household, and life. You do the work, I just give you the guidelines, accountability, and support to do it and do it in your timing.
When you're a business owner or entrepreneur that is also neurodivergent, there's even more obstacles in the way -- executive dysfunction, analysis paralysis, RSD and many more.
At The Productivity Impact, we strive to support you in being yourself, becoming more productive on your terms, and thriving in a life you actually like the feel of your skin in. We love no judgement, no shame, authentically you, bring all the things to the table, a safe place to be you, and no masking!!
We would love to support you in your business, household, and life to reduce the hustle and stress and increase the rest and productivity. Karalee would love to get to know you and give you custom support options. Just fill out this quick form and she will be in contact soon!
Task management is an important aspect to being successful and not falling behind in a mountain of things to do. Now it’s not magic, but you can most certainly boost your productivity and save some sanity by having a task management system.
There are many components that go into setting up a task management system that works and you need to remember to use. We LOVE the dopamine that comes with trying new things, but when it wears off, then we forget to use the system most times. That’s a lot of time and potentially money that could go to waste and we certainly don’t want that.
So WHY do I need a task management system because I know you all love specifics!
1) a central location to keep all your thoughts so your brain doesn’t have to work so hard
2) a plan of action to start your day even if it goes up in flames (there’s always tomorrow)
3) a way to work toward your goals
4) keep all the things organized
5) can add support to your business with ease
6) saves you countless hours of searching for all the things
I have a solution if you keep reading. I know it’s long, but I’ll wrap it up shortly!
My favorite part about this streamlined task management system I’ve created for my business is that I’ve put together a course that walks you through how to set one up yourself!
What you walk away with besides your sanity in the morning when you're figuring out what needs done for the day or even the week:
1) Daily/Weekly Planner that integrates email, project management, and more!
2) Project Management System
3) What to do on low energy days
4) How to get the things out of your brain and onto paper and beyond
5) How to set goals that work for your brain
Now, this can certainly be simplified and put together quickly so you get all the dopamine you desire! Yes, this course is set up to do ONE lesson a day PLUS implement so if you follow that schedule, you will have a system set up in ONE WEEK!
Grab this course for a one-time investment, work through it at your own pace, and get support from Karalee along the way if you desire!
Grab all the details about the Streamlined Task Management course that is most certainly ADHD and neurodivergent friendly by clicking the link below!
Whether you read or listen, here you go!
Brain dumping and being neurodivergent can lead to an instant freeze and overwhelm depending on a few factors. Today I want to share with you a few different techniques I’ve found to be very helpful to get all the things out of your brain.
Hey I’m Karalee - Productivity Strategist for Neurodivergent Entrepreneurs
You may be asking what a brain dump even is. A brain dump is when you take all the tasks, projects, and things out of your brain and get them to a list.
Let’s get started with the way you process information.
Do you consider yourself a verbal or visual processor - or a combination of the 2.
I am personally a combination of the 2.
BRAIN DUMPING: VISUAL PROCESSOR
- Grab a sheet of paper or open a document.
- Brain dump, take all the thoughts, the lists, and put them on paper. It doesn’t have to remotely be organized.
You may also be saying, but I cannot get the things out of my head. Brain dumping doesn’t work.
Try this!
BRAIN DUMPING: VERBAL PROCESSOR
- Get a recording app for on the go thoughts or record yourself talking about all the things on your mind.
- You can use a transcription service like [otter.ai](http://otter.ai) to record. [if you have the free version, simply set your phone up to the computer and press record on otter and play on your device.]
- Or you can manually take notes from listening to your voice recording pausing as needed. [this mimics our frequent need to learn and process that way.]
- Create your list from there. Grab a sheet of paper or open a document.
Organizing the Brain Dump List
- Start categorizing the list. Group like things together like all admin tasks, or project tasks, whatever that looks like.
- After they are grouped together, what is the most needle moving things on it - what is something that will help you bring in income.
- Star or highlight those things.
- Use another form of special marking to mark the necessities. Like if these things aren’t done, my business doesn’t run. VIP admin tasks, lead generation, marketing.
- Prioritize these tasks!
To learn more about how I store the tasks all together in an online task management system, check out this Masterclass I did: Transform Your Stress List into Something Motivating.
I go over what we just talked about and so much more! Link to grab that free masterclass HERE.
Notifications are all over the place. I’m sure you wake up to a bunch every morning from socials, to DMs, to emails, and texts or calls. It’s an incredibly overwhelming state to wake up to at times. You may simply find yourself needing to get rid of the notification asap because it drives you insane! Maybe you even feel glued to your phone or computer because you’re terrified of not replying immediately.
Any of these sound like you?
You cannot be glued to your phone or computer. You simply need to also live life and implement boundaries for yourself and everyone else.
I did an experiment last year. My phone was getting a bunch of spam calls and it was driving me insane so I had to put my phone on silent. My mind thought I was missing all the things because I had instilled in myself that the phone was priority and that once it went off, I had to get it.
I found myself checking my phone even more than before because I didn’t want to miss calls and texts etc. It took a few weeks of my phone on silent 24/7 to get used to being ok with not knowing as soon as something came in.
Side note: alarms still go off if you are concerned about that!
I also implement turning my phone over, the phone’s assistant, and using alarms and timers. You will feel “out of control” for a bit, but after you get used to it, you’ve built the habit and your mind is on board, it’s actually peaceful. I get to choose when I’m interrupted with notifications instead of on demand.
Create slots in your day where you check your phone, emails, DMs, etc so they don’t pile up, but also create the peace that comes with that choice.
Some ways to lessen the amount of notifications
1. leave groups on Facebook that no longer serve you
2. turn off notifications in groups if you want to stay in there but decide when to interact
3. unfollow or delete friends you don’t like seeing content from or are toxic. [or snooze them for 30 days to test it out]
4. leave group messages that don’t serve you
5. check them at routine times throughout the day to avoid build up
And for those of you that get notification overwhelm really fast, this is a great way to not let those get out of hand too!
Plus you’re able to remain focused longer [hopefully] when you’re not being bombarded with notifications that either overwhelm you or you want to answer right away. If you’re a hopefully, grab my top focus tips! CLICK HERE.
