Plan With Me Sundays - Downsizing

Planning, to-do lists, and organizing are all things I LOVE to do.  However, they are also the things that keep me from getting things done.  I just spent the last few days at the Teachers Pay Teachers conference and one of the biggest takeaways came from Chris Kesler of Kesler Science.  He referenced a book called The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.  I couldn't resist a new read, so I downloaded it on my iBooks and started reading.  The book talks about the one thing you should put your energy into each day.  For me a stay-at-home mom who blogs and creates products for Teachers Pay Teachers I have a lot of directions to go each day.  Here is a look at my week last week.

My heart is pounding out of my check just looking at this!  I had no clear direction and the daily stress to get it done was overwhelming.  My take for now is that each day I need one focus.  Today my one thing is getting my house back in order. This may be why I am writing this sitting on the bathroom floor while one kid is going to the potty and the other one is doing the buckles on his high chair for the 4 millionth time.  Tomorrow, I have a babysitter coming in the morning and that will be my creation time.  I am not leaving to go to a coffee shop.  I am going to sit at my desk and create.  I moved my collaboration time with Snazzy in Second to a Goggle Hangout where I could meet and talk with her during nap time.  And with the screen share option on Google Hangout, I can show her everything I wanted on the computer.  This way I can focus on talking with her without feeling the stress of creating and vice versa.  Here is my plan for this week.

Yes, it isn't just one thing, but for a planner like me I am taking small steps. This one is a list that I feel I can complete!  To help keep my mom brain in order I made a Weekly List separate from the what I was doing each day so I wouldn't forget some of the little things my family needed or things for me to work on that didn't have to get done.  (Thank you DRG ceramics for my favorite mug.)

My next step for planning this week is to get a grasp on social media.  I have felt swamped with social media and the need to learn and use it all.  But guess what, I don't have to do it all.  Such a simple thought for some people but for me this was a huge ah ha moment.  I have downsized a lot of my social media.  Instagram and Facebook are easy for me.  I have created a list of hashtags in my notes section of my phone (thank you Miss Kindergarten and Apple and ABC's for that tip), and then I can just copy and paste any I need.

I have been doing the free trial of tailwind for Pinterest and made the leap to the paid version. Now, Pinterest can be a once a week thing and keep me from scrolling and making notes and then forgetting to pin in my prime hours.  Twitter has scared me for a while and it's the one I know the least about.  I want to learn more about it and Twitter is now going be my learning zone, not a focus for my week.

On my planner I noted times to check and post to FB and Instagram and days to focus on pinning and learning twitter.  Now I don't feel the need to have my phone in hand all day.

There you have it, my ways to plan less and do more.  What tips have you found to help reduce planning and time on social media?  I need to keep downsizing my daily list.

Happy Sunday! 

Jessica