Extreme Productivity Day....or at least that is what I hoped for

 I read a book a while ago called The Motivation Myth. He talked about planning for a day where you accomplish a ton. I decided to take Monster Energy out of the title because the fact is, I don't have a monster amount of energy. However, I can plug away at things. Yesterday was the day. Here's a summary of how it went:

• Step 1 Let everyone know you won't be available
• I didn't do this. Part way in Peirce and Michael came over to pick up their dog, Percy, and we visited for a couple hours....and that was okay because by then I was pretty tired!
• Step 2 Decide how long you will work
• I planned it all out on Google Calendar
• Step 3 Totally commit to how long you decided to work
• I guess I wasn't committed because I ended up forward planning some tasks. Part of the problem was that I wasn't totally sure how long each task would take.
• Step 4: Start your EPD at an unusual time (the idea is to break free of your usual routine)
• I was at it by 7:30 am....which way earlier than I usually start on to do list.
• Step 5: Delay and space out your rewards
• I think I thought of snacks/lunch as a reward. I didn't eat soon enough and could feel it. When I finally had a snack it made a big difference. I didn't eat lunch until 7 pm. That was a mistake.
• Step 6: Refuel before you think you need to refuel
• Yup. Need to do better at this! 
• Step 7: Take productive breaks, not relaxation breaks
• I took this as using the pomodoro idea....work for 50 minutes, rest for 10 was my plan. I didn't really follow that though. I just kept going. He says not use breaks to scroll or lie down, but to do little tasks. I think I'll have to plan for what to do on breaks next time I do this. 
• Step 8: Take your breaks at a counterintuitive moment
• Taking a break every hour IS counterintuitive for me. Next time I'll do better.
• Step 9: Don't stop until you're done - even if finishing takes longer than expected.
• I stopped when I was too tired to do more. Maybe if I plan better for steps 6, 7 and 8 I'll be more capable next time to go longer. We will see in Jul!  

Job #1 was hem the living room curtains. I've had them pinned for a couple months and they needed one more turn. I was going to hand stitch them but then decided that was a crazy idea. I brought the ironing board upstairs, pinned them at the right height and checked to make sure it was right. After that, I took them downstairs and sewed them. I thought it would be a super quick job and scheduled and hour for it and it took the whole hour.

                      Before:                                                        After! I'm so happy with how they turned out!

Then I worked on cleaning the garage. I tidied up and then swept. It was dirty work! After that I mowed the lawn. That took longer than normal because there were so many pine cones to pick up. I hoped the mower would grab them, but it didn't. It sure looked nice after though! 

  

Next was bedroom windows. I had to move dressers to get to the big windows so while I did that I vacuumed underneath....again, it took longer than I'd hoped. No pictures of that work except for this gross cloth! 

Next I started on vacuuming the entire house and was planning to dig in and clean the door track on the deck door. That was when Peirce and Michael showed up though. I did end up finishing vacuuming but the sliding door track will have to wait for another day.

Lastly, I decided to make an ironing board cover for Peirce. We got a new ironing board and I had planned to give this one away on Facebook, but Peirce said he doesn't have an ironing board so he could use it. The cover was terrible (which is why we got a new one). He asked for an angry chicken cover....so off I went. It didn't go too smoothly, but in the end, I think it turned out okay!