Welcome to the Productivity Blog

2015 has been a rollercoaster of a year. There have been so many ups and quite a few downs. It’s been a year of change. But more than anything, I feel like it’s been the year when I’ve finally found myself.

Looking back, I can’t believe how much has happened this year and how much I’ve accomplished. I’m so thankful for the opportunities that have come my way and that’s what I want to celebrate today. I’ve seen these 2015 review posts around the blogosphere lately, so I wanted to join in and share my own highlights.

Top 5 Highlights of 2015

1. Getting the best job I could wish for as a Marketing Coordinator for a local sixth form College.
2. Seeing the sights, drinking cocktails and watching the sun go down in Nice, with Tom.
3. Our first family holiday in a long time to the beautiful Penrith.
4. My brother, Michael, getting a fantastic degree and going onto do a Masters.
5. Seeing Chvrches live in Newcastle, which was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to.

Blogging Achievements

1. In Summer, I finally made the decision to up my blogging game. I transferred ABOH from Blogger to Squarespace and designed the whole site myself. I was scared at first and there were a few tears. But with help from Tom and support from my family, I did it. Six months on, I know it was definitely the right thing to do. My confidence is definitely growing, because I want to make even more changes now...

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Welcome to the last blog post in my little festive series. We've talked about the lead up to Christmas, Christmas Eve, and now we're onto Christmas Day traditions.

Christmas will be very different for us as a family this year, but we're all still really looking forward to it. I love Christmas Day. It always goes so quickly so I try and cherish every single moment. And as the big day is nearly here, I wanted to share with you some of my traditions.

This will also be the last blog post from me until just before the New Year as I'm taking a break over Christmas

So I wanted to take this time to thank you. You reading this right now - you play such a huge part in my life. You keep me coming back to this space and creating content for you almost every day. Thank you so much for all your support over the last twelve months and here's to a brilliant 2016!

Now onto the traditions...

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Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...

Apart from my bunnies bounding around and Maisy rolling about on the floor...

 

As if it's Christmas this week. This week! Wow. These last few months have been such a whirlwind that it seems to have appeared in no time. Usually, the days leading up to Christmas seem slow, but this year they won't, because we're so busy. We're getting everything ready today for going away on Wednesday, I'm getting my nails done tomorrow and then we'll be heading up to the Lakes. Do you always find that you're really busy in the lead up to Christmas?

Anyway, carrying on with the little festive series I've got planned, today it's all about Christmas Eve traditions!

I find that Christmas Eve is always so different when you've got a full-time job. Most people working 9-5 have to actually plan their holidays so they can take Christmas Eve off. I'm lucky now that I work in the education sector that I get this time off. Last year I had to work it and wasn't allowed to take it off! When you're at school or uni, you can really get into the festive spirit early. But when you're working it's a different feeling.

So for those of you who might be working over the festive season, this is for you. I hope this list of Christmas Eve traditions will get you feeling festive in no time!

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Guys - Christmas officially starts today. That's it. It's my work's Christmas party, I finish for two whole weeks and I'm feeling very festive. My nails are glittery, the Christmas jumper is on and the festive season is well and truly in full swing.

For today and some days next week, I actually had different posts planned. I was going to round up some of the posts that you guys have loved on ABOH this year. But when it came to writing them, I wasn't feeling it. 

I've been thinking about where I want to take this blog in the new year. One of my decisions has been to bring more of myself to this space. I used to love writing lifestyle and personal posts. Lately I feel like that's been missing. So I hope all of you will be happy about this new aspect of ABOH. I feel really good about it!

So because Christmas starts today, I wanted to put together a little mini festive series for you all about traditions. Starting with my traditions in the run up to Christmas.

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What do you reflect on towards the end of a year? The moments you’ve enjoyed the most, what you’ve achieved and what you want to accomplish over the next year, probably. But do you ever think about reflecting on your career?

Sure you can talk about everything you’ve produced and the projects that have gone really well. But that just comes down to one job along. What about your plan? What about where you want to be in five years time?

Our careers are such big and important parts of our lives. We need to give it substance and treat it with the same reflection that we do with other things

Last year, I had a Skype session with a career advisor. I was completely stuck and didn’t know what to do. In that call, he gave me one of the best pieces of advice that I’ve ever heard. 

He said I should evaluate my career path each year. Evaluate it in the sense of whether I was happy, how much I was progressing and whether I still wanted to carry on.

If you’re anything like me, you’re not a coaster. You don’t want to stay in the same job role, on the same wage, doing the same thing for the rest of your life, right? Hell no! You want to push yourself with more challenges and more responsibilities. Evaluating your careers helps you understand whether you’re on track to achieve this - or whether you need to find new opportunities in other places.

No matter where you are in your career or if your career hasn’t started yet, evaluating where you’ve come and how far you want to go is so important. It keeps you honest about what you want

Last year was the first time I evaluated my career. I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t doing the work I enjoyed and I knew at that time that it wasn’t the career I wanted.

Six months later, I felt the same way. I took this as a sign to evaluate again. That’s when I found the job I’m in now which is the best job I could hope and wish for.

So even though you might not realise it, you could be in a place now where you’re living passively through your career. You might think that there’s no point in making a change, or you’ve been there so long now that it doesn’t matter. Or worse - that it’s too late.

It’s never too late.

I used to think of my career as just jobs. Not an actual career. Now I think differently. And I think you should too.

Today, I want to talk you through the questions I ask myself when I want to reflect on my career. Make a brew, sit somewhere comfy, get a notepad or your laptop and get ready to dig deep.

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Next Wednesday, I’m heading up to the Lake District to spend five days over Christmas with my family. I’ll be putting my first ever “out of office” email on as a blogger. I also won’t be tweeting, instagramming (if that’s even a word!) or snapchatting. Last year, I still went on social media over Christmas. It was nice to check in with what festivities people were getting up to. I never thought I’d step away from it completely.

This year, I am. Usually, when I take a break, I still check emails, respond to comments and check social media. Some of you will think that’s totally natural. Some of you won’t. It’s all about personal preference.

But the reason I see people not taking a step back from social media during this time of year is for fear. And more specifically, the fear of missing out (FOMO). It’s something we’re all familiar with as bloggers.

When I went to France for a week in June with Tom, I had that fear. Coming back and going on the internet again for the first time in seven days felt like a really long time. And I had missed out on a lot.

But was that more important than the time I got to spend with Tom? No. Because I fear on missing out on time with him more

 

 

Social media has become so natural. It’s become something that’s just part of our routine. We check it without thinking. It’s become a source of communication for us. Don’t get me wrong – I love it. I honestly really enjoy checking in with you all on social media and having a chat. I’m grateful for the community on there.

But I think it’s important to have boundaries in place. Because it can start affecting everything

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When you think back to your earlier social media days, a lot has changed, right? It used to be all about MSN and MySpace. Now it’s all about flat lays and Twitter chats. But there’s one main thing I’ve realised over the past few years.

Using social media as a blogger is very different to using it as a non-blogger. Three years ago I never had to think about optimal times to post my tweets or what link to share on Facebook. I posted what I was getting up to that night and what I was having for breakfast - plus my pictures weren't taken with that much care!

Then when you get into blogging, you realise something. Paying more attention and putting more effort into social media actually pays off.

I’ve learnt so much from spending time on social media. So much so that not only do I love it - I also blog about it and it’s my day job. So as a sort of fun post to round off the social media year on ABOH, I thought I’d share some of the best things I’ve learnt so far. And if there’s one thing we need to get to grips with to get ahead in the game, it’s social media.

It’s crazy to think that I schedule tweets for a living. But that just goes to show how important all of this really is. So get ready, and take note!

#1 | Images are everything

Really, they are. They’re one of the most shared things on Facebook. Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest are all image-based platforms. And if you include an image with a tweet there’s 150% more chance of it being shared. Is that not enough to get snapping?

Take care when taking your photos. You want them to mean something or inspire someone. Capture the perfect moment. Capture everything. Then take your pick. I’ve recently started putting much more care into my Instagram feed and it’s definitely paying off.

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Have you ever asked yourself the question “what’s my dream job”? If you said yes, have you ever thought that you might be asking yourself the wrong thing?

There’s a good chance you could be.

Why?

Because who says there’s a dream job out there for everyone?

We’re told so much that we should do what we love and love what we do – then we’ll never have to work a day in our life. That’s defined as a dream job, right?

Here’s something from behind-the-scenes of my life and how I view my career right now:

Instead of seeing what I do day to day as a dream job, I see it as a dream life. And my career fits around that. My career helps to build my ideal life.

You know you’re onto something good when you’re passionate, excited and motivated about something. If you’re getting paid for it, then it’s even better. You hear stories of people on huge wages, going on big holidays and living in a big house. You see they've got a job in your industry and you could see yourself doing the same.

But that’s when the problems start. Because that’s when you’re never satisfied with what you’ve got. That’s when you’re left wanting more.

I've been there.

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Is it safe to say that the festive season is officially here? I think so. There’s not long left until a brand new year, which means a lot of us are making grand plans for what we want to achieve in 2016.

But for a couple of weeks, most of us take a break from everything to spend time with our family and loved ones. So what does that mean for our blogs?

Whenever someone takes a break from managing their online presence, they worry about a lot. For instance:

• My traffic will go down
• No one will read my posts
• My readers will disappear
• Everyone will forget about me

But I'm a true believer that we need to take breaks in all aspects of our lives to grow stronger.

Personally, I tend to take a break over Christmas – but some of this time will be a “working” break. I get two weeks off at Christmas from my day job. That’s a huge chunk of extra time that I can use to work on all my projects for ABOH. So yes, most of my time will be spent with family. But I'll definitely be taking advantage of the extra time I've got too.

It’s absolutely fine if you’re taking a break during the festive season. Your readers are slowing down and spending less time online, so you can do the same.

But today, we’re here to talk about crafting a plan for those of you who want to keep up with your blog over Christmas. We’re here to talk about ten simple ways you can stay up to date, whilst still having the break you deserve…

I like to approach breaks strategically. Sometimes, I’ll completely step away from my presence – I did that in June this year when I went on holiday to France. I’ll do exactly the same at Christmas too. But I also know that two weeks off don’t come around all the time. This is the perfect chance for me to get a head start on my blogging plans for 2016.

If you’re like me and planning to work on your blog over Christmas, I want to share with you the ways I'm going to be keeping up to date and getting a head start. I hope these ideas will inspire you to come up with your own way of keeping up.

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If I had to pick one of the best ways to spend my free time, it would be catching up with my favourite blogs. Sometimes there's nothing better than settling down with a big cup of tea, candles, a blanket and reading through some of the best content out there. 

Every day, I'm so impressed and inspired by the range and quality of content that people put out there on the web.

Some of the blogs listed here I've been reading for two years or more. Once you check in with that person every day, their presence becomes a part of your life. That's what I love so much about the blogging world - the sense of community and the relationships we can build.

So today, I wanted to share with you 41 of my all time favourite blogs. It was hard to narrow them all down, because I read so many! But these are the ones that never fail to inspire me.

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There’s something about the start of December that creates a different kind of atmosphere. The festive season kicks off and lot of us feel excited, giddy and very festive.

But what with the dark mornings, and even darker nights, sometimes it can be hard to keep smiling all the time. Plus, towards the end of December we've got big deadlines looming whether that be for uni or work. It can all get a bit much.

That’s when your negative thinking kicks in.

Even though positivity is a key value of ABOH and myself, it can still be easy to let negative thinking take over. It’s natural – a part of life. We can’t expect life to be magical all the time. But what it actually comes down to is the power you give this negativity.

Thoughts like these drain you of energy. They stop you from being intentional and being present. The more power you give to your negative thinking, the stronger it becomes. Picture a cloud getting bigger and bigger, enveloping you. It’s not nice to think of, is it?

That’s how one small, insignificant thought can turn into a huge, overwhelming, unhappy feeling.

But a positive thought can have exactly the same effect. Just in a completely different way.

I get that it’s hard sometimes to push away the negativity in your mind. But today, I wanted to share some thoughts on how you can change your negative thinking for good.

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Hello everyone, and Happy December 1st! I've got something a little new in store for you today. You see, usually I'd include a round-up of the month just gone in each of my Behind-the-Scenes goals posts. But I thought it actually made more sense to separate them. 

One of my big aims with A Branch of Holly next year is to give you more of an insight into my life, who I am, and really, to make this space more relatable for you.

So Monthly Notes will be a monthly series telling you about my highlights of the month and some of the favourites I've been loving. Here we go with the first one - enjoy!

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