Do you work from home? Or do you aspire to live that “laptop lifestyle?”

No matter how wonderful it all sounds, working from home does come with a lot of distractions: laundry, cleaning, making food, taking care of the dogs, helping hubby get ready to leave for the day, answering texts from mom and mindlessly scrolling through FB…

Side Note: Do you ever catch yourself scrolling FB and think WHY AM I LOOKING AT FB?!? I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO TODAY! SNAP OUT OF IT!!!!

Ok, glad I’m not alone!

Anyways, despite the distractions, working from home is AMAZING.

I can work in my PJs, I can work naked, I can work in my backyard, I can work on my phone while hubby drives us to visit the parentals…it’s the best.

BUUUUUT, it takes a lot of FOCUS + COMMITMENT to get your sh*t done.

Can you relate?

Here’s the thing: You are inspired. You are ready to step into success. You are ready to work it, baby!

So what’s stopping you from making it happen?

I mean, the days are passing by, but your to-do list is only growing L-O-N-G-E-R.

You know what you need, babe?

A PLAN.

A plan that’s going to help you get all the business and non-business sh*t done.

(Because remember, working 16 hour days sucks the life out of you…and that’s before you even touch the laundry.)

So, here’s what we are going to do:

We are going to sit down, reverse engineer your day and create a plan so you can crush that to-do list.

But before we move into the plan, we first have to CLEAR THE FEAR.

A clear-cut plan will always help you be productive, but what if you are subconsciously avoiding your to-do list because of fear?

• Fear of success.
• Fear of failure.
• Fear of putting yourself out there.
• Fear of what other people think.
• Fear that you are not good enough.
• Fear that you aren’t really even an expert.
• Fear that you don’t know how to do it or navigate the waters.
• Fear that you don’t have time.
• Fear that there will never be enough time.
• Fear that you just don’t have it in you.

Most likely there is some sliver of doubt in you, so let’s talk it out before we dive into the to-do list planning.

*deep breath*

Fear is just energy.

Fear manifests itself in stories. Stories that you tell yourself.

Stories like… “I will never get it all done” or “I am not good enough” or “I’m just not cut out for this ‘boss babe’ thing.”  

Fear (and those stories) is your mind’s way of protecting you from what you think will hurt you.

But let me tell you something…something I know personally.  

The hurt that comes from those lessons is REQUIRED to be successful. If there are no lessons in life, how do we learn and grow?

Think of children, for example. They have hundreds of lessons a day, but they don’t give up! They just keep on learning, growing and failing.

Fear is just energy. So let’s clear the fear by shifting that energy from fear into focus.

Ask yourself: What happens if my FB ads don’t convert?

What happens if I don’t sign that client? What happens if no one shows up to my webinar? What happens if I make a typo in my email?

What happens if no one sign-ups for my opt-in? What happens if someone wants a refund?

YOU LEARN. YOU GROW.

And the next time you do it, you will be more experienced and know better. Maybe you can even teach someone about your lessons, so they don’t make the same mistakes that you did.

(Side note: there is a business opportunity lurking behind each and every lesson…)

But now, I want you to repeat out loud:

My fear is just energy.

That energy has the ability to take any form.

Today, I decide to turn that energy into my focus.

I once heard someone say, “We are as sick as what we don’t say. It just sits and stays stagnant inside of us.”

So, don’t be afraid to SAY it out loud, even if it feels silly. Repeat it several times to let it truly resonate throughout your body.  

My fear is just energy.

That energy has the ability to take any form.

Today, I decide to turn that energy into my focus.

My fear is just energy.

That energy has the ability to take any form.

Today, I decide to turn that energy into my focus.

My fear is just energy.

That energy has the ability to take any form.

Today, I decide to turn that energy into my focus.

Take a deep breath in and hold it in your body for 5 seconds.

Audibly sigh it out, releasing allllllll those fears back into the Universe.

YOUR FEAR HAS BEEN CLEARED.

One more thing before we move into the planning stages of your day…

You must make a commitment to yourself.

When you make a commitment to yourself to workout, eat healthily, go to yoga, write a blog post, get up early or go to bed late, do you fulfill those commitments? Or do you just let them slide because no one except you really knows anyway, so what does it matter if you skip this one time?

Whatever you do in the dark will soon come to the light.

If you keep skipping your workout, you will lose your definition and your muscles will grow weak. If you don’t write your weekly blog post, you will never build momentum from your blog and your copywriting skills will suffer. If you keep sleeping in, you will never build up a habit of the morning routine you always wish you had.

When you bail on your commitments, even on the smallest ones, they add up over time and things start to slip and suffer.

Trust yourself and follow through on the commitments you make to yourself.

If you say you are going to do it, do it! And if you change your mind, that’s 100% okay too…but make sure you know the difference between making an informed decision of why you are no longer doing it vs being lazy or letting your fears hold you back.

So now, read this out loud:

I will make a commitment to do the things I say I will get done because I value myself and the goals I have set for my future.

Treat your commitments to yourself as you would treat other commitments to important people in your life. Afterall, you are most important, aren’t you?

Make, Keep, Repeat.

Woohoo! We’re making progress!

You have cleared your fear AND made a conscious choice to keep the commitments you have made to yourself.

You’re getting a lot more than just a day planner, huh?! 😉  

Thanks for hanging in there with me…now it’s time to dig in!

Grab a blank piece of paper, because we are going to take a couple notes to figure things out first (don’t worry, you can make it pretty later!)

Side note: do you also love using different color pens, making pretty to-do lists and daily schedules for yourself?! I knew you were my kind-of-gal!

STEP 1: Starting With the End in Mind. When do you want to finish your day? When do you want to fully detach and focus on your home, cooking dinner, your family, your garden, your personal life? Detaching is something us #bossbabes struggle with A LOT, but let’s just experiment with it, k? Write down the time you want to detach.

STEP 2: Write Your To-Do List. Pretty simple, right? But let’s categorize and prioritize this list. First, write down everything that you need to get done, even if you can’t get it all done in one day, write it ALLLL down.

Grab 3 different colored highlighters. Your pink highlighter will be urgent things, things you must get done ASAP or someone will die. Ok, no one will die, but these are the things that have to be done today (or tomorrow, if you are planning in advance), with no exceptions. Your purple highlighter will be for things that are urgent within the next week. Your green highlighter is for things that can be done sometime this month, but with no real urgency YET.

STEP 3: Schedule the Time. Grab your pen. Look at all the urgent things highlighted in pink, how long will they take you to complete? Take that number and times it by 2. If you think it will take 1 hour, it will take 2. If there is anything I have learned over and over and over and over (seriously, the Universe never stops giving me this lesson) is that things ALWAYS take double what I think they will. So, just double the number and I promise, you will thank me later! Write the time it will take (doubled) next to each task in pink.

Add up the time it will take you to complete the pink [URGENT] tasks. 6 hours you say?!? Great! Now, take the time you want to be done with your work and backtrack 6 hours. Example, if you want to be done with work by 2p, backtrack 6 hours to 8a. That is now the starting time for your day.

Remember, we have doubled the time for each task, so you have scheduled PLENTY of time to get these urgent tasks done.

Ok, so I’m guessing you are asking a million “what if’s,” so let’s discuss.

What if I get distracted? If you get distracted, you won’t even know you’re off course until the light bulb goes off and you ask yourself, ‘WTF was I working on?!’

When that happens, come back immediately to your to-do list with your pink tasks. If someone interrupts you, softly ask yourself, “Is this an emergency or can it wait until after I am done with work at 2p?”

Side note: how amazing does that feel to say that?!? And done with work by 2pm? #yesplease!

One other tip: turn your phone to airplane mode so you can avoid message distractions.

If you need your phone connected, go to your settings>notifications>messages/messenger and turn them off.

This way you will NOT get notified when a message comes in! Also, make sure “messages” are off on your computer and/or laptop.

What if I finish early? If you finish early, you are a major BA and you should enjoy the gift of time you just gave yourself! OR, you can take that extra time to start working on your purple tasks!

What if I start late? It happens, right?! Starting late is not that big of a deal if you can remember to stay focused and avoid distractions during your allotted work hours. If you start too late, you may need to adjust your end time in order to fit in all the pink [urgent] tasks that must get done today.

Remember, keep your commitment to getting those urgent tasks done in order to build trust in yourself and momentum in your business. So, starting late will be a very infrequent occurrence (>> redefining the story you are telling yourself!)

What if I can’t commit to the total hours it will take to get the pink tasks complete?Ok, so committing to 6 hours is too much? Well, that means that those tasks must not really be that urgent. Re-evaluate and choose only the ones that you MUST MUST MUST get done.

What about the purple and green tasks? Ahhh, good question! These are your roadmap tasks for future days and weeks to come. Your purple tasks become your pink tasks and your green tasks become your purple tasks. I have an on-going list of to-dos in my notebook that I update weekly with new highlights and prioritization.

(Side note: I use ONE notebook. That’s it. I splurge on it because I love a good notebook. Moleskin is my preferred notebook of choice!)

GOOD HABITS create feelings of joy, accomplishment and can bring you the abundance you have been asking for. You are asking for abundance, right?

These good habits include, but are not limited to:

• Writing in one notebook. (Moleskin is my fav!)
• Planning your day the night before.
• Reviewing your plan for the day the morning of.
• Clearing your fear and making your commitments to yourself each morning.
• Keeping an on-going to do list.
• Setting business hours.
• Re-writing your to-do list weekly.
• Setting an intention before you start your day
• Being kind, yet assertive, when people interrupt you during your work hours.
• And, for the love of your laptop life, turn off your damn notifications 😉
  

That’s all folks. That is how you effectively plan your day!

Oh! And one more thing…

Since your #bossbabe to-do list is most likely filled with marketing tasks and audience engagement strategies, my gift to you for reading this post in its entirety and keeping the commitments to yourself is my best-selling guide “Attraction Marketing Secrets.”

Since I’m all about planning and scheduling in this blog post, I wanted to offer you another tool to save time and money on your front-end sales process. Because with my “Attraction Marketing Secrets” you’ll be attracting EXACTLY who you want to work with.

If you loved this blog post and found it helpful, please share it on Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Facebook groups, and to any other #bossbabes you know who need a swift kick in the a$$ when it comes to working smarter, not harder!

(Seriously, I appreciate that support so much! ^^^)

And if you’re wanting to dive even FURTHER into setting yourself up for success in 2018, you’ll definitely want to check out my upcoming workshop…I’ll be sharing lots of juicy stuff in there!

(Psssst! If you want to save 50% on my workshop bundle, just enter the coupon code IReadSarahsBlog during check out! #winning)

Cheers to clearing your fears, keeping your commitments to yourself and totally crushing your to-do list today!