Welcome to the Productivity Blog

I am a writer.

Do you know how long it has taken me to say this?

A few years ago I might have said, “Well, I sort of write. I try. Of course, it might not be any good…”

Would I have mentioned my blog? No, probably not.

I’ve been writing – and three years later, blogging - for thirteen years. I started when I was pregnant. Writing the first few chapters of a novel. I’ve still got it in my files somewhere.

After I had my first baby things were difficult.  So I would escape into our small dining room to write. The few chapters I had written whilst pregnant evolved into something else.

I kept writing the same three chapters over and over. Trying to get them perfect. Changing names of characters.  Altering the starting point. That first crucial paragraph. But I was in a continuous loop: chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, then back to the beginning and start again.

Until I joined a group of writers online and set up a blog. This literally changed my life.

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An important part about blogging for business that many overlook is creating a solid blog strategy. Imagine what your blog could do if every word, image, and button was crafted with your ideal audience in mind.

I was able to see the difference a little intention was able to make with my past blogs. The second I started thinking about what I was writing, the content in my sidebar, and how each and every thing related to my goals, I saw a difference.  I started attracting the people I wanted to, readers started clicking to my best content, and my email list grew. All this from being intentional with what I was creating.

Sounds easy, right?

Okay, not so much. There really is a lot to it and it’s a lot to take in all at once. Today I want to go over 6 ways that you can quickly boost your blog strategy.

If you want to follow along with the first two steps grab your free workbook right here!

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Hey y'all, I'm Felicia and I usually blog at The Felicia Renee, which is where I discuss self-care, productivity, being a vegetarian, and much more.

Lately, I have been working on simplifying my life and increasing my productivity. Living a simple lifestyle is easier said than done. I know this from experience while on a quest to find the simple things in life, instead of feeling complacent.

However, once you begin to change your life slowly but efficiently, you will notice that you will become even more productive.

You will notice clarity in your life and your to-do lists will begin to shrink. There are many ways to simplify your life, but these are three ways that I have come to find truly helpful.

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Stephanie Lennox is the founder of "The Authorship Program®”, an immersive 12-week experience which helps writers break through any creative challenge. For more tips for feeling well and writing well, you can sign up for her free author training here.

Stephanie introduced herself to me through the Blogging Breakthrough community and said she'd love to be a part of this series. So of course I said yes! 

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It's nothing new that Twitter is one of the best platforms out there for bloggers.

Previously, I’ve talked about social media myths, a one-stop guide to the basics of this platform and some of it’s latest important updates. Now, I want to talk more in-depth about how you can intentionally curate a Twitter feed to align with your values as a blogger and as a person.

The most successful Twitter profiles have a mixture of three things: their own content, other people’s content and other personal updates, from motivational quotes, to GIFs and more. They also always share content that is completely in line with their vision, because this platform is there to represent who they are. Think of Instagram but instead of images, it’s all about the words.

If you use your Twitter feed purely as a personal account, you might not want to curate it at all. But to market your personal brand whether you’re a blogger, small business owner or neither - Twitter is a really useful tool that can be used to curate a connected brand and introduce it to new audiences.

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The guest posts I’ve got planned to kick off next week almost didn't happen. That was partly because I didn't know if I was organised enough to manage everything, and partly because I was scared that no one would offer to take part. That no one would want to write a post for my blog.

I forced myself to send out that first tweet about it, because, well life is all about getting out of your comfort zone right? And you know what? I’ve got over thirty people lined up ready to post over the next few months. I’ve actually got more than I originally needed.

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So many people say the same things over and over again.

“Yeah, I know I need to be more organised.” “I know I need to go to bed earlier but I just sit and look on my phone.” “I know I need to be healthier, but I’m just so tempted all the time.”

Our generation is the type that is used to having everything at our fingertips. There’s an abundance of information. We want the answer to something and we get it quickly. Children at school don’t look through books now to find the answer to a question - they turn to Google. You want to know anything, you Google it, whether it’s a simple hack on InDesign, or a bigger lifestyle change.

Everything we could possibly want to know is right there waiting for us within a matter of seconds.

So you’d think that more and more people would be able to put this information into action, right? Think about it - there are SO many articles out there about getting more blog traffic, that you’d think we’d all have millions of readers on our blogs. And you’d think that with all the weight loss articles out there, there’d be more of us shedding the extra pounds we don’t want and loving our bodies more than ever. Right?

Wrong. Because the problem isn’t with the actual tips we’re reading - it’s our motivation and outlook at our ability to put them into action. 

I wanted to break through this barrier today, so read on to see why it can be so hard to stay motivated and what you can do to push through these challenges.

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Want to know the one thing that's guaranteed to get my day off to the best start?

My morning routine.

There's no denying it. Maximising your morning can supercharge your productivity and help you accomplish more throughout your day. Michelle Obama gets up mega early, Oprah meditates and Richard Branson eats a very healthy breakfast. Their success is not created by luck, but by working hard to get to where they want to be. And their morning routine helps them achieve that.

I love mornings. I never hit snooze and I love getting up early to start the day. So because I'm such a fan, I wanted to share some tips that you can try, to help you add precious hours to your work and reclaim your mornings.

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Most of us dream of the day we get to walk across the stage, shake someone's hand and end the ceremony knowing we've got a degree under our belt. Ever since I was 16 and started college, I wanted to go to university, get a degree, get a Masters degree and become a top journalist, writing for some of the biggest publications in the world.

Little did I know how many hurdles I'd hit along the way.

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If you've not heard the news, Twitter has announced that they'll be 'opening up' the character limit. They aren't planning to make huge changes straight away - for now, the plan is to not include links and pictures in the character count. 

For many of us, we've seen this coming. Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest have all made algorithmic changes over the past few months, so it became time for Twitter to do the same. 

So in light of this news, naturally a lot of people are going to be talking about this social platform. I know out of all the channels, Twitter is the one that confuses people the most. And as a huge Twitter fan, I wanted to share some of my thoughts with you.

Since I started implementing a strong Twitter strategy, my community has grown dramatically. Now, I get more followers, more mentions and my blog posts get shared more than ever before.

How did I get to this point? It's taken a lot of trial and error, determination and an open mind. Today, I thought I'd share with you some of the best ways that you can grow your Twitter community.

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Thinking about dipping your toes into the world of freelance writing?

Having the freedom to create your own schedule, set your own rates and choose the best people to work with are just some of the reasons why being a freelance writer is so appealing.

So, what do you do when you’re first learning about something new? You research and read up on it as much as you possibly can. But, then you end up becoming completely freaked out about the whole thing, because you feel like everyone is telling you something different.

If you’re nodding your head thinking “this is me”, then I want you to know that I’ve been there, and actually, I still am. There are days when I read SO many articles about freelance writing that I just don’t know what to believe.

This meant that it took me a lot longer to get going with freelance writing and made the whole thing a hell of a lot more confusing too.

It doesn’t have to be that way for you.

I’ve wanted to start creating more content about freelancing, so today, I’ve got seven things you need to be aware of as a newbie. Now, these will all require some sort of action from you. Your freelance business won’t grow if you’re not helping to make it grow and getting yourself out there. So here are some of the things I think you need to be aware of if you’re thinking about freelance writing.

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Hands up all of you out there who think you 'can't' do something. Yeah? Me too. 

It seems strange to think that we spend most of our lives doing things that we originally don't think we'll be able to do.

I've always been a writer. For as long as I can remember. I spent the whole of my childhood with my head in a book, and writing pages in my journal. In primary school, I won an award for reading a certain amount of books, and further into high school, I lived for my English and Drama classes. 

At college, I took A Levels in Drama, Media and English. It soon became time to decide which route I was going to go down - journalism or acting. This was still around the time when most creative subjects weren't considered 'academic'. Ultimately, I chose what I was strongest and most passionate about, which was English. I didn't go straight into a journalism degree, partly due to advice from my tutor, and partly because I didn't think I'd be able to hack it. I also never thought I'd be 'up there' with the magazine journalists who have thousands of followers on Twitter, writing for one of the biggest publications in the world and absolutely loving every minute of it.

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Since the start of the week, I’ve been thinking a lot about this online space. I wore my heart on my sleeve in Wednesday’s post (as I always do) and I think it’s what I needed to do to see where this path went next.

In the midst of all the planning, work and pure tiredness, sometimes letting go is what we need to build the blog we really want. I thought I’d found my feet. But it seems I need to carry on finding my way for now.

After your comments and from talking to my family, I’ve decided to make some small changes to ABOH, and I wanted to share them with you today.

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There's a question that we all ask at some point throughout our career journey. Does the perfect job even exist? You search and search for the right one, and when you think you've found it, you're knocked back down to earth again. 

You don't like your boss and you're given tasks that you didn't know would be a part of your role. Or you thought the culture was so great when you went for your interview, but it turns out to be the complete opposite. 

But what's worse is when you keep going through this same situation. Oh, and all of your friends found their perfect job about six months ago. So you're on your own.  

I don't really know if there's a dream job. I believe more that you pick a job to fit in your dream life. But it's also very frustrating when the people around you seem to be in important, well-paid jobs, while you're still riding the train waiting for your stop.

Here's a secret - no one really has the 'perfect' job. People might have jobs that they love, but they're always working to change things and improve themselves. If it was perfect, there wouldn't be any need for change, right?

But what they do have is a mindset that helps them create the life they want with the right job for them. Today, I wanted to share with you how you can do exactly the same. 

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Today I was supposed to write a post about freelance writing. The plan was to share with you why I want to add freelance writing to my personal brand, along with an action plan so you can help to hold me accountable.

But when it came to writing the post, I didn't feel like it. It wasn't what I wanted to write about. I actually felt called to write something else, so here we are.

On Sunday morning I was very emotional. I let out what I'd been keeping inside me for a good few weeks. It was about a mixture of things. But the basis of it was that I just felt completely overwhelmed. 

I get so many comments and questions from you on here and on social media and you wonder how I do it all. You say how good I'm doing, how well I mange my time and that you just can't believe that I do everything I do. I even write about managing your time and what to do when things get too much. 

Well I'm breaking through that outlook today, and I really hope I don't disappoint you. Because the truth is, even though I try my absolute hardest, I can't do it all. I can't. I had such a huge to-do list this past weekend and there was no way on this planet that I was going to get it all done. I got done as much as I could. But doing it all would've meant missing out on rest and time with my family.

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I think most of you would agree with me when I say that coming up with blog post ideas is one of the hardest parts of being a blogger. 

Content is the foundation of what we do and what we give to our readers and one of the constant pressures we feel is coming up new title after new title. Having fresh ideas can really get to us.

I’ve been a blogger for almost three years and as of a couple of months ago I started blogging seven days a week, and I’ve been freelance for around twelve months, where I’ve got a few websites that I contribute to.

So I can safely say that there are days when I go completely blank and can’t come up with any ideas.

Has this happened to you?

You’re planning your editorial calendar for the month and you can’t think of a single topic idea for any of your categories! 

While one of the best parts of being a blogger is the fact we’ve got free range to blog about what we want and come up with our own topics, this can also be very time consuming.

So, as we do in exercise, we want to work smarter, not harder. Which means today I’m giving you a huge list of blog post ideas that you can use for your blog and other projects if you have them. Make sure you bookmark it so you can save it for inspiration - and let’s get right to it.

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In my job, I get to speak to lots of different people. A big part of my role is interviewing 16-year-old high school pupils who are making the transition to college. I couldn't tell you how many I've interviewed since the start of this year. All sorts of people from all sorts of different backgrounds. Some I might see again. Some I might not.

What I notice most of all though, is that there's a huge difference between them. You can sort of split these kids into three groups. Two of the groups are at opposite ends of the scale - you've got the ones that want to do really well and work their butts off to get there. And you've got the people that aren't doing well and have got to the point where they don't care.

Then you've got the third group. The group in the middle. Most of the kids I've interviewed probably fall into this category. They're the type that are predicted to do really well but aren't doing well at the moment. They might be predicted As and Bs, but they're coming out with Cs. 

I usually say, "Well your predicted grades are a lot higher than the grades you got in your mock exams, aren't they? So what are you going to do in the run up to your exams to make sure you come out with the best grades you can?"

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Hey friends! Are you enjoying this absolutely beautiful weather? The sun does wonders for me and always makes me feel better. I've had a lot of work on this weekend, but I'm so thankful that I've been able to do it outside. 

When you go on holiday and take a full break from your blog and everything, it's pretty unbelievable how much work goes into it. When I started planning my guest post schedule, I thought, yeah this'll be a breeze!

Boy was I wrong.

It feels like everything's come at once and I'm like a planning bumblebee at the moment, buzzing round making sure everything is in place and ready to go.

I don't know why I decided to use a bumblebee but it's sunny so we'll just go with it.

Anywho, I know how much you'll have missed last week's Seven for Sunday round-up, so without further ado we're back again with the first one of May. Enjoy!

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So this week’s reminder may have come straight from me watching Cinderella earlier in the week, but I think it might be my favourite phrase of all time.

One of the themes I’ve been noticing recently – in conversations with you, in conversations with me and in the things I’ve been paying attention to – is the idea of there being too much out there.

I know, I know. You’re sick of hearing about all the noise. But hear me out.)

I’m noticing that whenever we have a new idea for something we think, Oh I bet that’s already been done before. She’s so much better at that than me. I’ll never be able to compete. There’s just no point, there’s too much out there already. I can’t get myself known.

But I’m starting to believe that we’re categorising that too generally.

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