First Things First

How many of you have a specific order of products you use when you take a shower?

Here’s mine:

1. Shampoo
2. Conditioner
3. Body soap
4. Face wash
5. Shave

I shower in order of most important to least important in case there is an emergency mid shower. (You never know!) Washing my hair is top priority because the suds drip over my body so if I didn’t get to body soap due to an emergency I would at least be a tiny bit cleaner. In all my years I can’t remember ever having to literally end a shower mid-way through, but there have been times when I’ve had to rush or the hot water runs out, and it’s easier to skip shaving than it is shampoo!

Prioritize Your Day

Whether you work at a desk all day, chipping away at a task list, or are home with your kids keeping the household running, do your most important tasks first. The sense of accomplishment of getting the Most Important Task completed propels me through the day. Maybe that task is hauling the kids to the grocery store or maybe that task is writing 5 pages of a report. Whatever its nature, tackle it when your brain is fresh and you are still energized from your morning coffee. (Unless you are a night owl and work best after 10pm. You odd bird, you!) I tend to get drowsy between 3-5 in the afternoon so I save my most fun tasks for that time and do the ones I’m looking forward to the least when I’m fresh.

TeuxDeux

I’ve been using an app called TeuxDeux for years to organize my tasks. I assign tasks to each day and then prioritize them from most important to least important. If any are left at the end of the day, the appear on the next day’s list. I also have future planning lists at the bottom for different projects I’m working on: blog post ideas, SEO audit tasks, Beautycounter. I have those ranked by priority too, and I can drag and drop tasks from the future lists to the day of as needed. (Note I screenshoted this on 9/13 – I also like to work ahead when I can!)

Mixing Workouts In

Outside of “work tasks” I’ve been experimenting with doing a workout first vs. middle vs. last thing in my day. Some days my workout is a higher priority than others, and I’ve been trying to let it flow naturally instead of planning it out, although admittedly that means some days it gets bumped to tomorrow. I enjoy my workout a bit more if I’ve accomplished something first. It feels like more of a treat or a break than if I putz around and then go for a run or to a class. I always forget that I can take both kids to Kids Zone in the late afternoon, so that is actually a good time. The “best time” for me to exercise seems to change daily!

How do you manage your to-dos?