{"id":1119,"date":"2015-08-06T14:16:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T14:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.shareasimage.com\/?p=1119"},"modified":"2019-04-09T19:20:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T00:20:56","slug":"productivity-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getstencil.com\/blog\/productivity-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Most Important Productivity Lessons I Learned This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the clock hits midnight tonight I\u2019ve officially been running my own business for a year.<\/p>\n

I quit my job at a shoe shop, headed to a music festival and then came home to start life as a Freelance Writer.<\/p>\n

And, it\u2019s been one hell of a ride.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned a lot about business, marketing, social media, life, love and everything else that falls in between. I\u2019ve written about topics I never dreamed I\u2019d learn about, and some I wish that I never had.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked from coffee shops, boats, kitchen tables, airports, trains and my own makeshift desk in my study. And I\u2019ve got no idea where it\u2019s going to take me next.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Today though, I don\u2019t want to share with you about being a Freelancer or the ins-and-outs of writing blog posts for a living.<\/p>\n

I want to talk to you about some of the lessons I\u2019ve learned in productivity.<\/p>\n

Because, if were to confess one thing to you, it would be this:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m an organisational nightmare.<\/em><\/p>\n

My attention span is short. I\u2019m surrounded by distractions. I have a WhatsApp thread that beeps every 30 seconds and I once spent 45 minutes watching a fly go in squares around my living room.<\/p>\n

But I still manage to have never missed a deadline, build a solid client base and write over 325,000 words in the last 12 months<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re ready, come with me as I show you some of the most important productivity lessons I\u2019ve learned that have seen me through the minefield of the last year, that could also help you be more productive today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

#1: You Need To Track Your Mood<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Your mood and how productive you are go hand in hand.<\/p>\n

For example, I\u2019m one of the legions of people who is most productive<\/strong> in the first two hours after they wake up<\/a>. So, I focus all of my important<\/em> work there, and then slowly taper it off to easier tasks.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not how it works for everyone, either.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve known people write all their blog posts at 3am. Others can\u2019t find their stride until they\u2019ve had a big breakfast, two cups of coffee and a walk on their lunch hour.<\/p>\n

But, for some reason, you always feel that you need to be productive at 9am, and finish at 5pm, because that\u2019s what conventional standards are set at.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"shareasimage<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s more important is that you find the times that work for you.<\/p>\n

Try making a log of your day, like the one I talk about in this article<\/a>, and how you feel each and every hour:<\/p>\n