How I Stay Productive Working For Myself

Working for myself has been so great, and I would never want it any other way, but it absolutely takes discipline to stay on track and maintain efficiency. I would not say it is for everyone. If I'm being honest...I am a procrastinator. A huge one. I always have been. And in the past I have always panicked when my deadline approaches. When it comes to the success of my business,  I have decided to put in place for myself a few rules I try to follow to ensure I make each day worthwhile and efficient. Keep scrolling to see my tried and true tips!

Write Out Your To-Do List

I thrive when I have set out exactly what I expect of myself that day, and I'm surprised daily by how much I can get done when I simply tell myself to just do it. Typically the last thing I do in a day is write out what I want to achieve the next day. That way I can hit the ground running when I wake up! I have daily to-do checklists that I love for daily goals. I've shared some really cute ones below from Amazon!

The organized chaos one... I feel that on a personal level

Start the Day By Making The Bed

Not only do I feel like I sleep better when I get into a bed that has been made, but by getting this one small task done gets yours day jumpstarted with momentum!

Change Out of Your PJs

When you work from home and have no intention of leaving the house (like every other day for me) it's easy to slide from your bed straight to your desk. But I feel like when I do this, I stay in a sleepy funk. It's amazing how much more put together and business-y I feel once I take 30 minutes to shower, change my clothes (even if it's into athleisure), and make myself presentable (even if it's for the mail man). I work quicker and with more purpose!

Start Your Work Day With The Easiest TaSk

Having a master's degree in psychology has taught me a thing or two in motivation. You are more likely to get more done when you start and complete your easiest task first vs. trying to tackle your biggest project of the day. Something about checking it off makes you more motivated instead of losing steam in an overwhelming task. For me,  I start my day by updating my spreadsheets with what sold over night. From there I feel I can take on the world!

Mark Off Each Task As You Complete It

This 2 second movement means sooo much to me. As I see more items I have completed, I feel more compelled to get more done!

Make Your Goals Quantitative So You Can See Your Progress

This will help you stay more accountable and be as successful as you can be. Instead of telling myself "I want to sell a lot this month," I tell myself "I'm going to make $xxxx of sales this month." No slacking, achieve those goals!

Don'T Forget Your Mental Health Day

When you work for yourself, you will find yourself working every day, and you will forget what day of the week it is consistently. Sometimes I realize I worked the entire weekend without any fun! I try to take one day a week where I do minimum (share my closet, get my shipping up to date, and that is it). You will burn out and find yourself resenting your business if you don't.

Stay Up To Date On Your BOOKKEEPING

Unless you are running a bookkeeping business, this is probably the most daunting part of your business. It is for me! It is busy work that really isn't making me any money. But when you find yourself a week or two in without having kept up in money flow and inventory, you will have caused yourself extra time of looking through your receipts/sales/books etc to get everything in order. Save yourself the time and just input everything daily or as it happens. 

Set Phone Limits On Your Netflix/IG/Whatever

Hubby actually did this without my knowledge, but I'm grateful for it! Since I'm not on a typical 9-5 schedule, I usually work from when I wake up until I go to bed with breaks sporadically throughout the day. I usually like to feel these breaks with Netflix or Prime video. It is also super easy to wander onto my "fun" apps when I use my phone so much for business purposes. We all know how quickly a couple hours can go by with that handy "next episode" button. With these alerts it reminds me once I've been on a certain app for a certain amount of time, which usually comes as a surprise to me. It has definitely helped me cut down on unnecessary phone time!

Write Out Your Accomplishments

Owning your own business is really filled with so much up and down (as very accurately depicted in the graph picture at the top of this post) Even though I resell full time, there are still days when I don't earn a single dollar in sales. It is so discouraging when you have put in 10+ hours of work that day! I've started a "big accomplishments" sheet of paper in a notebook where I write down my top sale days, top blog view days, etc., which really helps when I'm feeling down about my progress. It reminds me of my highs and helps me get through my lows.


I hope my tips for efficiency can offer some help to you other boss babes and dudes. I would love to hear any of your own tips below in the comments!