Transcription
Do you ever feel like every new productivity app just adds more chaos? I was stuck juggling endless tabs and halffinish lists until I built a system that actually works with my brain using just a few essential tools. So, in this video, I'm going to show you my personal productivity system and the exact apps and methods I rely on so you can finally cut the clutter and make getting things done feel more effortless.
So most people's productivity looks like a junk drawer of random tools tossed together. Mine is actually a curated toolbox, if you will, with each item chosen, organized, and used in a specific workflow. To understand how I actually use these tools within my system, I want to briefly go over my flourishing productivity system before diving into the specific apps I use within that system. So let's dive into that now.
So, I am going to go over this quickly. At the end of this video, I will link a video that goes into my productivity system more thoroughly if you're interested.
So, I believe in intentional productivity. So, at the center of my flourishing productivity system is our dream life. This is what we're working towards. This is what we want to achieve. I believe that God gives us our gifts and our goals and our job is to accept them and to achieve them. So accept our gifts, achieve our goals in order to be a blessing using our gifts and to be a testimony by achieving our goals. And in the end, it all comes back to glorifying God. I will not go deeper into that, but just know that this is an intentional system meant to help you achieve your dreams faster and easier.
So through my work working with ambitious women to achieve their goals faster and easier, I've noticed that four things typically get in the way. They can be summed up as overwhelm, but they can be broken down into these four things. So the first thing is they're scattered. So they're kind of all over the place. They struggle with focus. They lack clarity. They're kind of like spinning almost in a sense. And so I've been doing this for years. I used to have a coaching program called Dream Life Academy where I was coaching women to meet their goals and I have currently my systemize your goals where I do the same thing. Okay, so that's how I know scatter.
The second piece is they feel disorganized. So they're dealing with mental clutter. They may be dealing with actual physical clutter in the real world, but they are mentally overstimulated and they also are struggling with just getting organized or even taking the time to get organized. and they feel very chaotic in that sense. So scattered, disorganized.
The third thing that I realize that most ambitious women that I work with come to me to be more efficient, to get their goals met faster and easier is they're dealing with being depleted. And that is, you know, burnout, exhaustion. They are struggling with doing so many things because they have so much on their plate. They have so many roles that they're fulfilling while they're also trying to achieve their goals that they end up burning themselves out. So they're scattered, they're disorganized and depleted.
And then the fourth thing that I've noticed with ambitious women that come with me is some of them are stuck. So they're maybe dimming their light or they feel like, you know, I've reached a certain amount of success is that is this all there is for me and they're kind of feeling stuck in one place and trying to get to that next level or even dreaming up that next level. So the systems I have in place for my productivity system are kind of the answers to all of these problems.
So let's go first into scattered. I won't go into all the details of the system that I create cuz I have that in another video. But I will tell you the answer to this that this system achieves which is helps us to streamline and we do that with a goal system. So I help my clients create a goal system to help them streamline, to help them get more focus, to gain clarity, have a clear strategy and a plan to reach their goals most efficiently.
Now the answer for being disorganized is I have them to start automating their life and they do that with an organization system. They're going to slow down to speed up. They're going to get themselves organized. That way, most of their work, their task, their time, all of that is managed on autopilot.
Then we have being constantly depleted and burned out. The answer of that is to get into a flow state in their work. And not only in their workflow, but in their overall way of being productive. And they do that, you might have guessed, with a productivity system that I teach them.
And then my answer for feeling stuck really is what I truly believe we're all should be doing anyway, which is evolving. So we don't want to look at achieving our goals as a destination. That's when we usually get stuck. We really want to look at it as a journey and enjoying the journey. And the way I teach my students to be in that constant state of becoming, that constant state of evolving is with a reinvention system. Okay.
So, the tools I'm going to share with you today are all tools that I use within one of these systems that I use in my personal life and that I teach them to my clients within Systemize Your Goals Accelerator. So, they're tools that I use in my goal system, in my organization system, in my productivity system, or my reinvention system.
If you want to know the exact details of creating each one of these systems, at the end of this video, I will link, all you have to do is tap it, my finish the year strong, the first video in that workshop, because they're all different videos, goes over each one of my systems and what you need to do to create one for yourself, and you can watch after this video.
So, let's move on to the actual tools. [music] So last year, yeah, it's been over a year actually now, I decided to quit my job after reading the book two weeks notice. Even though I preach about being intentional and living life on your own accord, I had kind of found myself in a state that I was living life on what I should be doing because I have a degree obviously in my PhD and I'm a neurosychologist and I spent all this time. I felt like I had to be using that knowledge in this way of working this 9 to5. And it kind of snapped in me that there's so many other ways that I can share my knowledge and use my gifts and my degrees. And so after reading that book, it kind of gave me like this permission to actually just shift my life into what I actually wanted. Even though I preached that and I thought I had been doing that really intentionally all along, in this one area, I wasn't. And so I added very intentionally within my goal system a way to make sure that I am staying on track with my true dreams and my true values after this experience.
So these first set of tools that I'm going to share with you are going to be part of the goal system to not only make sure you're on track with what you truly value, but to also make sure that you can get really clear, develop a good strategy to do it efficiently and to also reinvent yourself for that time. So let's dive into those tools now.
So, these first set of tools help me set meaningful goals and make sure they're aligned with my long-term vision. These are tools I use for my goal system and my reinvention system. The first one is my paper planner. I talk about my modern vision planner a lot because it is such an influential part of my life. The physical one is currently sold out, but if you're interested in the strategies, you can get the printable version. It includes my goal planner, which includes evidence-based psychology on goal achievement, proven strategies to help you set your goals in a way that you can reach them faster. And it also has all my planning for actual like day-to-day planning. But obviously, when it comes to the goals, the goal planner and my paper planner an essential tool. I also do my yearly reflection in there, which is part of my reinvention system. And then my goal planning on the periodic basis. So my quarterly goal brainstorms I do on my paper planner monthly and weekly. So all of that is in my paper planner. If you watch my plan with me videos, you probably have seen me use it extensively.
Another tool that I use within my goal system is notion. Notion. Notion. Notion. Love it. Love it. Love it. Notion is one of those tools that once you get an understanding of it, there's no going back because it's just that good. But I have tried so many project management tools. Trello, Asauna, Monday.com. I've tried them all. Meister Task and Notion hands down is the go. So overall, I use what I call my productive boss notion system. If you're interested, I will link it below. It includes all my notion templates, and they're all integrated. They talk to each other, work together. You don't have to build anything. You just plug and play.
One of those templates within my productive notion boss system that I use on a frequent basis is my 12-week year notion template. So once I have my moon goals set, which are my 1 to threeyear goals, I use 12-week year strategies and I use my 12-week year notion template to do that. I also have a vision board template to keep my vision board in there as well. So, within my 12week year notion template, I have my 12-week year goals, but I also have my monthly strategy for the 12-week year, as well as my weekly scorecard, so I can track those habits each week. And it's nice in there because I can just click a button and it resets each week. So, those are the two tools that I am hands down tied to when it comes to my goal system.
Now, tools to create an effective goal system are great, but if you don't have tools to handle the mental clutter of trying to do all the things to achieve those goals, you're not going to get very far. So, let me show you those next that I actually use to get rid of the mental clutter.
So, imagine walking into a library. Every book has its place. The catalog tells you exactly where to go, and in just a few minutes, you can find whatever you need. Now, compare that to opening a junk drawer. You know the one. We all have them. It's overflowing with old papers, dead batteries, random cords, and halfus used tape or pens that don't work. You dig around forever when you're in there looking for stuff, and you never really find what you need. You just kind of get stressed out going in there. That's the difference between living with mental clutter and having an organized system. So, library compared to the junk drawer. One keeps you calm and clear, library. The other keeps you stuck in a mess.
So these next set of tools help me to store, find and retrieve everything from ideas to documents quickly and easily so that my life functions more like a library than a junk drawer. So these are the tools I use within my organization system.
Coming back to notion, but specifically when I open my notion, it goes to my parah method which is my organized brain. So you may have heard of building a second brain by Thiago Forte. I think and it's such an extremely beautiful way of organizing your digital world and your just life in general. So I combine building a second brain tenants with David Ellen's book getting things done. So I have my paramethod which are my projects, my life areas like my home management, my business hub, what else life areas do I have? Goals. Those are those ongoing things. You also have a section for your resources. Those are more general resources and archives. In addition to that, which is the parah method from building a second brain, I also have a task database in my second brain as well as a notes database in my second brain. Again, if you want to look at all this, it's in my productive boss notion system which is linked below. And the great thing about having it in notion is it's organized in a way that it's all connected. So my task database is connected to my projects database. My life areas are connected. Everything is integrated. So it talks to each other because I believe yes, we may have different categories of life areas like my home management and my business hub, but we live one integrated life. So it's nice to have everything talking to each other in one place.
So, I use notion for a lot of my organization using getting things done and tenants from building a second brain. And if you're new to these philosophies, I have a lot of videos on my channel, but you can think of this as an external brain for everything. It's your client work can be there, your content, your home projects, your personal systems, everything. So, as an example, I remember needing a contract once and spending nearly an hour digging through my emails, random folders, and even my phone screenshots. By the end, I was stressed. I was frustrated. I still didn't have what I needed. And I used to have situations like this all the time. But now, since I use my notion second brain, it's completely different. I don't have those things happening anymore. Everything is organized in a way that makes sense for my neurospicy brain. No stress, no wasted time. It's just so helpful. And the best part is that peace of mind that comes from knowing exactly where everything lives.
Now, outside of my notion second brain, there are other few tools I live by to stay organized. So, the first one is my Google Drive, which I kind of think of as my digital deep freezer. This is where I have archives, large files, and documents I need but don't want cluttering like my daily view. So, mainly I put large files there like videos that I need to store that I collaborate on with my editor. I'm not going to store those in Notion cuz they're just so huge.
I also use when it comes to organization Google photos for backups and for memories especially when I used to do a lot of short form which I don't do anymore because I'm not on Instagram or Tik Tok anymore but my phone used to be filled so quickly and I would never have enough storage. So if you have Google Photos it automatically syncs all your photos onto Google Photos and it's not like iCloud where iCloud still takes up space like you if you delete it from your phone it'll delete from iCloud or vice versa. This is like backs up your phone, Google Photos. You can delete everything. So, I keep everything on there because I can have all my photos in my memories there. I can share them with family members and I don't have to worry about oops if I delete it from my phone or from my iPad.
Another way that I organize my time is with Google Calendar. We have a shared family calendar that I talk a lot about. It's great because not one parent has to be responsible for all the family things and kids events and you know vacations and keeping everyone on the family schedule. We also use the skylight which I guess is another tool I should have added here where we have the family calendar there and then I use iCal because I have like different ser email service pro spreaders like my company one is outlook so I can have all my Google emails there and my outlook one and one thing in iical but for the family we use Google calendar and it also comes with an email so that way mom is not the only one getting the school emails or dad is not the only one getting the school emails. Both of you guys can have it on your phones, email, and respond to it. So, that's really nice as well. And our Google calendar is where I also keep weekly non-negotiables. So, things like our meal planning, our meal prep, those placeholders that you want to make sure that you're doing each week to keep you and your family taken care of.
Again, I also use my paper planner as an organizational tool. That's where I do a lot of my time management and my weekly and daily plans. It's like my manager. So, I do use my 37 time blocking method and I time block each and every one of my days. It's very rare that I don't. And of course, weekly planning, monthly planning, quarterly planning, I'll do that in my paper planner as well to stay organized.
Now, these organizational tools definitely come in clutch, but there are also tools I use to stay productive that you may not think of. Next, I'm going to share the tools that keep me productive in unconventional ways.
So, think about a chef in a busy kitchen. They aren't running around trying to cook every dish at the same time. That would be kind of cray cray. Instead, they set up their ingredients ahead of time. They follow usually a flow for what gets cooked when, and they lean on their sue chefs to handle what they don't need to be doing themselves. So, that structure is the only way that kitchen can run smoothly. Without it, they end up with burned dishes, missed orders, or an exhausted chef. But with it, the chef can stay focused with the flow. that can keep the quality high and get everything out on time. That's exactly what having the right systems in place does for your time and your energy. It keeps things moving without you burning out.
So, these next set of tools are very similar. They help me to focus my energy. They help me to protect my time and they help me to get things done without burning out. So, first let's talk about the day-to-day apps that I use religiously.
So, the first one is Loom. I love a good loom. If you probably emailed me with customer support, I may have set you a loom before if you had any questions about your notion template. I do a lot of Loom with my video editor sometimes if I just need to explain something with saying it without trying to type it out in a comment. Anytime I'm working with a contractor, looms are just really helpful. Instead of setting a meeting, you can just send a quick loom. And I also I worked with some women behind the scenes this year to be accountable and systemize your goals. And when I wanted to check in on during the week, I would send a Loom versus an email. It's just more personal. I love Loom. Probably not remembering all the ways that I use them now. I've actually done tutorials with them as well in some of my tutorials. So yeah, I use Loom all the time. Such a timesaver.
Other one you guys probably already use is Chat GPT. Now, Chad GBT, it can help you be productive, but it can help you not be productive as well. Sometimes I find that using AI actually slows me down. So, I like to use it in a very organized way. Like my chat GBT is very organized. I use it as a second thing, never a first. So, otherwise, it's just trash. There's a lot of rave about it, but it's also like I believe there's a lot of hype on AI. Sometimes it's faster just to get things out yourself. But I do use Chat GPT.
I use Apple Mail in my day-to-day for my email management because I have different, like I said, service providers. Oh, a really good app that I use in the daytoday is Whisper, Wispr. It's a voice dictation software that I have on my Mac. I use it to respond to emails. I use it especially when I first get my nails done and they're super long and I don't want to type. When I'm scripting a video, things just go so much faster when I could just say it. Even talking to like chat GPT. And the great thing about whisper is it formats things. So like if you do an email, it senses like what would be need to be in bullets and it puts bullet. Even like one day I was trying to send a link to a customer and I said I you'll just click this link here to go to my whatever it was and it inputed the link for me once I stuck dictating without me even having to paste [music] it. So that's a really great one.
I use Fiverr a lot for oneoff things that I need to find a contractor for. So when I need to delegate design or admin or content work, I just used it recently for someone to help me set up my Mighty Network. So Fiverr, I definitely use that a lot.
Another one that I use in the day-to-day all the time is Last Pass. It's a way to secure access to all your digital tools. So if you have people that work with you, you don't want to share your password directly, so you don't have to like change your password each time, you can do it with Last Pass. It also save like secures all your passwords for online so you don't have to remember them but they're not like just in your browser safe. It's a more secure way to do it. Yeah, I had my identity stolen last year and I continue to have problems with that. So I have like all the cyber security stuff now and I really like Norton and LastPass a lot.
And then in my workflow the other tools that I use a lot are Canva and Photoshop. Those are very obvious ones. Thumbnails for Photoshop. I had actually started to outsource thumbnails. had to bring it back. But yeah, I use the two together. I usually try to do as much as I can in Canva and then there if there's just those one things that I can't do in Canva, I'll take it over to Photoshop and do it there. I use Photoshop also for like website stuff as well. I should also say I guess as a bonus, I use a lot of Etsy Canva templates. So I try to go on Etsy to get templates just to keep things modern and fresh. So, I've bought Canva templates for like social media posts more so when I used to do a lot of carousels back in the day when I was on Instagram, but also for like workbook templates just like so you don't have to start from design from scratch. So, yeah, those are really helpful.
Also, I guess in the day-to-day, I do use Shopify on the back end of my business. I do everything through Shopify and that just love it. so userfriendly. And then I also use Zipify pages within Shopify to build my web pages and to do like my landing pages for freebie signups and stuff. They're so easy to create. It's like drag and drop. It's kind of like on my personal website, I use WordPress and I use Elementor. It's kind of like an Elementor for Shopify and it's really useful. And then just if you're interested for my email, I use Clavio because it integrates really nicely with Shopify. It's expensive, but they have a lot of good segmentation and like being able to tell what people did in Shopify and segment them in your email. So, those are my day-to-day lots of workflow apps.
Let's talk about the apps that I use the day-to-day in my personal and home life. Okay, so for outsourcing, I use three pretty frequently. The first one is Poplin, which I use every week to do our laundry. It's like Uber for laundry. You just, you know, tap the button. Actually did it today. You put your laundry outside, they pick it up, they wash it, they fold it, they bring it back to you the next day. So that's Poppplland. It's really affordable, very helpful for a busy mama like me. Recently, we're doing Amazon delivery because we going to Whole Foods, but if we're going somewhere else, we'll use Instacart, like when we do Sprouts instead. So, I get my groceries delivered, get my laundry delivered. And then when I need to find like help around the house, it's either going to be Task Rabbit or Thumbtac. Those are really great ones for personal just myself upkeep.
Apps that I use are My Fitness Pal. That's where I log on all my food so I can know like my macros. So I have the Pelaton. So I use the Pelaton app. I use Phase. So if you're into cycle syncing, Phase P, helps you know like when you're going to have the most energy, when you are going to be most focused, when you're going to be low energy and kind of like completely can't focus based on your cycle. So, I recently in April got off of birth control. So, I'm really trying to get into cycle syncing so I can know when a good time to do things because when I was on birth control didn't have to worry about that as much cuz it's just kind of your hormones are managed for you. But I got off because I do have OCD and it's better for me to be able to predict when my hormones are going to be elevated versus before it could hit anytime. And then I also use Insight Timer to for meditation. So, when I'm meditating, I just put it on. It's a timer. There's a nice little soothing bell. So yeah, those are the ones for my personal life.
Now, like I said, these are just the tools that I use in my systems to efficiently reach my goals. My systems include so much more than just tools, okay? If you want to work with me directly to learn these systems that I teach and apply them to your own life, I want you to click the link in the description to apply for my systemize your goals accelerator. Well, you'll get private mentorship from me and then you'll also get accountability and a high caliber community in addition to learning my entire system to reach your goals faster [music] and easier.
Now, if you want a glimpse of these systems into these specific things that I teach, I want you to watch this video next where I go over my entire framework. And until next time, cheers to [music] planning, manifesting, and enjoying your dream life. Namaste.