Putting My Productivity Trainings in an Order to Help You the Most!

by | Aug 5, 2019

Hello Busy Friend,

I’m sure you are busy, busy, busy….

School starting is just around the corner for most of us, and some have already begun! (Cheers to you!)

In my Sunday Snippets this summer, I have been sharing productivity and organization links with you to help you make this your best school year ever! (My best years were always my most organized years!)

But someone commented that they wished they were all in one place and in order so they would know which things to focus on first, etc.

So…..that is what this Tuesday Tips is going to do!

I’m going to put the videos and articles that I think will help you the most to have an organized, productive year in order, so you can have your own little “mini conference”! And you can do it at your own pace as you implement each step.

I’m passionate about productivity and organization because I know they made all the difference for me in my 32 years of homeschooling–and they continue to serve me every single day in all of my entrepreneur journey!

Blessings to you for an amazing, organized, productive school year….I want so much wonderfulness for you!

Love and hope,

Donna

 

Step 1: Create Your Daily Lists and Do Nothing But These!

I created a video about my experience in creating dailies–and how I had to give up the grandiose in order to do the dailies…and how those dailies made me a successful homeschooler and confident parent! Watch this first! 🙂

Step 2: Learn to Delight in the Dailies

Dailies can be a drag. There’s nothing grandiose. Nothing exciting. Nothing remarkable happening right away as a result of them. So it can be hard to delight in them. I wrote two articles about this (part I and part II) that will help anyone who gets bored with the dailies. (Please believe me when I say the dailies are everything at first!)

Step 3: Follow Through on the Dailies

It’s one thing to create a dailies list. It’s another thing to follow through on them. Since I know how hard it is to follow through on them, I created a video about that!

Step 4: Systematize Everything

After you get the dailies down pat (or during possibly), you will be amazed at your productivity when you systematize everything you can! This is so important in homeschooling. You want some things in your day to just run “like a well-oiled machine”! Systematizing will help you!

Step 5: Use 1 to 2% of Your Day to Make the Other 98% Run Smoothly

Each day has its own happenings. Some times we have enough time for the Dailies only. Other times we can do some weeklies. Some times we can even do “extras.” Use my 14 Minute Productivity Hack to look at the day and see what all you can put in it. This realistic look at your day will leave you way less frustrated!

Step 6: Each Day Plan Your First Five and Fast Five

During my 14 Minute Productivity Hack, if I look at my calendar and I have time to do more than the Dailies, I put in my First Five tasks (the first five things I will do after my Dailies) and my Fast Five (five quick tasks I can do while coffee is brewing or toddler is not pottying but is sitting on the potty! lol). On extra busy days, I don’t get to the First Five or Fast Five…but I always know what they are each day.

EXTRAS

There are other habits and productivity considerations when creating your ideal day….so I am putting these here.

a. Diligence—

We talk all the time about how to help our kids become more diligent. But I found out long ago that I have to do everything myself before I can teach things to my kids. Wowsie…was that ever hard. So I taught myself to be diligent first…then teaching them was much easier! This video details how I evaluated my diligence and improved it.

b. Prioritizing

So how do you know what you should do after your Dailies? How can you determine which things are the most important things to focus on? I have some thoughts about prioritizing on this video!

c. Taming the To-Do List

It’s one thing to create a to do list; it’s another thing to have systems in place to do the tasks on the to-do list. This video helps with the taming of that all-elusive to-do list!

d. Procrastination

Procrastination is a real issue for any of us who are our own bosses—homeschoolers, entrepreneurs, parents of littles, small business owners, etc. I love giving tips—and I have several in this video to beat procrastination!

A Change a Week—or a Change a Month

by | May 8, 2018

 

Thirty years ago, Ray’s mentor said, “Sit down with Donna every week and ask her, ‘What change do you think we need to make? What do you need for me to do?'”

He continued, “After you do this for a long time, it will give Donna peace, and she will feel secure that you really care about your family and how to improve it.

He said, “Then one day, you will ask her ‘What do you need for me to do for you?’ and she will say ‘Nothing at all. What can I do for you?'”

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Delighting in the Dailies—Part II of II

by | Apr 2, 2018

 

So now that you are convinced that “delighting in the dailies” will help you accomplish your goals, how do you get them started (and keep them going) during the initial stages—when there isn’t a lot of fruit to show for your efforts, and you are convinced some day that you should just forget making dinner and go play solitaire or buy some sort of farm equipment (on the computer…lol)?

 

Here are some tips for learning to truly “delight in the dailies” and make those dailies a long-term reality in your home:

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Delighting in the Dailies–Part I of II

by | Mar 26, 2018

If you have heard us speak or read any of our blogs, you have probably heard my stories about how I used to be a “closet lady.” That is, I always cleaned out closets, organized toy cubes, shelved books in order, and made one hundred freezer meals in one day—instead of doing the dishes, laundry, trash, and other “dailies.”

 

It took me a while as a young mother to get to the point where I could set all of my projects aside—all of the more “creative,” fun, and cool things–in order to do the things that I needed to every day….the dailies.

 

But once I did, my life was forever changed. You see, it is the daily ins and outs that truly make us successful in homeschooling (and in life!).

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My Eight Week Grocery “Fast” – Weeks 1 and 2

by | Jan 29, 2018

Eight Week Grocery Fast: Weeks 1 & 2

 

We are two weeks into my grocery fast (see the intro post here), and I already have unique situations and “special” circumstances to navigate. But like I always told my kids as I was raising them to do what they had to do every single day: “Every day is special, but every day can’t be a special day!” In other words, when we look at everything that comes up as an occasion to skip our school plan, not do our cleaning, or eat sweet treats, we will not be successful.

 

The same is true with my grocery fast. I could easily say a week or so in that I can’t keep it because we’re having movie night with the kids; I need to spend more because some of the kids are coming for Sunday dinner; I need to take some food to my step-mom; I need to make something for our ballroom dance; and on and on….

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How I Planned a Grocery “Fast” for Two Months!

by | Jan 23, 2018

 

I am not big on “New Year’s Resolutions since 93% of resolutions are thrown out by the end of January each year. I have kept resolutions before—doing something every day, like reading aloud to my kids or doing a daily cleaning routine, etc. (I prefer to make life changes a little at a time, like monthly, as described in my Productivity Series.)

 

However, I decided over Christmas that my freezers and cupboards HAD to be reduced. My husband and I raised seven kids for thirty-four years, twenty-five of those years on one income. I prepped, cooked, organized, couponed, sale-shopped, and cleaned like a madwoman during those years in order to stay on budget and “get it all done.” I had one deep freeze that was collecting ingredients for my next freezer cooking day and another was filled with already-made mega cooking meals. My cupboards were the same.

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