The New Year is going to be here before you know it, whether you like it or not! I thought this would be a perfect time to share my favorite planner of 2018, before the New Year. So if you’re looking for a new planner, this may be a good option. It’s called the SELF Journal.

Before I get started, I wanted to say that this is not a sponsored post. I’ve just really enjoyed using this journal/planner for the past three months and wanted to share my thoughts. I also got another one for the next three months.

You’re sitting at your desk at work and you realize 45 minutes has gone by and you haven’t actually worked during that time. Maybe you were shopping online or reading news articles, whatever it was, it wasn’t productive work. The bad thing is that you didn’t even realize a whole 45 minutes had passed! Whoops! How can you focus and stop the procrastination? The answer is the Pomodoro Technique. It will help you focus and stop procrastinating in as little as 25 minutes.

Do you ever feel like you don’t want to get out of bed, let alone open your eyes? And then other days, you feel so refreshed and ready to start the day! I’m sure we all have both of these kinds of days. Probably more of the ones where we don’t want to get out of bed. I would rather have more days where I feel refreshed, ready to get the day started and be productive. Do you know how sleep affects productivity?

By many, time blocking is considered the best time management and productivity technique that they use on a daily basis. It may not be for everyone though. We’re going to go through some Q&As about time blocking to see if time blocking is for you. Though, the best way to find out if it’s right for you is by actually trying it out for a week or two.

How exciting! You made it to the last step in figuring out how to manage your time better! First, we talked about to-do lists and why they are not effective as a single time management tool. Then, we discussed a way to organize your to-do list to start making it more effective. Finally, you are going to find out the best way to be more productive and do everything you ever wanted to do. I will share what I do on a day-to-day basis to fit in work, life, and all the responsibilities and not feel overwhelmed or stressed.

Do you feel like your to do list just keeps growing, even as you get some things checked off? If you’re reading this, you probably do feel that way. I used to have this problem until I learned why making simple to do lists is not very effective, how to organize your to do list, and finally how to get it ALL done. If you haven’t read my post about why to do lists don’t work, go ahead and read that first real quick. If you already read that, then let’s dive into how to organize your to do list.

I know the struggle – you make a to do list and have the best intentions to tackle it ASAP but things come up. You get distracted or have other things that need to be done before getting to the to do list tasks. This is the start of a series of Time Management blog posts that will help you manage your time and get those to do lists done! To start off, I will tell you why to do lists don’t work so you will understand the reasons behind the rest of the articles.

Hello readers! Welcome to my new and improved blog! I say “new and improved” because if anyone followed my old blog – Kate’s Better Bite – knows that I used to write a food blog. I hope you enjoy the new blog and I truly appreciate the time you spend on here.

If your first thought was “But what about all those recipes you had?” Not to worry, they have all been transferred to the new website – you can find them under the Recipes tab.

So what is this new blog going to be about?

If you want the short answer: Time management, productivity, travel, normal life, self-care, and, in general, creating the life you will enjoy every day.

The long answer is: If there’s one thing you need to know to understand this blog is that I have many hobbies. I like to try almost everything. The only problem with that is time. I am going to be sharing how you can do everything you want to do in life while trying to balance it all. I will also share tips and products that can make your life easier or better in some way. It’s called “Life Semi-Balanced” because I don’t think anyone can perfectly balance everything in their life, but we can all try and eventually we will get better at it.

I needed a new blog because I started to miss blogging but I did not miss blogging about food and recipes. Having a food blog is a lot of work! Creating recipes, buying groceries, testing recipes, re-making and re-writing recipes that didn’t work, photographing, editing the photos, writing the blog post… well you get it. I applaud those that have beautiful and successful food blogs.

I am SO happy to talk about a new topic! Head on over to my first blog post about time management: Why To-Do Lists Are Not Very Effective. It’s the start of a new series and I hope you enjoy reading! In the meantime, I gotta go take my dog for a walk…

Do you have any questions or ideas for this new blog? Leave them in the comments below!