A new month is starting tomorrow and with that comes the changing of seasons and (what feels like) a refreshing new start!
Summer is the time reserved for play, vacation, and fun. It’s filled with long nights and longer days of stress-free living. We love summer for all of its freedom and sunny weather and as much as we thought that we’d be sad to see it coming to an end, we’re kind of excited for scarves and boots and PSLs with real pumpkin 🙂
Fall is a season of growth. It’s when we start scheming for the upcoming year and really push through our goals for the rest of 2015! It can be hard to get back into the swing of things especially when you’ve been spending your days traveling, outdoors, being lazy or all of the above! As much as we love to keep doing that, there’s something about us that makes us have to stay busy so here’s how we transition into being more productive while staying stress-free during fall.
1. Set Goals
We love making lists. And especially love crossing stuff off of it. Make list? Check.
Make a list of your goals for this week, month, or year and break them down into individual tasks that you can accomplish each day. When something so ambitious as “write a book” is on your to-do list, it can be easy to put off, get stuck, or become discouraged. But when you break it down into “write 10 pages this week” you have a concrete and attainable goal that is much less abstract and much more doable. Breaking it into small pieces lets you celebrate the small milestones and keeps you motivated to complete your goal!
2. Work on them Every Day
For some, like me, it is so much easier to work on something every day, than to do it every other day, on the weekends, or a few times a month. Getting into the routine and the habit is the hard part especially when you have to motivate yourself into doing it! Brushing your teeth, for example is automatic. It’s not something you have to think about in the morning when you’re half asleep – it kind of just happens!
Working out is definitely something that I just have to do every day or it doesn’t get done at all! It lasts maybe 2 weeks and then that’s it. Making progress is the key because if you can look back and see how far you’ve come, you’re much more likely to keep going.
3. Clean
When my desk or purse or kitchen is messy, it is SO hard to get anything done. No matter how motivated I’m feeling on the way home, a messy space doesn’t encourage creativity or focus at all. Cleaning is not really something that I enjoy but a clean space is worth it. Also, it’s kind of impossible to cook when all the counters have stuff on them…
4. Maintain Balance
Balance is one of those “in” words. Something that everyone talks about and struggles to achieve. Balance for us is turning out to be somewhat of a trade off. It’s not that we spend exactly the amount of time we want on each thing but some days when we’re really focused on BBE, we work on that. And those other days when we just want to nap, well, there’s no use in trying to write a blog when you’re half asleep 😉
Maybe balance for you means checking off a smaller to-do than you planned on. That’s fine! You can be productive and leave room for catching up on shows, hanging with friends, and napping. If the process of dream chasing leaves you feeling burnt out, that’s when you know you need a break! Which leads to…
5. Unwind
Maintaining balance involves taking time to unwind! You are allowed to take a break! Going out to eat, go shopping, do yoga, or take a nap are all much needed activities for us and keep us energized and renewed for our day jobs and side hustles. Do things that make you focused on the moment, no matter what it is. Take time to refresh and do things just because you enjoy them and you’ll feel so much better for it.
We hope you stay productive and keep your stress in check this fall! We’d love to hear what goals you’re working on currently!