Tag: Productivity

Productivity

Mastering Google Tools: Boosting Productivity and Organization

Corie Muldoon

In today’s fast-paced digital world, staying organized and productive is crucial for success.

Google offers a suite of powerful tools to streamline tasks, enhance collaboration, and drive efficiency.

This blog explores how to leverage Google Calendar, Keep, Sheets, and Docs to supercharge productivity.

Google Calendar: Focus on Non-Negotiables

Scheduling Essentials

1. Time blocking: Assign specific times for focused work

2. Non-negotiables: Schedule essential tasks, like exercise, meditation, or family time

3. Reminders: Set notifications for upcoming events and deadlines

Google Keep: Capture Insights and Tasks

Keep Features

1. Notes: Jot down ideas, reminders, and to-do lists

2. Shopping lists: Organize essentials and track purchases

3. Ah-ha moments: Record insights and epiphanies

4. Needed fixes: Track tasks and maintenance schedules

Google Sheets: Visualize and Track Progress

Sheet Templates

1. Life Map: Chart goals, milestones, and progress

2. Weekly Reflection: Evaluate accomplishments and areas for improvement

3. Finances: Manage budgets, expenses, and savings

Google Docs: Plan and Strategize

Doc Templates

1. Active Income: Outline primary income sources and growth strategies

2. Passive Income: Develop plans for investments and residual earnings

3. Side Hustle: Document ideas, progress, and revenue streams

Tips for Maximizing Google Tools

1. Integration: Seamlessly connect Google tools for streamlined workflows

2. Collaboration: Share docs and sheets with team members or mentors

3. Mobile access: Use Google apps for on-the-go productivity

Conclusion

By harnessing Google Calendar, Keep, Sheets, and Docs, you’ll:

1. Arrange tasks and time

2. Capture insights and ideas

3. Visualize progress and goals

4. Develop strategic plans

Embrace these tools to boost productivity, enhance organization, and achieve success!

Actionable Steps

1. Set up Google Calendar time blocking

2. Create a Google Keep note for daily reminders

3. Design a Google Sheet life map

4. Draft a Google Doc plan for active income

Share Your Experience! How do you use Google tools? Share your favorite tips and templates in the comments below!

✨ Subscribe for More Productivity Tips ✨

Productivity

Maximizing Productivity: Applying Pareto’s 80/20 Principle for Success

Corie Muldoon

PARETO’S LAW: Vilfredo Pareto is an Italian economist who is credited with coining the term the 80/20 principle. That is, 80% of results are driven by 20% of effort.

Tim Ferriss, author of 4 Hour Work Week, claims that each of us should revisit the 80/20 principle every four weeks and apply it to both our work and personal lives to see how we can focus on maximizing our productive output.

Sample questions to prompt your own 80/20 analysis:

Personal

Which 20% of daily foods provide 80% of nutrients?

Which 20% of daily activities support 80% of growth?

Which 20% of daily movement provide 80% of results?

Which 20% of daily actions provide 80% of energy?

Which 20% of worries fuel 80% of anxiety?

Work

Which 20% of my network supports 80% of my growth?

Which 20% of business activities generate 80% return?

Which 20% of content gets 80% of engagement?

Which 20% of finance activities bring 80% of results?

Which 20% of customers are driving 80% of revenue?


My experience with 80/20 analysis

I started implementing the 80/20 analysis in 2020. It’s a great exercise to help me narrow my focus on what I should be doing on a daily basis and who I should be surrounding myself with if I want to be happy, healthy, and fit in all areas.

The 80/20 analysis helps me produce more result with less effort. A few right things done each day = long term success. Analyzing the 80/20 principle helps you figure out what those few right things are for you.

And because we are always changing and evolving, reviewing 80/20 multiple times throughout the year allows us to keep a pulse on what’s really working for us, adjusting along the way.

When we start to narrowing in on the 20% activities that give us more result, our personal and work KPIs skyrocket. Going all in on a handful of activities each day is way better than overcommitting and being spread too thin.

I love this quote by Bruce Lee: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

After I review my 80/20 analysis, I update my Life Map accordingly and use the Powerlist to keep on top of my daily goals.

Each day, in every way, we are getting better and better.

Productivity

Life Map: A Goal Setting System

Corie Muldoon

Writing down our goals and breaking them down into small, doable tasks is how we get extraordinary results.

Good builders don’t build without a blueprint. They have a vision, write it out on paper, tweak it, and review it over and over again. When their plan is approved by multiple experts, only then do they start to break ground.

Like a good builder, we can visualize our dreams and write up a plan to achieve them. No wishing or wanting, we’re committed to making it happen.

It’s totally doable, ya just have to know what you want. And that’s where the Life Map comes into play!

Getting started


Let’s create a Google spreadsheet:

  • Life categories going down (health, personal, finance, etc)

  • Timeline going across (someday, 5 year, 1 year, 1 month, 1 week, daily)

Or just download a template of mine here 🙂

Choose 3-5 categories

What are your top 3-5 categories that you’d like to focus on?

  • Personal
  • Fitness
  • Health
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Romance
  • Charity
  • Something more specific?

Someday goal

Next, we’re going to come up with a “someday goal” for each category. This is where visualizing what you want your life to look like comes in handy! It’s the perfect time to write out your dream life.

Once you have a someday goal for each category, let’s move on to each category individually:

5 year goal

What’s the one thing I can do in 5 years that will help me accomplish my someday goal?

1 year goal

What’s the one thing I can do this year that will help me accomplish my 5 year goal?

1 month goal

What’s the one thing I can do this month that will help me accomplish my 1 year goal?

1 week goal

What’s the one thing I can do this week that will help me accomplish my 1 month goal?

Daily goal

What’s the one thing I can do today that will help me accomplish my 1 week goal?

BONUS: Who do I have to be?

Who do I have to be to accomplish my daily goal? Choose an adjective: outgoing, dedicated, romantic, curious, eager, consistent, reliable? Define what each word means and imagine yourself living it out.

Wrapping Up

The Life Map will keep you on track toward your goals, and will help you make big and small decisions you’ll be faced with down the road – “will saying yes to this push me toward my goals or away from them?”

The Life Map is a tool, and must be used on an on-going basis to get the best results possible. Yes that means reviewing your sheet daily 🙂

Your Life Map will be ever-evolving as you accomplish goals and replace them with new ones, so don’t get stuck on getting everything written out perfectly before taking action on your daily goals. Goals may change, even categories may change. The key is to keep up on the dailies and adjust along the way.

Take control of what you can control. Small actions lead to big results.

Commit to the Life Map and create the life of your dreams 🙂

Goals, Impossible List, Lifestyle

Impossible List

Corie Muldoon

Ever hear of an Impossible List?

The Impossible List is an ever-evolving list of experiences that build upon each other and inspire you to take action in life.

It’s different from a bucket list because when you complete an Impossible List goal, you replace it with a new one.

Let’s say you have a goal to run a mile for 7 days…

You complete that goal, and replace it with a goal to run for 31 days in a row, and so on.

To start, choose a few life categories ie. Health, Fitness, Finance, Personal.

Under each category, list one thing that you’d like to do or accomplish one day – go as big as you want.

Now you have an Impossible List!

Take action and refer back to this list on a weekly basis, adjusting it as needed.

Bonus miles: use your Impossible List to create goals for your Life Map.

You can find my Impossible List here – which is, of course, ever-evolving. I just recently (2/4/25) changed the name of this list of life experiences to Life Resume! S/o to Jesse Itzler for the inspo!

I got the idea of creating an Impossible List from Thomas Frank, who got his idea from Joel Runyon, who created the world’s first impossible list and defined the difference between it & a regular bucket list.

If the idea of an Impossible List inspires you, I encourage you to make your own…

It has been super powerful for me and I’m just getting started!