Career Talk & Job Board

More recently I’ve found that always having ChatGPT and Gemini open as tabs on my screen makes work a lot faster. Time I used to spend trouble shooting something, or brainstorming, thinking of marketing copy, or researching is so much faster with the tools. I must get an hour a day back minimum just by making sure i have those resources at the ready and have already trained chats so that I get what I need asap. It’s also helped me keep on top of the ever changing landscape of Ai with new custom gpt and integrations with other tools like canva! So, have you’re preferred Ai tool open and at the ready and think about the tasks you’re doing, can you do them faster with some Ai assistance? 

Sharing a quick productivity tip from a blog writer and social media manager. Upon downloading image and video files, name them appropriately and include the date. Most of my visual elements come from Canva, and sometimes in those designs, there can be 20+ pages in a single design (for example, if using the images for an Instagram carousel). Name the designs in chronological order (e.g., Advice Cover Image, Advice 1, Advice 2, Advice 3, Advice 4, Advice Conclusion). This sounds tedious but saves me a headache later on when I’m sifting through 200+ image files that will be used for social media, web, paid ads, etc.

I keep a blank piece of paper next to me on my desk and whenever I get an idea that doesn’t relate to what I’m working on, I write it down there so I don’t lose focus. I used to keep this as a running list on my laptop’s Notes app, but found that I’d end up forgetting about it or it’d get lost in the mess.At the end of the day (most of the time 🤭), I go through the notes and either add them to my to-do list for the next day or slot them into my calendar wherever makes sense. It has been helpful in cutting down my constant clicking back and forth between tabs/projects and I find that when I physically write down my to-do’s I remember them better.

EVERYTHING goes into my calendar, including blocking off time for lunch.  Being sure to step away from my desk occasionally to detach from my email. When planning social posts - I always start with the “set in stone” posts (holidays, anything tied to an event). I then fill in our re-occurring posts (e.g. employee highlights). Then you can see what space you are left to work with and start tackling filling them in with content. 

Instead of trying to not get sidetracked, I find it’s way easier to just build time for distractions into my plan. So if I am taking a coffee break, I’ll give myself extra time to check my phone, scroll IG, etc. Or plan in advance to use the 30 minutes between meetings as downtime rather than productive time. Knowing when I’m taking breaks and not feeling guilty about using that time “unproductively” makes it a lot easier to stay focused when I do need get stuff done.

As someone who’s job heavily revolves around social media like many of you, the biggest difference I’ve seen with productivity is starting out my day NOT looking at my phone. The urge to scroll on IG/TikTok to catch up on trends, news, etc. is REAL. But I find myself wanting to doom scroll much less when I resist that dopamine rush first thing in the morning. Airplane mode/Do Not Disturb mode is your friend! 

lol not sure how this got posted to the wrong place and can’t figure out how to delete. 

Invest in noise-canceling headphones if you’re in an office space. It helps to focus and prevent too many interruptions in-person when you need to dedicate time to your screen. 🤓

As a social media manager who’s balancing multiple projects and deadlines at once, time blocking has been super helpful. Instead of just using my calendar for meetings, I like to block off time to work on specific projects so that I’m not jumping from one task to another. Once the time’s up, even if the task isn’t finished yet, I’ll move on to the next one. Time blocking (along with writing daily and weekly to-do lists) helps me prioritize and get work done.

As someone with ADHD, I have a lot of productivity tips, failures, and everything in-between. I can be sporadic, stuck in strategy, you name it. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in this profession, especially when you’re a social team of one (but still want to do the work of a team). I’ve kept journal, sticky notes, digital planners, physical planners, pomodoro timers...yeah. The biggest productivity tip I have is this:Keep a list with 5 essentials for your brand. What do I mean? I’m talking audience, color scheme, adjectives describing your brand - that kind of thing. You’re probably like me and have no trouble looking through analytics, learning about the “algorithm” for whatever platform, thinking about ways to repurpose content and make fresh, new ideas stick. But at the end of the day, come back to that list when you sit down to draft content. Have the strategy and all the fancy things you’ve thought of in the back of your head, but come back to that

Something that helps me with my productivity is turning larger projects into smaller, more achievable steps.It can become overwhelming to look at an entire project but just like a journey, it takes several steps/miles to get to your destination. Knowing what steps are along the way and having those be your initial objectives will help you reach completing your project/task.This is especially true for those of us that are neurodivergent. Much larger projects can feel like a mountain on our shoulders and can push us into avoidance but breaking things up into more achievable steps can help create a positive snowball effect.  

I’m most successful with managing the projects and daily requests of my many internal clients when I reply to each message with as complete of a response as possible. Once that message has moved down the list it is out of mind -- leaving tasks incomplete. So, I review the proposed content or provide analytics or whatever is requested as soon as I read the message. That doesn’t mean that I’m constantly interrupted -- but when it is time for me to manage my incoming messages -- I handle each request to my capacity. Then add any remaining elements to my To Do list for the next day. 

ToDo lists are essential productivity winners, but with all the different apps, spreadsheets, I find I still miss essentials. I’ve found since writing my daily lists by hand, I’ve been knocking my tasks out of the park. At the end of the day, a new list must be written, and anything not done that day is re-entered by hand onto the new list. Great way of keeping tasks to mind.

For me the most effective way to stay productive is to put my phone in another room, or if I’m in the office, to put it in my bag on the other side of my cubicle. Since I use Sprout, it’s easier to engage on our social channels using the smart inbox, which helps me stay on task and makes it so I don’t get distracted by every notification that pops up on my phone.

You know when you hit the wall on a creative idea and your brain is just running in circles? Take a walk, a brisk 7 min walk to get you in your body, and therefore thinking a different way could be the thing you need to move forward on that project. the NSFW edition is host a private dance party. Turn on that song that has you “That’s my jam!” and give it your all. The only one who thinks you are weird is a dog and you can bribe them with a bone. That’s what I do when I’m stuck because it get’s my brain working in a different way and when I come back to the idea, I’m thinking differently instead of in the same rut.  

Add a reminder to your calendar to step away from your desk to spend just 10 minutes meditating or taking a quick walk outdoors to refresh your mind. Providing that mental reset really boosts my focus and creativity. Even if it’s a short break, it reduces my stress and helps my productivity throughout the day.

How many of us routinely juggle 100+ projects? That’s where time blocking works for the win for me.I reserve time on my calendar for long-form writing and video work as well as batch work the “little emails.” 

One of my go-to productivity tips is utilizing Do Not Disturb on my phone! I easily get distracted by incoming texts, calls, and emails - putting my phone in Do Not Disturb mode for certain periods of time helps keep me focused on the work in front of me. I also block out chunks of time on my calendar to work on certain projects or content pieces uninterrupted. It helps me visualize the time I’ll be spending on something and helps be disconnect from other tasks to focus on something else.

I take screenshots of everything… a clever post that might inspire a future campaign, a compliment from a colleague in a Teams chat that could lift me up on tough days, gifts I must buy after work hours 😊… it’s “just a photo”, but it’s become a powerful vault of inspiration that I’ve come to rely on… vs. hoping my overworked brain will remember.Humans are visual creatures and we better digest content when it’s eye candy. So start snapping — your future self will thank you!I have dozens more on my phone, but I try to house them in a folder on my work laptop so I can scroll through on demand. As a mom who never gets to finish her coffee the first time it’s hot, and who has left a re-heated mug in the microwave only to discover it later in the day more times than I care to admit… I am eyeballing that Ember mug! ☕

Two of my top tips for productivity are creating organized to do lists and taking mental breaks. One of my teams favorite resources is monday.com which is a work management platform, and it is one of my favorite things to help me with my to do lists! It helps me start work each day with a clear list of things I need to get done, and what items are high priorities on my list. I also love their automations! Sometimes if its a busy month, some monthly tasks will not cross my mind, but with monday.com I set up multiple automations so they are automatically added to my to do list each month. It’s amazing!!  Another tip of mine is just taking mental breaks. It’s so simple, but helps me a lot. As social media managers, we are always on our phones or staring at a screen, so I love taking mental breaks for about 30 minutes during the day to step away and clear my mind. This practice also helps me a lot when I’m in a creative funk, and am having trouble brainstormi

I use a Pomodoro “tomato” timer to track my tasks and to set time-oriented goals. When the 25-minute timer goes off, I can take a 5-minute break to refresh or reset my mind. After every four pomodoros (25-minute work sessions) I’ll take a 15-minute break. 

I keep a blank piece of paper next to me on my desk and whenever I get an idea that doesn’t relate to what I’m working on, I write it down there so I don’t lose focus. I used to keep this as a running list on my laptop’s Notes app, but found that I’d end up forgetting about it or it’d get lost in the mess.At the end of the day (most of the time 🤭), I go through the notes and either add them to my to-do list for the next day or slot them into my calendar wherever makes sense. It has been helpful in cutting down my constant clicking back and forth between tabs/projects and I find that when I physically write down my to-do’s I remember them better.

For the day 1 giveaway, my productivity tip is around continual learning.Never let what you know become stale. Trends and innovations are showcased often, while tool and platform features and algorithms are updated, tweaked, and changed about as often. Allocating time to stay current, by reading news, blogs, checking out podcasts, joining communities (like this one, of course!), attending webinars can definitely help with optimizing productivity  — and staying sharp!.

It’s not hard to get easily distracted these days! One key tip I have for staying focused is to use time blocking in my daily schedule. By allocating specific blocks of time for different tasks, I can prioritize what’s truly important and maintain my focus on completing those tasks without distractions. This ensures that I’m working on the right things at the right time! 

In Onenote - or wherever you keep notes - create a tab for each recurring meeting you have. Whenever a topic or issue comes, add it to that running list right away under the meeting date.It’s a good reminder of what you talked about and what you need to cover or revisit. It also allows you to answer questions that you discussed previously, that no one would otherwise remember (e.g. “we talked about this Feb. 16 and decided not to because of xxx.”)