Welcome to Pretty Productivity

Welcome to my blog on productivity made pretty. If you want to learn about how to be productive, look after yourself and do all this whilst keeping things pretty, this is the place for you. Hence the name 😊

Why productivity?

There is so much pressure nowadays to be good at everything:

• be a good worker who produces great work in a short time period whilst also be willing to help out others
• be a good sister, brother, mother, father, daughter, son, friend who keeps in touch with everyone regularly and is always able to carve out time when someone else needs them
• be a fully functioning adult who never falls behind on bills or household chores, can cook and has a house that is always ready to receive guests
• be a healthy human being who works out regularly and eats a balanced diet filled with fruit and veg
• be an interesting person who has plenty of time for movies or tv shows, has time to read and engage in various other hobbies

I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted just from typing all that out…

But that’s the dream isn’t it? To be able to juggle everything seamlessly. To manage our time between things we have to do and things we want to do.

Achieving this means we are productive people.

But why does it have to be pretty?

Why not? Life shouldn’t be boring. I personally find it very motivating to have a cute yearly diary with adorable animals on each page. It makes it easier for me to open it up and fill in my schedule, compared to a plain old diary that is boring to look at.

Why not take some take to relax, open a simple notebook and then transform it into something that makes you smile every time you open it? You can use all sorts: washi tape, pens, watercolours… whatever works for you.

But life shouldn’t be boring! And neither should the stuff you use to organize your life!

Whether you want to go down the cute or the more elegant side of pretty, you’ll find it all here.

Ultimate Goal: Happiness

Ultimately, we want to be happy.

We want to be happy in our job. Happy in our personal lives.

Happy in the relationships we have formed around us.

To me, happiness means having a job I enjoy and that challenges/ pushes me to be better. Happiness means having time to pursue my more creative side through writing and drawing. Happiness means having quiet moments to relax, read a book and go to the cinema. Happiness means spending time with my family and friends during the half-term holidays.

Happiness to me means being healthy and fit enough to carry 30 student books up three flights of stairs without being worried I’m about to have a heart attack. In heels of course!

That is a lot to fit in. But if you are serious about achieving happiness in life, you either need to cut things out (for me it would be drawing), or accept that you need to be more productive and more efficient in different areas of your life.

What does happiness mean to you?

I’ll be honest, pretty things make me happy. Is that vain? Should I be judged for that? No. Do not be embarrassed about liking pretty things. It took me years to understand this. I used to hide my pretty notebooks and pastel highlighters, my washi tape and stylized book trackers in my journal. Now, I am proud of them because they help keep me on track with my goals, motivating me to achieve everything I want to achieve.

Do pretty things make you happy?

My Blog For You

Technique

The productivity scene is massive and is filled with people telling you which method is best for you and how you should live your life. Some of that advice is important. After all, not getting enough sleep but then trying to do the work of 3 people in a day is a one way ticket to stress and burnout. Other advice is kind of pushy and is determined to force you in a direction that may not be best for you.

Here, I won’t do that.

I have tried many different methods and read many books. Some techniques work great for me whilst others don’t. But what works for me doesn’t work for my family members or my students.

Everyone is different!

And that is ok.

It’s about exploring what is out there, picking something that you think will work for you and, honestly, a bit of trial and error. Sometimes you’ll pick something that sounds great for you on paper, but when you try to apply it to your life, your job, it doesn’t work. Then it’s back to the drawing board.

All About You

This section is… all about you. Whether you like it or not, your health matters. Be it physical or mental, your health really does determine how productive you can be.

There are things that are essential for your health i.e. a good night’s sleep, and there are things that are great if you can do them but don’t get stressed about it if you don’t i.e. HIIT training.

Each blog post will focus on a different topic and I can assure you that I will not be filling it with ‘I heard this sounds great’ topics. I am a science teacher and so I know how important it is to have the facts.

You do not need to read every blog post in this section, especially as it can seem overwhelming. Why not just pick a topic that you know is an area of improvement for you and go from there? There’s no rush. Change things one step at a time.

It’s all about you!

Pretty Ideas

This is the fun section. The reality is, you may not need a pretty diary or fun notebook inserts or washi tape to be productive. But… if it helps YOU be more productive because it puts a smile on your face every time you open your notebook, you should definitely use them.

I have personally found that having nice things makes me want to do more:

• Cute diary with animals on every page? Time to open it up!
• Smooth writing pen with sparkly ink? I want to write more!
• Relaxing music playlist as I mark books? I’ll mark a few more before I stop for a tea break.
• Beautiful book tracker in my bullet journal? Read more so I can add more books to it!

Some people will think this is silly but here’s a thought for you: would you rather go home to a house that looks messy and has plain white walls and no decorations, or would you rather a house that is tidy with house plants and a clean fresh smell throughout?

It’s the latter isn’t it?

If something looks good and so makes you feel good, makes you work a bit harder and keeps you doing a task that you don’t particularly enjoy, then use it. I hate washing the pots but if I do them, it means I get to catch up on some of my favourite YouTube channels. All of a sudden, I’ve done the pots, washed the kitchen down and loaded the laundry.

The ‘Pretty Ideas’ section of the blog will be filled with ideas that will hopefully make your productive lifestyle more fun, aesthetically pleasing and put a smile on your face.

So… What Now?

Now it’s time for you to explore, try new things and see what works for you. Are you struggling to manage your time correctly or don’t have the best organizational skills? Do you feel anxious or overwhelmed when looking at your to-do list  Head on over to the Technique section and have a look around.

Do you find yourself running out of energy and feeling tired all the time? Are your stress levels slowly creeping up? Do you have worries that keep you up at night? Head on over to the ‘All About You’ section.

Do you want to be awesome and productive, but have everything ordered in an aesthetically pleasing way? Would you like a few ideas to start you off on your exciting and pretty productive lifestyle? Check out the ‘Pretty Ideas’ section.

Lastly, I want to say thank you for reading my blog. I am learning all the time and finding new ways of doing things. I love researching and consolidating what I find, so I hope there are posts here that are useful to you.

If you have any questions or have an area you would like me to look into, please do email me at contact@prettyproductivity.com . I will endeavour to reply as soon as possible and, if you are asking me for more in depth information, I may even do a whole blog post on it!