Life Hacks to Help You Do and Be MORE

*As you know I’m sharing MiO in my life as part of a sponsored series for Socialstars™. As always, my opinions are my own, and I am so lucky to get to work with great brands that support Glass of Glam and my mission to give you the realest and best content!

Now that I’m back from France, it is back to the normal grind. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share some more productivity hacks.

Who doesn’t want to do more? Sometimes I wish I had a clone so I could do multiple things at once. But alas, I have one brain, one set of hands, and one heart.

In my productivity series with MiO, I last wrote about how to squeeze more out of your afternoon, but this time I wanted to think broader and talk about life hacks for doing more in general.

Photography by Dave Mentzer

1.Make Yourself A Physical Checklist

We are in the age of technology, but nothing is more satisfying than physically crossing things off your to do list. Divide your list into categories (for me it is groceries, home, blog) and do a brain dump before bed. I know some people prefer to make their list in the morning, and that’s good too! As long as you have a good routine that works for you. I keep my planner on the kitchen counter, and that’s where I write my lists. This exercise gets everything off your mind so not only will you sleep better, you won’t forget to pick up the chili powder or respond to that email!

5 LIFE HACKS TO DO AND BE MORE

I like to make a weekly running list, then hit refresh and make a new one the next week. Some people like to make a new list every day by transcribing the tasks that were not completed onto the next day, but that’s a little bit too tedious for me.

2.Take Breaks

Everyone has a different philosophy about how long and frequent breaks should be. But my attention span is pretty short. Sometimes a walk around the block can clear my head and I return fresh and a more inspired. Even just a water break with a little squirt of MiO (I’m still loving the lemonade flavor!) makes me feel more productive.

3.Get Dressed In The Morning

When you feel good, you do things with more confidence and much more efficiently. On the flip side, bumming around in old clothes that don’t fit with no care for your appearance can make you feel “blah” resulting in bad feelings towards yourself and your abilities. Believe me, I’ve been there. Waking up 15 minutes earlier to do your hair, picking out an outfit that makes you feel amazing, or swiping on your favorite shade of lipstick sets a positive tone to the day. Devoting that little extra time to yourself is a subconscious boost that will allow you to do more.

4.Never Start A Day With “I’ll Take A Nap Later”

I am anti nap. If you’re napping or promising yourself a nap later, then I am a firm believer that something is off with your sleeping habits, hormones, health, or eating. You only have approximately 15 hours a day to accomplish everything you want. Why take 1-2 hours off the table to be unconscious, then wake up feeling groggy? Wake up and power through each day as if there is no stopping you, and just go to bed earlier that night.

5.Be Realistic

This is one of the hardest things for me. Do you ever have such a long list of things to do that you are literally frozen and can’t even start? If you bite off more than you can chew (you make appointments for every day of the week and schedule yourself silly) then you won’t have time to do anything well. You might even be paralyzed with anxiety, which is how I usually feel when I am feeling too overwhelmed.

I know that I can’t clean the apartment, empty the dishwasher, vacuum, and do laundry all in a 2 hour time slot. On blogging days, trying to tackle my inbox, review 5 contracts, edit photos for 2 posts, and cooking dinner will make me feel rushed and anxious! Delegate when you can (hire a housekeeper, or ask your husband to complete a task), prioritize, and when all else fails…takeout. But healthy takeout 😉

–Roxanne