My friend and I were chatting about productivity and how I seem to get so much done, despite the fact that I have a very busy, high-profile full time job, 3 kids 5 and under, and a full house renovation going on right now. I started to think about it and I realized that my project management experience has really put me in a great position to get stuff done. I’m naturally pretty disorganized as many creative people can be, I think divergently, and I jump from one obsession to the next. So how do I actually get a lot accomplished in life?

For much of my career, I was a Digital Project Manager, and I worked at top agencies on extremely demanding brands, often more than 5 projects and multiple brands at a time. Sometimes my days would start at 10 am and not end until 11 or later when I would take a car service home and breastfeed my (at the time, youngest) son. I would have so many emails that I realistically couldn’t answer them all, which I really hated. I was completely overloaded at work. I knew that I couldn’t work over the weekends to catch up because I had to spend what time I had with my children. So I learned from one of my bosses during this time to prioritize and be very selective about what I did, and also extremely efficient.

I kept a daily list of tasks in the order of priority, and performed them in that order generally. If there were items that were very quick on the list I sometimes chunked a bunch of them to get them all done at once. But I wasn’t completely stuck into the list, and couldn’t be, as the constant emergencies that come up when you’re a PM would shift my focus. Then I would make a decision in that instant to shift and work on the fire at that moment. I applied my pressure where I knew it would have the most effect and let things slide when I had to, for instance, when my account person started doing my job duties for me I let him have a go at it because I knew he could do it fine and it would allow me to work on other priorities that demanded my attention.

I also learned from a friend to create strict boundaries, my friend did this by once she turned the key in the lock of her door to her home, she was not to work anymore nor think about work. This was very difficult for me because I am a bit of a perfectionist and pour everything I have into my jobs. So I found I was thinking about work all the time on the weekend while I was with my husband and toddler and infant and was not in the present moment. It was really challenging and for a while I wore a rubber bracelet to remind myself not to think about work, and when I did, I would snap it on my wrist. But then my wrist started hurting! So I realized I had to be kinder to myself, that I had to gently remind myself but not punish myself.

This staying in the present moment is a lifetime challenge for me, and meditating as much as I possibly can helps. Work still creeps into my thoughts at home but if I get a good idea I am now able to write it down for later, and my work thoughts are less about worry and more about creative solutions. Part of that is being blessed with a job that fits my personality much better now. But I think the key for me to being productive is completely focusing, chunking up your hours together, when you’re working you’re working. When you’re enjoying your family and friends or going for a run, or drinking your coffee, that’s what you’re doing. Try it and let me know how it’s going.