Plan Your Day for Maximum Productivity

As a business owner, did anybody tell you that you were signing up for being the janitor, the bookkeeper, HR photographer, video editor, audio visual technician, therapist, while being the artist?

Oh, and I didn't even mention everything else you need to do in your personal life! Basic things like showering… being a mother, maybe. Friendships, too! Keeping up with friendships because those are important, unless you want to die alone.

Staying productive and keeping on top of everything you have to do today is super hard, but we're entrepreneurs. This is kind of what we signed up for.

I'm a mom, and I'm a wife. I'm also the CEO of Sheila Bella permanent makeup and Board President of the American Academy of Micropigmentation.

Aside from all that, I mean, I've got to make time for me. I have a massive, serious skincare routine, like 16 steps.

In this video, I'm going to shed all of my secrets on how I've been able to do it. By the end of this, you're going to be able to slay your day. If you’re one of my reader boss babes, keep reading! It’s all laid out for you right here.

I have a lot of roles and tasks to juggle. I can’t go without a planning strategy! So I came up with one.

My planning strategy comes in two parts:

1. Block Scheduling

2. Task Batching

For block scheduling, I set apart chunks of my day for broad tasks.

By blocking off hours at a time, I can segment my day into the roles that I take.

I have a chunk of time to myself, a chunk of my time where I work, a chunk of time where I'm with my family, a chunk of my time dedicated to me and my husband, etcetera, etcetera.

So when I get ready to shift from my work block to my family block, I know that I can just turn off the work part of my brain and move on to the next block, because I already did everything I needed to do.

Here's an example of my typical workweek:

5:30 AM to 9:00 AM is my morning block. So, my morning block starts at 5:30: I have a morning routine, which includes my morning devotional, and I always wake up with hot water, lemon, sea salt and coconut oil. After that, I need to move in the morning. I either go for a run or do some sort of home workout, and I do this all while listening to a podcast. After that's done, I shower, get the kids ready for homeschool (because quarantine), and then I get ready for the day.

9:00 AM is typically when I have a team meeting on Zoom or FaceTime. I have that from 9:00 to 9:30.

From 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM, I am in work mode.

1:00 PM I take a lunch break, but sometimes I don't. That’s kind of like when I just stuf my face with something.

From 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, same thing:

Okay, done with that gif.

Now my evening block is from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. That's when we have dinner, play family games, I clean up, do dishes. And then after dinner, we actually do a pajama walk around the block (no, really, my whole family walks around the block in their pajamas). After that is bedtime stories, prayers, and that's when the kids get ready for bed. And then it's married time

bow chicka wow wow.

Just kidding. Too funny.

So my husband and I typically watch The Office, Shark Tank, catch up with each other, and we're usually asleep by 10:00 to 11:00 PM.

Helpful Hint: Setting intentional time with your loved one, with your significant other, really does help. It works.

That schedule just kind of repeats over and over and over every day.

Part two of my strategy is task batching.

The work I do varies day by day. Task batching has really been a lifesaver. It allows me to separate all the tasks I need to do for the work week, so that when I start each day, I know exactly which tasks I need to focus on.

It's not so easy to get off track or overwhelmed when I do it this way.

When I was showing you my block scheduling, there are these sections that say work, work, work, from certain times. With task batching, the only thing that's different is what I do during that timeframe.

Monday: I do coaching calls, meetings, discovery calls.

Tuesday: I write scripts for YouTube, captions for Instagram, and podcasts.

Wednesday: I create exclusive content for my students in Pretty Rich University. It's like my teaching day. I also create new online courses like freebies and free downloads, etc. So basically, Wednesdays I'm wearing my teaching hat.

Thursday: I film. I film all day long on Thursday. I film YouTube videos, Instagram stories for the week, and IGTVs. I film in one day and I also take photos as I change my looks and my outfits.

Friday: I edit and I create infographics.

Saturday: pre-COVID, Saturday was my day to go microblade. I did permanent makeup on Saturdays, but now that we are unable to open yet, I am not doing that. So these days… I'm cleaning.

Sunday: Downtime! It has church, and it’s really a family day. We go on hikes, drives to the beach, or have a fun family project like tie dye shirts… you get the idea.

With these methods, I'm able to make sure I cover every single thing that I need to do each week for each of my roles, and I'm not as scatterbrained as I used to be.

Honestly, there's no need for us to put so much pressure on ourselves for feeling unproductive all the time.

As mothers, wives, and especially if you're also trying to run a business at the same time, it is not easy. And sometimes I think society puts a lot of pressure on us to do it all.

Guys, I have a full time, live in nanny. I have a very supportive husband. I'm very blessed. My encouragement to you is to not put pressure on yourself for your life to look exactly like mine, because if I didn't have any of these things, my life would look completely different. However, I do see the value in still batching your tasks and block scheduling.

So test out my block scheduling and task batching methods, and let me know if they work for you!

If you haven't followed me on Instagram yet, uh, why not?! Keep up with me here. I talk about a lot of stuff (and I mean a lot of stuff) and not all of it makes it to my YouTube videos, podcasts, or blogs!

If you're needing to up your Instagram game, girl, LOOK NO FURTHER. I created a course to help you literally Grow Your Gram. Don't miss it!