Programs That Keep Me Organized and Productive

I’m always on a constant journey to find new and improved ways to organize my life, my work, everything. 

And I find that the more fine tuned in my methods are the more productive I am. 

I just made a video for FemmeHead this week sharing a few programs I’ve been using to stay organized and motivated, so naturally today I wanted to hop on here and talk more about that. 

Because I love this topic. I love hearing about and learning what others use. And I always find something to be inspired by. 

How I first organized my time and created content for FemmeHead looked so much different than it does now. 

I know I have a ways to go but I’m feeling so much more buttoned up these days. 

So, let’s start with giving you a run through of how I stay organized, the programs and methods I use. 

Google Calendar

Ok, so this is a recent addition, and I’m obsessed. I use it obviously as a calendar, but also for a few other things. 

I block schedule tasks out each day. And what this means is instead of having a to-do list for the day, I will look at what I want to get done for the day, ask myself how much time each task will take and block out chunks of time for each task directly on my Google Calendar. 

So, an example day on my calendar looks something like this:

6 a.m. — Wake Up

6:30-8 — Eat, Journal, Get Ready

8-9 — Plan out week

9-9:45 — Write + send Monday Email

10-11 — Answer emails

11:30-1:30p.m. — Edit videos

2-2:30 — Call with company

2:30-3 — 30 minutes of exercise 

3:15-5 — B-School

5-6:30 — Edit videos 

Each day is different, but I can tweak and move different tasks to fit the time I have available that day. Naturally I have appointments and other commitments already in my calendar for the day, and I can see how much time I have around those to get work tasks done. 

Within Google Calendars I can set Reminders like “Pay Rent”. There’s also Google Tasks and Google Keep. So any to-do’s I need to remember but don’t have a place in the block schedule go in my tasks list. And Google Keep is a place I can keep lists, but I keep most of my lists in Wunderlist. 

Wunderlist

So, this is where I keep all my lists. Everything from grocery lists, meal ideas, books to read, movies to watch, but the biggest thing I use Wunderlist for is my content ideas list. 

Creating a master brainstorm list is one of the best things you can do if you have a blog, youtube, etc. 

So within a folder labeled “Content Ideas” I have several lists for different topics I talk about. Any time I get an idea for content I will put it on its respective list. Another list I have in that folder is called “Month to Month” and that’s where I can brainstorm the individual months of content. 

I have written out exactly how many videos and blog posts I need to create for a given month. From there I also write down any travel, events, courses, etc. that are happening that might impact what content I create. 

I first put in reoccurring topics like capsule wardrobes, skincare, updates. And then I go through my topic lists and pull ideas I feel inspired to talk about. At the same time I try to create a balanced content calendar of different topics so one month isn’t all minimalism and no cycle related content. 

Trello

From there I pull up Trello. I’ve been using the Kanban method recently to plan out the calendars for my Instagram, YouTube and Blog. 

I have a board for my social media calendar, which is just Instagram at the moment, and another board for my content calendar which is YouTube and my blog. 

The lists I have on my content calendar board are: “Content Ideas”, “Notes/Outline”, “Film Video”, “Write Blog”, “Edit”, “Upload/Schedule” and “Complete. 

And the lists I have for my social media calendar are: “Instagram posts”, “Write Content”, “Need Photo”, “Need Scheduled” and “Scheduled + Ready”. 

I start by creating cards for each piece of content including the post date, whether it’s a blog or video and the topic. I can then move each card along the lists as I complete the various tasks.  The same goes for creating Instagram posts.

I will bulk process several pieces of content at once, and I find that’s the best method for getting ahead and creating a lot of content. 

Evernote

Once I have my content calendar on Trello I will write the notes, rough drafts and outlines on Evernote. 

I have different notebooks for things like YouTube, FemmeHead Site, personal, different courses, etc. 

This is where I write the rough drafts for my Monday emails, write out rough drafts for new courses, you name it. 

Later

This is an online program I use to schedule my Instagram posts. 

Once I’ve gone through creating all the content, finding the photo, choosing any hashtags on Trello I will schedule the posts on Later. 

I used to use Hootsuite, but the app never seemed to work on my phone. 

And with Later you can post directly without needing to go through the app on your phone, but I like to have a final chance to make sure everything looks good before posting it. 

I am able to create and schedule all of my Instagram posts on my computer, which is easier than typing the captions out on my phone, and then when it comes time to post it will send a notification to my phone with the photo and caption. 

From there I can go on VSCO to edit my photo before posting it to Instagram. 

Calendly

This is the online program I use to schedule calls for interviews, podcasts, client calls, etc. 

I use Skype for the actual calls, but it’s so nice to just send a link to someone that has your calendar and availability in for them to choose a time that works for them. 

It also takes care of the time zones for you, which is always a place I struggled. But if you want an easy site to compare different time zones go to WorldTimeBuddy.com. 

Bit.ly

A site that easily lets you shorten links for YouTube description boxes, emails, whatever it may be. 

And I just discovered today that you can install a website extension so you can quickly shorten a link from whatever site you’re on, without needing to go to Bit.ly’s website. 

Canva

There are a few programs that have been game changers and Canva is one of them. I call it my photoshop for dummies.

I first discovered this years and years ago when I was trying to first create my YouTube channel banner, and was struggling with creating the right size. 

Now, apparently they’re teaching how to use Canva in school.  Awesome!

I came into FemmeHead knowing of Evernote and Bit.ly but all of these other programs (and so many others) are ones that I have discovered in the years since starting FemmeHead. 

Technology is amazing and I wouldn’t be able to do a fraction of what I now do without having these programs to stay organized and sane. 

Do you have any go-to programs that you think I, or others, need to know about? Share those down below. 

I'm a Big Fan of Making Lists

I love writing things out to think through them. 

+ shopping list

+ want list

+ what I’m going to make that week for food

+ what I need to get done for work

+ my plan of attack to clean my apartment

And so on and so forth.

There’s definitely something about physically handwriting out a list, especially if I’m brainstorming something. 

And then once I have brain barfed it all out I can then go in and organize the items or tasks into where they need to be stored so I can actually make it happen. 

They usually get sorted either into my bullet journal, my Evernote or my latest addition, Wunderlist. 

I recently decided I wanted to find a new (to me) app for creating lists, and I finally ended up downloading Wunderlist. 

And I’ve switched over a whole bunch of lists into it to better organize them. 

I have created folders, and some of my favorites are:

+ creating videos (checklists for before I film, while I film and after I film)

+ books to read (everything from self-help to business and fiction)

+ content ideas (for FemmeHead, for my second channel and for the blog) 

The checklists for creating videos has allowed me to make sure I’m remembering to check my audio, set my ISO and everything correctly to get the best possible footage. And if I’m ever just on the struggle bus I can go to that list and be told what I need to do. 

Now, the lists for books I want to read has probably been my favorite project I’ve taken on with Wunderlist. So, before I just had the book titles in a document on Evernote, but I never really used that list because it was just a bunch of titles and I could never remember what the books were about. 

So, in my Wunderlist I have gone through and added the book summary under the notes tab for that item, as well as whether my local library has it. And if it does I add the call number, and if it doesn’t I add the Amazon link for that book. 

Yeah, I know, amazing right? 

I’ve had an ongoing content ideas list for a few years now, but I’ve taken it one step further on my Wunderlist and started brainstorming 'future' future content ideas, like beyond the upcoming month. 

And by that I mean I have lists under a “Content Ideas” folder such as:

+ fall 

+ winter

+ lifestyle

+ cycles

+ charting

+ business

+ second channel ideas

It’s awesome to have separate categories for my content ideas, that way I can go through and say man, I really need to brainstorm cycle related topics. Plus they’re organized, duh. And now for the next five months I can go off of a base list of ideas that I’ve come up with for fall and winter. 

Moral of the story is make lists, but find a way to organize them in such a way that you can actually use all that awesome brainstorming power for good. 

It doesn’t do me any good if I have all these ideas tucked in some wrinkled notebook forgotten in the bottom of my desk drawer. Nope,k I’ve taken them and put them in an easily accessible location that I won’t forget about. 

What are your lists you couldn’t live without and what’s your favorite place to organize them?