It’s almost the new year and just like last year, you vow to be as productive, efficient, and successful as you can this coming year. If you nailed your resolutions this year, well good for you. But if you feel like you could do better, here are a few tips to up your productivity game and kick-off the new year with a new and improved you:

Tip #1: Write a ‘to-NOT-do’ list

Everyone knows the concept of a to-do list, but what about a to-NOT-do list? A ‘to-NOT-do’ list forces you to look at your biggest time wasters and lets you focus on the things that make more economic sense or the things that get you in the ‘flow’. It helps you audit your activities and find out which ones can be delegated or deleted entirely.

Tip #2: Plan activities around your energy levels

Everyone has their most productive time. For some people it will be at the start of the day, mid-day for some, and some work really well into the night. Find out your most productive time and schedule your most critical or most demanding work around where your energy peaks at the highest. If you’re an early bird, plan to work on your taxes in the early morning. If you’re a night owl, plan to write that paper at night. If you’re a confused pigeon, choose a part of the day that works best for you. 

You can use the same concept for scheduling your week, too. Mondays are slow burn, since you’re coming off the weekend – so do your low demand tasks then. Peak productivity days are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Energy tends to drop on Thursdays. On Fridays, you’re toast.

Tip #3: Schedule procrastination

YES, you read that right. Plan for procrastination breaks. If you’ve deluded yourself that you will ever procrastinate on a task – you’re setting yourself up for failure. When you’re hard at work – some distraction can be a good thing. They help you get over decision fatigue and give your brain a mental break. Indulge temporarily (the operative word) in a time wasting activity for a few minutes – 15 seems to be a good number. Then get back to being hard at work.

Tip #4: Automate

If there are redundant tasks in your life that you can automate, by all means do so. Get a programmable coffee machine. Pick one day (I suggest Sundays) to lay out your daily outfits for the week, so you don’t have to waste time picking out what to wear for the day. There is a reason why Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs wear the same outfits day in and day out – it helps them get over decision fatigue so that they can use that mental energy towards making more important decisions. 

Do you have favorite productivity hacks you want to share? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

It’s the home stretch to the new year and you’re probably looking forward to making grand plans for the coming year. For now, everyone is just busy trying to get through the holiday rush – doing their last minute shopping and checking off their list of what to buy for holiday dinner.

It is the season of giving. What goes unsaid is that – it is the season for spending as well. In the US, the winter holidays are when people spend the most money, followed by back-to-school holidays, Mother’s Day and Easter. To make sure that you don’t overspend during the holiday season, here are a few tips on how to use the envelope system of budgeting.

What is the envelope system?

The envelope system is a system of budgeting that uses…you guessed it…envelopes to allow you to physically portion out your income and divide them into envelopes or categories.

How is it done?

It is a pretty straightforward concept. Determine your specific spending categories and have an envelope ready for each of those spending categories. Here are some examples of categories:

Sample A	Sample B	Sample C
Groceries	Student loan	Eating out
Water	Credit card A	Coffee
Rent	Credit card B	Movies
Debt	Car loan	Drinks
Gas	Mortgage	Online purchases
Electricity	Utilities	Books

Your categories will depend on your monthly needs (and wants), so it will look different for everyone. Then, you will label each envelope with a spending category and put actual cash in it to fund that category. E.g. $150 for groceries, $100 for gas, etc. When you have to pay for something or spend on something, you only get it from the corresponding envelope. Let’s take Sample C for example. If you set aside $35 for coffee and get a $5 mochaccino, you’ll take $5 from the “coffee” envelope. That will leave you with $30 to spend on coffee for the month. Once that budget runs out, you stop spending for the month in that category. You can refill your envelopes each month – or even after you get a paycheck which can be weekly or fortnightly.

How can you save money using the envelope system?

• Divide your funds as you see fit, but keep in mind the 50-30-20 rule: 50% of your income goes towards your needs, 30% of your income goes towards your wants, and 20% goes towards your savings and/or debt repayment.
• Remember to pay yourself first, so save up that 20% before you divvy up the rest of your income towards needs and wants. 
• Any money left over from your envelopes can go towards 2 things:
  • Carried over to the next month.
  • Taken out of the envelope and put towards your “savings” envelope.

What to love about this system:

• It shows you exactly where your money goes and how much.
• You’re likely to speed less when you can physically see your available cash instead of spending using a credit card.

What to hate about this system:

• The frequent trips to the ATM
• Carrying large amounts of cash.

Hopefully, the envelope system helps you with your budgeting. What about you? What is your budgeting style? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Do you have family on the other side of the world? Are you a part of a remotely distributed or hybrid workplace? You might have a hard time sending gifts to family, friends, and co-workers when logistics is an issue. Thankfully, we can now do just about anything online – including gift-giving. Plus, there are more options for virtual gifts now. 

If you can’t give a gift in person, you can actually send a virtual gift from the comfort of your couch. It’s not that hard, nor does it have to be expensive. All you need is a few ideas and you’ll be the virtual secret (or not so secret) santa of the season. Here are ten virtual gift ideas for your family and friends that you can get online:

1. Movie Tickets – while streaming services is the hot sh*t right now, there are movies that are meant to be enjoyed in the moviehouse – with a big bucket of popcorn and 3D glasses. Those who enjoy the theater experience can share this gift with their loved ones through movie passes like AMC’s A-list pass.
2. Language Classes – give the gift of learning a new language with language apps like Rosetta Stone or Duolingo. Rosetta Stone Language Learning Software has 4 pricing edition(s), from $0 to $299 and has programs for 23 languages. Duolingo is free but you can subscribe to premium for $10 per month.
3. Streaming Services – during the lockdown, streaming services were all the hype – and honestly what probably saved most of us from going insane with cabin fever. Take your pick from Prime Video, HBO GO, Disney+, Hulu, or Netflix.
4. Audiobooks – now that we’re back to commuting, give your loved one the gift of an audiobook service subscription. There are a lot to choose from: Audible, Blinkist, Chirp, Kobo, or the well-loved, Scribd.
5. Guitar Lessons – this could very well be a gift to yourself – but a subscription to Fender for guitar or ukulele lessons is always a good investment.
6. Gym Membership – you can give virtual training sessions and gym memberships so that your loved one won’t have to go out of the house to get their adrenaline fix. They can stay indoors and still get a good workout.
7. Yoga Membership – do yoga anywhere with a gift of subscription to the DownDog Yoga app. They also have HIIT, meditation, running, barre, and prenatal yoga.
8. Charitable Donation – you can also make a donation in their name for their favorite charity as a holiday gift.
9. Skillshare Membership – if you’re now sure what your ‘giftee’ would like, send them a Skillshare membership to access a library of 35,000+ classes in creativity, self-care, business, and more.
10. Calm and Relaxation – if you want to give the gift of calm, relaxation, meditation, and inner peace, give them a subscription to apps like Calm and Headspace.

Do you have other virtual gift ideas? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

Are you one of those people who feel invigorated by the smell of citrus? Do you immediately perk up when you smell coffee? Does the smell of pine or eggnog remind you of the holidays? Is there a certain perfume fragrance that reminds you of your friend? You probably said yes to one, if not all of these questions.

Fragrances do more than elicit a memory or an emotion. They can also affect our behavior and physiological response. For example, lavender scents help calm the nervous system and induce relaxation while peppermint revitalizes and helps keep us alert. A whiff of lemon makes you feel a bit cheerier while jasmine could very well be part of your evening routine as it makes you feel calmer. Rosemary helps you feel perkier since it is known to have stimulating properties that fight mental fatigue, exhaustion and headaches. If you lack clarity and focus, try peppermint – the scent is linked to greater motivation, cognitive stamina and improving overall performance.

Want to give aromatherapy a try? Here are some of the most common scents you can find in the market and what they are used for:

For when you want to have clarity and focus

• Vetiver, rosemary, peppermint, tea tree, rosemary 

For revitalization and invigoration

• Citrus – orange, grapefruit, lemon, line, etc.
• Minty – eucalyptus, peppermint, spearmint
• Woodsy – pine
• Clean – tea tree
• Herbal – thyme

For relaxation and calmness – or if you have trouble falling asleep

• Vanilla, lavender, sandalwood, jasmine, neroli, chamomile, rosewood, frankincense

For productivity and mental performance – helps if you’re taking a test or learning something new

• Rosemary, vetiver, coffee, lemon, jasmine, citrus, cinnamon, peppermint, ginger, pine, lemongrass, lavender

For allure and sophistication – if you want to feel sexy

• Nutmeg, clove, lavender, floral scents (patchouli, rose, lily, etc.)

For concentration

• Sage, lemon, peppermint, jasmine, cedarwood

For creativity

• Cocoa, coffee, tea tree, frankincense, peppermint, bergamot, tangerine, grapefruit, lavender, jasmine, spearmint, rosemary

For happiness

• Citrus, grapefruit, sweet orange, bergamot, lime, pine, fir, cedarwood, lilac, ylang-ylang, lavender, pumpkin, apple, vanilla, sandalwood, rose geranium, cinnamon, anise

So now that you know the most common scents, how do you use them? There are a couple of ways you can use aromatherapy or the power of scents to your advantage.

1. Buy essential oils – they’re not expensive – and add them to oil diffusers or you can also use water-based oils and add them to air diffusers or humidifiers.
2. Use scented candles but be careful about burning them and make sure to look after them
3. Get some reed diffusers – these are sticks of reed that diffuse scent
4. Even air fresheners or room sprays/linen sprays in certain scents can work
5. Use the real thing – imagine waking up to hot coffee or cocoa or keeping a bundle of herbs in the kitchen. You can also grow some lavender plants or have dried lavender and eucalyptus on your bedside table.

Do you use scents to improve your mood? What do you use? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

To delegate means to entrust a task or responsibility to another person. We talked about the importance of delegation as seen in the Eisenhower Matrix in this article and this article.

To recap, the Eisenhower Matrix is one of the productivity tools often used to improve focus and prioritization. The ‘matrix’ is a square that is split into four quadrants.

Label the quadrants like so:

Take a look at your to-do list and decide whether they are urgent, not urgent, important, not very important. Your urgent and important tasks will fall under the “do” quadrant. Your important but not urgent tasks will fall under the “decide” quadrant. Other tasks will fall under the “delegate” quadrant (who else can do it?) and the “delete” quadrant (these tasks are the ones you can ditch altogether).

Those tasks that fall under the ‘do’ and ‘decide’ quadrant are tasks that you can accomplish yourself. However, in order to make sure that you are efficiently making use of your time – it is also important to know when you have to delegate or pass the baton to someone else. A recipe for burnout is to try to do everything by yourself. You have to trust other people enough that you delegate tasks to them. This shows respect in their abilities to get things done and respect for yourself so that you can focus on doing things that you are good at and will turn out to be a more productive use of your time.

Delegation is not just about passing off work. You will have to use discernment in order to ascertain if the task is suitable for the person or if the person is up to par for the task. This isn’t just applicable in the corporate setting but at home as well. For example, an overwhelmed mom can ‘delegate’ gift wrapping of holiday gifts to the children. It will be a fun activity and might as well be a good learning opportunity for creativity and dexterity.

Here’s a guide to know which of your tasks could be delegated:

1. Tiny: delegate tiny tasks or tasks that are redundant but only take a small amount of time to accomplish. Examples are: deleting spam email, booking flights, taking out the trash, wiping counter tops, etc.
2. Tedious: delegate tedious tasks or tasks that require little skill but can be time consuming such as copy-pasting information into a spreadsheet.
3. Terrible at: listen, if you have ZERO design skills – don’t force it. Delegate that task to someone who has the knowledge and expertise to do it. You can be sure that they will do a better job and that will be a more productive use of both your times, instead of trying to figure it out yourself.
4. Teachable: Are there any tasks that you can easily teach someone? Delegate those to someone else. They could very well do a good or even better job at it than you can.

What tasks do you delegate? Share them with us in the comments. Remember to work smart and be a blessing to someone today. Stay safe and healthy!

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp