Club Monaco Jacket {sold out, but super similar here, here and here. Also love this metallic one too!} // Joe’s Jeans {on sale!} // Tory Burch Purse on sale {simialr here} // Striped Tee {my fave, and so affordable!} // Gorjana Necklace // Jessica Simpson Flats on sale

Who else finds themselves saying out loud that there’s not enough time in the day…like, at least every day? Even on the weekends, I always find it impossible to cross everything off my to-do list, and spend most of the day writing said to-do list, checking off one or two things, and then struggling to get those big things I desperately needed to do done. I find myself very fortunate that I don’t have any real enemies in my life {I like everyone, to a fault!}, but if I had to narrow down to one, big bad, terrible enemy – my to-do list would get that coveted title. Don’t get me wrong, to-do lists are a lifesaver and without them I really wouldn’t get close to as much done during the week. But they also tend to give me anxiety – and even when I try to buy a really beautiful new pad of paper – with flowers, and gold foil and the like, it still gives me a sort of doomsday dread unrivaled by some of the other things that make me nervous.

But when I stopped to think about all the things I don’t have time for, I realized that maybe I’m just not doing the best job at prioritizing the things that are important – because while everything seems important, only a few things truly are. I think about how I stressed this weekend about cleaning my desk, which has been recently overtaken by tax documents, new planners, random beauty products and everything in between. Then halfway through the day, I lost my phone – and I spent a good 30 minutes searching my house until I realized that it was actually just under my mail on my desk. And then I realized that my phone was dead, and that the charger was somewhere else, buried under another giant pile of papers in the same room. So while I was definitely “too busy” to clean my desk, I spent a good 45 minutes ransacking my apartment, which all could have been avoided had I spent 15 minutes organizing my life. Not having enough time can be more of an illusion than we sometimes think – and when we’re forced to do something, suddenly we have all the time in the world to get it done.  So to be a little better with managing my time, I’ve been trying to be more meaningful  with time. While we only to have so many hours in the day, sometimes it’s how you prioritize and what you do with them that makes you tackle your goals a little more easily.

1. Give your phone a break:

If you’re anything like me, you wake up as late as humanly possible and first go to Instagram before dragging your booty out of bed. It’s not a good habit, but for some reason I had a hard time shaking the urge to constantly be checking social media last year. To be better with my time, I’ve literally started timing the minutes I spend on my phone, scrolling through social media {10 minutes in the morning, and 10 at night!}, while hiding my phone in my purse during the work day. I’ve found that even moving my phone out of my sight during the day makes me much more productive, and the time that was always slipping away now seems more plentiful.

2. Prioritize your to-dos:

My to-do list is epic and usually a mix of work day Maya {aka, the advertising, social strategist, working-gal version of me} and the blogger, trying to get her shit together, version of me. Rather than creating an epic to-do list of everything I need to get done, I’ve been breaking them out into smaller, more achievable lists.

During the work-week, I prioritize all my work to-dos, putting the most important goal for the day at the top of my list, and then the “still important-but not as urgent” tasks below. Some days I have 8 big goals I have to achieve, and sometimes it’s a little more reasonable with a mix of personal and professional to-dos. The weekend is for “fun work”, from blogging, getting my life in order, laundry, errands and all that other good stuff that can clutter and overwhelm your to-do list during the week. If you happen to have multiple personalities like I do, do yourself a favor and break your to-do list into 2 – or 3, or 4.   3. Stop saying your too busy:

Busy has become a way of life – and it’s almost like we’ve gotten into the habit of proving our worth by sharing just how busy you are. In college, everyone would get together during lunch and find some weird joy in rattling off all the things that they were doing that made them so busy – from shows they were in, to classes they were taking, for the 15 club organizations they signed up for and took a position in – it was exhausting just listening to it, but we were all somehow in the same boat.

Fast forward 5 years, and busy has still taken over our lives. It seems natural for you to ask how someone’s doing, and all they respond is an exhausted, “Busy!”. But the more we talk about it, the more we perpetuate this crazed, over-worked, busy life that’s somehow become so mainstream. Instead of adding to the madness, focus on the things you enjoy doing – and think about how lucky you are to do them! The more you open yourself up to a relaxed, simple life full of projects you love and people you love, the easier it will be to unravel the busy into appreciation and opportunity.  Have any other tips for getting things done, without feeling like there’s not enough time in the day? Please share because I could always use more inspiration!

In other news – cheers to another work week, friends! I’m excited for this week because we finally finished up a huge presentation for our clients that happened last Friday {an epic 4 hour meeting followed by drinks!}, so I feel like I’m going to have a few days to catch up on other things I needed to work through as we plan for next year! I work with a beer brand, and they plan their fiscal year starting in March, so we’re spending the next few weeks finishing up planning and getting ready to kick off the year.

I’m also so excited because I’m leaving for Florida on Wednesday after work for a long weekend! My family and I usually spend some time in Captiva Island every year {see our favorite spots here!} so we’ll be eating Grouper sandwiches, sitting by the beach, practicing yoga and enjoying some sunshine. I’m excited to bust out my favorite springy pieces – like this cropped jacket I just bought from Club Monaco’s yearly sale  paired with my favorite super soft tee. Stripes are always a good idea, right? xx