my productivity era hacks
a different kind of deadline...
Hey fam and welcome back to dumb rich! As you can imagine, I've become substantially more insufferable as tax season is in full swing. Oh, and I'm pregnant with my first child. LOL, no big deal. So yeah, life has been a little different lately. Mostly a lot more carbs and a lot more sleep. Honestly though, I've kind of loved it. Who knew I'd be one of those woo-woo people that LOVES pregnancy? I actually think it's that I love eating and sleeping. Check in on me in a few months though, pls.
So, I'm having a boy. I'm not ready to talk about that here in girl world for obvious reasons. I need to workshop a name for him, as "Mr. Dumb Rich" is already taken and "Dumb Baby" sounds kind of harsh. He will be a nepo baby, but "Rich Baby" seems pretentious. Open to suggestions. Maybe I should also work on a real name for him?
Okay, anyway. The baby is really throwing off my already chaotic schedule. My husband gets two weeks of paternity leave, and I don't really think you get maternity leave when you're self-employed? Heh. Cool. It has given me newfound motivation to put new processes in place and become the most organized person on the planet before giving birth. I'm writing this partly to share what's been helping and partly to hold myself accountable. Let's go.
The 12 Week Year: Full transparency, I listened to the audio version, I did not read the book. The concept is pretty simple: instead of operating on a 12-month year, you treat every 12 weeks as its own year. Your goals, your deadlines, your sense of urgency are all compressed into a shorter window. For someone like me who will absolutely do nothing until the week before a deadline, this was kind of a revelation. There’s no coasting until Q4, no “I’ll catch up in December.” Every week counts because you only have twelve of them. It has genuinely changed how I set goals and hold myself accountable. The irony of reading (listening to) a book about deadlines while staring down the most significant deadline of my life is not lost on me.
The Brick Device: I find it pathetic that I need this, but honestly it works. It blocks all of my social media apps (and Candy Crush) while I'm working. It counts up how much time you've been "bricked," which is super motivating. Also probably helps with mental health (yay).
Toggl App + Pomodoro Technique: I am obsessed with tracking my time lately. I'm using Toggl to see where my time is actually going, so at the end of the day I'm not wondering wtf I did all day. The app also has a built-in Pomodoro timer — 25 minutes of focused work followed by a 5-minute break. After a few rounds, you get a longer break. In a world of constant notifications, it's really nice to block them out and get focused work done.
Productivity Planner: I write everything down and time block my day. In a totally sickening way. Time to call friends, time to make lunch, time to walk the dog, etc. My best friend got me a planner from Papier and it's the only one I've ever actually wanted to use. It has pages that break down your day by hour and features a sectioned task list I treat as "MUST GET DONE" vs. "okay if it waits until tomorrow."
Separately, I keep hearing people online rave about Notion. I find the learning curve SO steep. If anyone is open to teaching me, let me know. I have a lot of trust in my current system but probably need a backup.
Weekly planning and communication: Not groundbreaking, but during weeks when Mr. Dumb Rich is in town, our conversations were basically "are you home tonight?" and "what are you thinking for dinner?" Super fun, especially given my deep commitment to eating. We now have a weekly check-in on Sundays to sync our schedules and place a big grocery order. Not exciting, but it saves a lot of mental energy when we're hangry.
Outsourcing/delegating: Ugh, the pits when you love doing everything yourself. I'm trying to create standard operating procedures by writing down basically everything I do in a day. Too much is stored in my brain. Ideally, someone should be able to pick up right where I left off. But that can't happen if I don't 1. ask for help or 2. spell it out for them. So, let's see how this goes.
Okay, this may seem simple but I will check back in with you, especially on my Notion progress (or lack thereof). Below is proof of life from my wallpapered bathroom. Chat next week xoxoxo
what about Baby Rich?
Woohoo! I vote Dumb Baby.