I don't know what's come over me in the past couple of years but I've just felt like I've had to be more organised. It's like an inner battle between my lazy self and the productive me. It's a battle everyday but slowly, my productive side is winning! I think I could be making up for my lazy teen years, I don't know, but I'm going with it!
For years, since school, I was never quite organised enough to get on top of my studies and my notes were shambles. So many days I would go to school and I would have forgotten either a subject book or my pencil case, or spend most of the class looking for a pen at the bottom of my bag-come-rubbish-bin, missing out on what it was I was supposed to be learning. Organisation was not my forte back in the day, but as the years have come and gone I'm finding my ways on how to stay on top of my daily life, but as they say, old habits die hard and I can still be a tad lazy.
So to try keep both sides of me happy, I have turned to the method of preparation! Ok, so I don't know if it actually classifies as a method, but as I've changed my way of thinking about things and how I could make things easier, it's become a method for me!
There are so many ways you can use this method of preparation to become more productive in your everyday day life! And they key is to set allocated times either daily or every couple of days (depending on what it is your preparing ahead of time), to ensure you make your tomorrow flow better for a productive day!
Here are 5 ways you could start preparing to become productive:
1. Prepare your lunches for school/work in advance.
Before I started adopting this method, I thought I was organised enough with preparing Jodie's sandwiches the night before. In September when she goes back to school, I felt it was a time for me to get on my game and smash a new routine! It worked for a couple of weeks until I hit a few late days which preparing the rest of her lunch made us even later in the mornings. So I changed it up a bit. I started making her full lunch box the night before and stuck it in the fridge ready for the morning, so when it came to getting ready all I had to do was take a box out, put it in her bag along with a drink and off we went!
However, this approach got old pretty quick and it was due to my laziness. I just could not be bothered to make a lunch box every single night. Some nights I would be so tired after work and making tea that I would pass out on the sofa by 8pm. I had to find an alternative solution!
And that's when the current method I'm now using, came into effect!
I now only make up Jodie's lunch boxes twice a week! Every Sunday I will make up 2 lunch boxes, and Tuesdays I will make up 3 for the rest of the week! It honestly doesn't take up much time to bulk prepare the lunches and I now get to relax 3-4 nights of the week without having to worry about making lunches and I get more time to myself!
Not only do I make Jodie's lunches, which take almost no time at all, but I also prepare my own food for work. I tend to make nourish bowls type of salad to work with me, but depending on what I put into my nourish bowl, it can be a bit more time consuming , but like I said, it's only for a couple of times a week and the rest is mine to spend however I want!
2. Plan Your week Ahead!
Another way I prepare ahead is to plan out my week in advance in my bullet journal! That way, I have an overview of what it is I have coming up and what I need to do!
Believe me when I say it's a lot better than jotting things down on a random piece of paper and then loosing it, trust me I've been there and missed a couple of important appointments due to it!
Keeping notes in your journal, diary or calendar will help you set up your week as everything is in one place!
3. Plan your weekly meals and shopping list!
I can not tell you how much this has helped me since I've started doing this myself! The only stressful part of this, is choosing what meals to actually have in the week!
Once you have chosen your meals and allocated them to a day in the week, you can then start writing out your shopping list!
More often than not you'll probably have half of the ingredients in your cupboard or fridge, and by writing down only the essential ingredients your missing, your weekly shop will become cheaper and you'll cut down on household waste!
Bear in mind this will only happen if you truly stick to your meal plans and don't cheat and go get a take away!
If you are partial to a cheeky Fat Friday night take away, include this within your budget and your weekly meal plan!
4. Prepare your outfit the night before!
Start making it a part of your nightly routine to layout your outfit for the next day ready. This way you're not wasting time in the morning stressing and worrying about what shoe will go with what skirt and which shirt! By cutting this out of your morning you have more time to either sleep in that extra 10 minutes, spend longer on doing your hair and make up or even have breakfast!
You could also do this with your children! Keep their clothes or school uniform in an easily accessible place either on a chair or at the end of their bed (if they're not messy sleepers that is).
This way your morning should go a lot smoother and should help give a positive flow to the beginning of your day!
5. Get your bag ready!
This is basically the same principle as the last point, but every little thing helps! Who ever you are, whether a student, Nurse or office worker, preparing your bag the night before can also save you time in the morning!
I like to make sure I have everything I need in my bag ready for when I go to work, whether its my keys, purse or even snacks, the night before. I like to make sure that I know that in the morning, everything is where I left it and that way I can just pick up my bag and go! The only exception here is to grab lunch from the fridge to place in the bag, and because I'm paranoid about loosing my stuff I double check everything before I head out the door!
If I have something extra I have to take with me the next day, like Jodie's reading book, or maybe a bag to take down to the charity shop whilst running my errands, I will leave them by the front door. You are less likely to forget about these items if you see them on your way out!
I hope these tips are helpful to you and that you can take so inspiration out of this post and start implementing Preperation into your daily life!