3 Multitasking Combos For Creatives
This blog started very early one morning from the couch in my first college apartment. I updated it weekly, mostly for myself, and used it to procrastinate whatever paper I didn’t feel like writing. I started sharing pictures and wedding plans when Ben and I got engaged a few months later. That summer, 2011, it became a space to document life as college newlyweds. In the fall it was the creative outlet to complement my rigorous junior year and I started sharing recipes and fashion along with thoughts on married life. I worked with my first brand a year later and started meeting up with other bloggers when my schedule lightened up during spring and summer terms.
When we moved from Utah I started working on my photography + content development almost full time while finishing up a couple online classes in order to graduate. I didn’t fully appreciate the chance I had to throw myself into this creative business without the demands of school or kids, just yet. Now, building this site + social channels could be a full time job, that I work during the hours my two tiny humans decide to both be sleeping.
I guard those napping hours each afternoon like gold and almost always sit down at my computer (because I’m finally getting enough sleep at night that I don’t collapse into bed each afternoon to refuel). I’ve read so many articles on the horrors of multitasking in the last few years and how you really are much more productive doing just one task at a time but, when done right, it helps me get a lot more crammed into my short two hour block.
3 Winning Multitasking Combos
1. Listen + Edit: I have a pretty steamlined process for editing photos these days but it still takes a good chunk of time to import, edit, format, and export images for my site and social channels. I’ve found that listening to my favorite creative + entreprenurial podcasts leaves me feeling inspired after what would be a rather mundane task.
2. Eat + Write: I tend to be more focused when I’m chewing (weird? maybe). I read a study in high school that students who chewed gum during standardized tests performed better because they were able to focus. I almost always have naptime start with a working lunch or at least grab some pretzel crisps and a cup of herbal tea to keep me company through my inbox and newest blog posts. I’ve been loving Tazo® Tea Passion® blend, an herbal infusion of hibiscus, orange peel, rose hips and passion fruit flavors for the last few weeks (I’ve been a big herbal tea drinker since I was ten). The flavor is fun, refreshing, and I like to #sipjoyfully while planning out upcoming projects.
3. Exercise and Engage: I try to block off time each day to be engaged on social media. Before Adelaide, I’d catch up on instagram during cool down stretching at the gym each morning. I haven’t quite gotten back into my gym routine (she’s still a bit too young for me to be comfortable leaving her at the daycare) but I still think the combo works well. Wall sits and tweeting, straddle stretch and instagram, leg lifts and facebook – take your pick.
