Welcome to the Productivity Blog

Since I got my new job last September, life has been really good.

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost seven months since that chapter in my life started!

During that time, I feel like I’ve had more revelations than I’ve had in my whole life. It taught me a lot and now, I feel like I’m a much better person because of it. I went through hard times, suffered and came out the other side.

I remember this time last year, starting another new job in which I wouldn't be happy and almost reaching rock bottom.

Given all the other bad jobs I’d had up until this point, plus feeling lost with my blog and letting my relationships suffer, I found myself stuck in a negative way of thinking. Every situation I was in, I thought negatively about it, and I couldn't find a way to change my perspective.

I knew it was all down to me. And part of me wanted to tell myself to get a grip, snap out of it and be happy. But the other, bigger part didn't know how. So the negativity continued.

I was stuck in that way for a good few months, having negative thought after negative thought.It was affecting everything. My blog, my relationships and the way I saw myself as a person. I wasn't happy with myself.

For a long time, I’ve always been a high achiever. I’m the type of person who has high expectations and wants a lot for myself. But to be perfectly honest, being in that negative place twelve months ago made me think I’d never get to where I wanted to be.

Dealing with my expectations has never been my strong point - I’ve always believed that if I act in a positive way towards others then they’ll do the same. It didn't take me long to figure out that sometimes this just isn't true. I’ve also always found it difficult to see the bigger picture. When I’m in a situation I usually have tunnel vision, and if that situation is a bad one, my negative thinking takes over. But I knew I needed to shift my mindset in order for me to grow and move forward.

So since that moment last July when I thought there was no way out, I forced myself to do a re-boot. I forced myself from that point on to start changing my mindset. Because really, it’s all about how you perceive things. It’s all about how you look at something. And even if a situation is negative, you can do the best you can to find the silver linings.

Today I wanted to share with you the four simple things that have made a huge difference in changing my mindset, giving me the confidence to believe in my path and trust that everything is going to be okay.

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So there's something slightly different about this post this week and something the same.

What's different is whereas last week I wrote this to you from my desk, I'm now writing it to you from my kitchen table, where I'm drinking a tea and listening to a Hits playlist on Spotify, because hey weekend!

What's the same is that I've had my eyes glued to a spreadsheet - again.

I'm not complaining, because obviously I love my job. But oh my word, my eyes were like squares again by the end of the day.

Anyway, I'm celebrating today because my late nights at work are finally over. I've got one more next week and that's it until September. We're all really happy in the office to get our evenings back, especially as the warmer months start approaching. And on that note, here's seven very spring things for you to enjoy!

Let's get on with it, shall we?

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When it comes to your blog, you’ve got to make sure you’re writing about what you want to write about. And even if you think you’ve got it all figured out – whether it’s the way you write your headlines, the times you post to social media or your content plan – you’re always developing as a person and it’s important for you to re-evaluate and adapt.

Nothing ever stays static, and if you’re like me, you always want to be growing, challenging yourself and moving forward. But at the heart of it, you want to always come back to what made you love blogging in the first place.

That’s exactly what happened with A Branch of Holly.

Last August I moved platforms from Blogger to Squarespace, so over the past seven months, my online presence has grown and so has my vision for this online space.

I needed to find a way to make my categories more concise. I wanted to be more intentional with what I was blogging about and make sure it directly reflected my purpose and the keywords I associate with ABOH. And instead of completely re-branding or starting a new blog, instead, I decided some changes to my categories were needed.

Maybe you’re in the same place right now. Maybe you want to go back to blogging about what you love. Or maybe you’re just curious about the changes to my site categories and the reasons behind it.

Either way, today’s post is the one for you! So here’s a look behind-the-scenes at what changes I’ve made and why.

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It’s been three months since I started publishing content everyday on this blog, and even though it’s tough, I’m so glad I made that decision.

But there’s been a post I’ve wanted to write for a while now and it’s coming to you today. I don’t know why I haven’t written it earlier. Maybe it was because I just burnt out after launching #BloggingBreakthrough and doing my public speaking gigs. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen negativity around the community lately that has stopped me from writing this. Or maybe it was something else that’s just made this the right time to do it.

As of September, I’ll have been blogging for three years. It’s officially seven months since I refreshed the ABOH brand and moved over to Squarespace. And three months since I started publishing content every day. I feel like blogging is such a huge part of my life now that I can’t imaging not having it. Over the past few months and years, there have been so many huge, exciting changes to our industry, and new things are happening daily.

This blog went from sharing my entire life, to digital marketing and blogging tips and tricks. I’ve spoken before about how I feel like my day jobs have affected exactly what I was writing about, and I’ve definitely struggled to find my feet. But now, I feel like I’ve got a really good balance, and I’m in a really good place with everything, even if my pageviews aren’t as high as other bloggers I know.

But as my own blog has changed, I feel like the blogging community has changed with it.

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Last month, I was in Lancaster speaking to students who were part of the Marketing Society. It was amazing to see the variety in their interests and the subjects they studied.

They were really looking forward to what I was going to speak to them about, which was personal branding. But they had more questions about job interviews – and because I’d been successful in my interviews, they wanted to pick my brain.

I was talking to them about the types of things they might be asked in an interview and when I said that it’s likely they'd have to do a presentation, their faces went blank.

They had absolutely no idea where to start with something like that.

And it’s scary. You’re asked to present on something you think you know a lot about, but when it comes to it, you start to doubt yourself and a vicious cycle starts.

But actually, creating a presentation isn't that difficult.

Why? Because there was a time when I’d never done one and for the job I’m in now, it was my presentation that really impressed the panel. Plus, I now enjoy presenting so much that public speaking is part of my personal brand.

In my personal experience, I know how likely it is that you’ll have to deliver a presentation for a job that you apply for. Luckily, I happen to like talking about careers, because I believe myself to be very successful in my own, plus I love what I do. So while I’m not actively applying for jobs, I’ve definitely been there and know exactly how to help you prepare while you’re job hunting.

So today, I want to share the three keys to creating a successful presentation plus my top tips on how to deliver it.

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Something I’ve been told recently by my loved ones is that I “do too much”.

I definitely know what they're talking about. In all honestly, at one point earlier this year, I had so much on my plate that I burnt myself out completely. It’s really taught me a thing or two.

I’ve learned enough from that experience to realise I need to make some changes. That feeling of burnout doesn’t just last for one day – it can hit you years down the road. And I didn't want burnout to be a regular thing for me.

So since I’ve suffered from this recently, I wanted to share some thoughts with you today on how I’m getting rid of the fear or burnout for good, and how you can too.

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I don't think I need to start this post by admitting that I'm addicted to Twitter.  It's pretty obvious by my endless tweets and the fact that I'm constantly on there chatting to people. I've been using the app for around three years and I'm really proud of the community I've built up during this time. Twitter is a huge part of my day job too, as I manage the account for my company. So because of all this, I really wanted to put a guide together of tips and tricks to help you get the most out of this social platform.

I often get asked for my Twitter tips, and although I've shared bits and bobs over time, I thought compiling a thorough, yet quick, easy-to-access guide would be ideal. You'll hopefully find everything you need here and I really hope you find it useful for building your own community.

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If there’s one phrase we hear quite often, it’s “I’m busy”. But there’s a big difference between using “busy” as an excuse and actually being intentional with our time.

I’ve always been a planner and my life usually involves a mixture of schedules, plans and organisation. That’s not to say I don’t like being spontaneous or that I won’t drop my plans if Tom and I decide to do something. It just means that I’m the type of person who likes structure and routine. I like knowing what’s going on.

When you’re younger and you’re at school or college, your routine is easy to identify. You knew there were certain times you were in lessons, certain times you could eat and certain times you could do what you wanted.

But when it comes to managing your own schedule, there’s quite a lot to learn.

There was a time when I really started slacking with my planning. I never used to write anything down. I used to keep it all in my head. This made me feel completely overwhelmed. It made me less motivated, less productive and definitely more lazy. I didn't set specific times to do things, and some tasks I even forgot completely. 

When it came to a point that I forgot a big deadline, that’s when I knew it needed to change. That’s when I knew I needed to create a strong routine for myself and improve my productivity. And I did. Right now I’m in the process of planning my bullet journal, because I feel this is going to be the best system for me. 

But I’m not here to tell you how to plan your life. I’m here to tell you why it’s important. So if you don’t really class yourself as a planner, here’s why you should start.

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This Seven for Sunday post comes from my desk at home, staring out the window watching the sun set on a Friday evening, because oh my word, it's been a bee-autiful day - but I've had my eyes glued to a spreadsheet.

You see, Year 10 students get to come on what's called a Taster Day in Summer, where they get to be a College student for the day. I remember feeling so adult on mine!

Anyway, over the next few weeks we're going into schools and getting the kids to fill forms in with all their personal details and their top four course choices that they get to try out.

My job is to then input all of that into a beautifully sparkling Excel spreadsheet.

Oh the joy. It took me about five hours. No joke. My manager says I'll start dreaming about them soon.

So other than spreadsheets making my eyes go square, the rest of this week has been pretty good. I've had time to work on my blog, time to exercise, time to play the piano, time to spend with the fam - it's definitely felt more balanced.

This will be completely different next week when I've got two late nights at work, but let's just live in the moment, yeah? Here's this week's Seven for Sunday!

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There are four times in my life when I can remember being really really nervous. Like, my legs are shaking, my fists are clenched and I can’t breathe, nervous.

The first was when I sang at my Year 11 Presentation Evening. The second was waiting to hear the results about my MA final project. The third was waiting to hear if I’d got the job I’m in now. And the fourth was in the minutes before I did my first public speaking gig.

All four were totally different situations. But when I think about them, I can instantly remember how nervous I felt.

For public speaking in particular, you’d think someone would have to have great speaking skills, be extroverted and have tonnes of confidence, right?

I don’t tick any of those boxes.

Sure I’m good at communicating – but would I call myself an expert? Nope. I’m definitely more of an introvert than an extrovert and although I’ve got more confidence now than ever, it’s still not as much as what some people have.

So really, you’d think that I wouldn't fit the professional speaking bill.

Apart from the fact that the three times that I’ve done it so far, I’ve been told I’m a natural.

And it’s not because of what people “think” public speaking is. It comes down to what it actually is:

• Hours spent crafting a killer presentation and practising the craft
• Being nervous but knowing how to manage that anxiety
• Coming across as more confident than you actually are

But the biggest thing about public speaking is that if you get it right, you’re perceived as an expert in what you’re talking about.

So, if you’ve ever thought about professional speaking or think you might have the guts to do it one day, I wanted to share my story with you.

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Let’s just clear something up – beauty doesn’t feature often here on ABOH. And by no means am I turning into a beauty blogger. But recently, something occurred to me.

Whilst I love writing content about my day job, social media and my blogging journey, I’ve always wanted this online space to be a branch of my life. The main thing I try and do with this blog is inspire you, and that could be through any of the categories that feature here. So I figured that as long as I’m writing towards my theme of inspiring people and helping them live a more fulfilling live, I can write about what I want, right?

Right. Plus, technically this relates to the career category, so I’m thinking of doing a mini career-related series all about life as a working woman. Starting off with beauty!

I work in an office, but that definitely doesn’t mean I sit at a desk all day. My job involves a lot of movement within my building and outside of it when I go to events. It also involves a lot of heavy lifting as we prepare boxes of all our marketing materials to take to these events. I do a lot of evening work, so it’s safe to say that one of the hardest parts of my job is getting my make-up to stay put!

Ideally, I need my products to last for 12 hours+. Take yesterday for instance – I had put my make-up on my 7:10am and I wasn't getting home until 7pm that night. That means some long-lasting products for me.

Luckily over the years, I’ve perfected my work beauty uniform. So today I wanted to share some of my routine with you, which will hopefully help to inspire your own.

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Here’s something that might surprise you – not all bloggers run their blogs full-time. Most of us have jobs and a lot of us want to keep it that way.

That might seem strange to you in the blogosphere today. It seems like so many people are chasing after a life of being a full-time blogger, yet they don’t actually know how to get there.

But don’t fret – it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. You might not want your blog to be your job, but it can definitely be more than just a hobby.

I’ve spoken before about why you should add your blog to your CV – I mean, it’s probably like a part-time job to you, right? And think about how much you do as a blogger. So today, I wanted to help you figure out how you can make your blog stand out on your CV.

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These days, I think it’s safe to say that self-care can be classed as quite the trend. It’s popped up on my feeds a lot over the past few months and people are starting to recognise it as a priority.

But with fluorescent lights, uncomfortable chairs, ever-growing schedules (and snacks everywhere you look), staying healthy while you’re working can be harder than we think.

Our careers are huge parts of our lives and we know that looking after ourselves and our health has loads of benefits: less stress, fewer sick days and better productivity to name a few. Plus, it can actually save you money.

But I get it – when you’ve got a deadline you want all the fuel, and when you have an afternoon dip you want all the sugar. Looking at the numbers though, nearly half of America has gained weight at their current job.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be included in that stat.

The thing is, sometimes weight gain happens without us realising it. We can make a few bad choices and not notice a difference, and then all of a sudden boom – those jeans start to feel a little tighter.

I used to struggle with this a lot and did gain some weight when I started full-time work. But at a point I had a realisation and decided to make some changes. So if you struggle to stay healthy at work, whether you’re in an office or work from home, here are the fail-safe tips I’ve picked up over the years to make some positive changes and see a difference.

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Hands up if you love Twitter? I know I do. But lately, it seems there’s been a lot talk about what Twitter’s purpose actually is - and where it’s heading in the future.

We’re in a very visual world right now and it’s becoming more visual every single day. So it’s really no wonder Twitter’s 140 character limit might be flying out the window, right?

But for me, Twitter will always be my favourite, and I don’t think it shows signs of going anywhere. If anything, I think this social platform is embracing the changes our digital world is heading in and has some big things up its sleeve. And over the past few months, there’s been a lot of updates to this little platform.

Experts everywhere have rounded up the latest updates for you to look through. But I wanted to tell you about them from a blogger to a blogger. Here we go.

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If you follow me on Snapchat (abranchofholly), you’ll know that over the past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed with my workload. I had lot more on my plate than usual, and since then I’ve been trying hard to redefine productivity and be smarter about how I work.

One thing that made me begin to make these changes was something my mum said when I was rehearsing for one of my recent workshops: “You’re a perfectionist, aren’t you”?

I never thought of myself as a perfectionist, but when it came to this, I could totally see where she was coming from. And I decided then that maybe that’s the reason I’m struggling. Maybe I felt so overwhelmed with my workload, because I was seeking perfection with everything and so wasn’t moving forward. Instead, I should’ve focused on practising and taking smarter action.

I see a lot of bloggers say ”there’s never a perfect moment to do something”, and they’re right. If we waited for the perfect time to do absolutely everything, we’d be exhausted and wouldn’t get done what we wanted to.

It got me thinking that if I had waited for the ‘perfect time’ to start this blog, it might not exist right now. I might’ve still been waiting.

We usually think:

• I need to wait until I’ve done more planning.

• I need to wait until I’ve got more time.

• I need to wait until I’m ready.

Sound familiar?

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First of all, yay for a brand new month! I've been feeling under the weather this week, but these are the things that have made me smile.

1. March really means the start of Spring to me - or it would if it wasn't for the winter snowstorm we had on Friday! It snowed from really early in the morning until about 11am and the ground was completely covered. But snow does make everything look extra extra pretty.
    
2. If you follow me on Twitter you'll have seen me talking about bullet journaling. It's something I really want to try and with all the to-do lists I've got going on, I think this is going to be the best way to do it. I've been getting lots of inspiration from a few bloggers and I've started planning all my spreads. I'm really looking forward to designing them all and putting everything into action.

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How can you stand out online?

That’s one question that so many bloggers want to know the answer to.

So now, let me ask you this:

Are you pushing yourself to come up with new ideas? Are you finding different ways to tell people about your blog and personal brand? Are you experimenting with creating different types of content?

If you answered no to those questions, you could be missing out on a lot. And I’d love to help you make a difference.
 

You see, running a blog is about way more than writing blog posts. Way more.
 

If you stay the same, you’re not going to see different results. But if you start trying new ways to create content, I really predict you’ll notice a change. More engagement, more views, and more followers.

Creating an idea doesn’t mean it has to turn into a blog post. It doesn’t have to look like everything else. Once you’ve got the idea, it’s up to you to decide how you want it to look.

I believe that testing and experimenting are key things when it comes to developing a strong presence online and being successful. So if you’re plucking up the courage to experiment with different types of content, here’s everything you need to know.

 

#1 Video is the Way Forward

I'm starting off with this one because it’s the biggest. Video is the form of content for bloggers this year. More and more brands will create videos, use live streaming apps like Periscope and really embrace video within their content. If you combine video within your content strategy, you’re going to be miles ahead of everyone else.

A company called Cisco have predicted that by 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic. That means that whether we like it or not, video is going to be a major part of the blogging industry. And if we don’t start using it, we could really be missing out.

Think about it in terms of social media. We know Facebook is the most popular channel and we know more people use Instagram than Twitter. But do you know how many users YouTube rakes in every month?

More than a billion.

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Repeat after me: yes, you can do this!

Not that easy is it?

There’s always so much we want to do. Exercise, eat better, learn something new, try a different hobby – but how long have you been wanting to do these things for? It’s like you start something, but can’t seem to stick with it. Sound familiar? I thought so. If only our willpower showed up more often, right?

Actually, most of us are better at this than we think. Getting out of bed in the morning, not having your favourite junk food every day, working through tasks you don’t always enjoy – you do those things daily, which means your willpower does exist. So really, we should start giving ourselves a bit more credit for the things that we do every day.

But how do we apply willpower to our goals? How do we relate it to the things we want to actively achieve? That’s what we’re going to dig into with this post and hopefully, it’ll show that you’ve got more willpower than you know.

 

What Even is Willpower?

It’s sort of like a muscle and it’s really useful to think of it that way. When you exercise, your muscles grow stronger, and then you rest before using them again. When you exercise your willpower more often, it becomes stronger. And like exercise, you’ve got to let it rest before you can use it again. But whereas our leg and stomach muscles are something we can see – willpower isn’t.

I won’t go into the ins and outs, but your willpower muscles exist just behind your forehead, which also looks after short-term memory.

Lots of experiments have been carried out and they basically come to the same conclusion – when we’ve got too much on our mind, our willpower isn’t likely to be as strong. So let’s say you’re having a huge crisis at work and you’re talking to your friend about it. She offers you an apple or a slice of cake. Because you’ve got so much on your mind, you’re more likely to take the cake.

But really, it’s all about how we perceive our willpower. If we think we have an endless amount of it, then surely we can conquer anything? But if we believe we can only control a part of it, that’s when it comes to deciding to skip the gym because you’ve worked late all week.

I’ve struggled with this. Over time, I’ve come to realise that my willpower is my own and I’m the one responsible for it. So if you don’t feel like you’ve got control over yours, here’s a little guide to upping your willpower for good.

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Earlier this week I was doing a workshop with some Journalism students. Afterwards, I caught part of a talk from the Editor of Woman’s Weekly magazine and one of the questions she was answering was, “what do you need to break into the industry?”

The answer is varied. But I do know one thing you need to break into any industry - skills.

The marketing industry is forever changing and I really feel like it’s at a really exciting time right now. There are so many opportunities to experiment, endless things to try and it’s growing everyday.

Over the years, I’ve learned that my skills have played a big part in helping me get to where I want to be. And the truth is, you need a lot of skills to get the breakthrough that you want. 

But as you’ll discover, sometimes a skill is not just a skill.

Before we get started, I just want to clarify that you don’t need a marketing degree to get a job in marketing. Working in marketing isn’t as simple as just “working in marketing”. It means you’re holding onto a skills set that will make you go much further than the average marketer. 

So the next time you wonder how you get a job in marketing, or even what you actually do as a marketer, here are the eleven skills you want to talk about.

#1 You are a Creator

The skill of creativity is huge. Don’t ever put yourself down as a marketer, because your ability to create things is very special. Whether it’s the written word, images, social media posts or planning strategies, you are actively creating things all the time.

Oddly enough for me, being on social media every day can make me forget that not everyone knows how to use it effectively. It’s the same with writing – I write every day and I can forgot that it doesn’t come naturally to some people.

Over the past few years, the marketing and publishing industries have really changed. We've all had to grow with the times and that has meant trying new things and learning new skills. In order to make our online presence the best it can be, we've got to make sure we’re using marketing tools in the best way possible.

It’s easy to think that you can just snap, Instagram and tweet like there’s no tomorrow and that’s how you use social media. Or that for writing a great blog post, it’s just about putting the right words together.

But you and I both know there’s so much more to think about.

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How many times have you bookmarked a recipe saying, “I’m going to try and make that”? Or what about when you see a DIY and think, “I’ll give that a go”? But there’s one problem isn’t there?

You don’t actually get round to doing them.

Believe me, I’ve been there. I’m there right now. I’ve got creative things I want to do, things I want to try and recipes I want to make that I just never get round to doing. It’s like even though you want to be more creative, you don’t really know where to start. Plus, there’s the issue of time. With everything you’ve got going on from your job to your blog, your family, and all the great box sets out there right now (hello Sons of Anarchy), it can be tempting to not do anything. 

But being creative doesn't have to mean expensive accessories, an endless supply of resources and hours of your time. Some people think to be a true creative you have to have creative blood in you, but I completely disagree. You don’t need to be a ‘creative’ to do creative things. Actually, you probably already have everything you need to get started - an unused notebook, a pen, a needle and thread. Doing something creative doesn't have to mean creating a beautiful painting or stitching a masterpiece. It can be something as simple as writing in your journal or baking some biscuits.

Making room for creativity in your life has some many positives. If anything, it gives you a break. It takes you away from your daily tasks, gets your mind away from your worries, and takes your eyes away from the never-ending screen too. Whether it’s the feel of a needle and thread in your hand, the smell of a yummy sauce cooking or seeing your bread rising in the oven, they’ll all help you to do one thing - appreciate the everyday moments.

Having hobbies and doing creative things helps you focus on the moment you’re in and forget everything else. This is exactly what you need to appreciate the enjoyment in every single day.

Not only does creativity give us pleasure, but it’s also great for our mind and soul. So whether or not you think you’re creative, there are creative things you can do every day. Here’s how.

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