Over the years I’ve been exploring what productivity really means to me. I’m someone who loves planning, but sometimes my plans were a little too big to work out in real life. But I’ve refined it at last to five pillars that have made the biggest difference I’ve seen in practical productivity for families.
What is Practical Productivity for Families?
It’s not hustle culture. It’s not doing nothing. It’s a realistic look at what needs done, creating rhythms to make it easier on the family, and focusing on family connection in a very distracted age. This will look a little different for each family, but those are the overall principles.
Pillar 1: Small Steps over Overwhelming Plans
Have you ever made a big, gorgeous plan to revamp your life… all to have it fail miserably after a couple of days? Many of us have experienced this to some degree. But changing everything at once is usually not sustainable, so we fall into old habits
Reaching goals becomes easier when we make small steps that take less than an hour. If the steps are too big, it becomes overwhelming and we don’t know where to start.
Pillar 2: Simple Notebook Planning for Busy Households
You don’t actually need a planner. With just a notebook, you can track what you need and make important progress on goals while keeping your biggest priorities aligned.
We recommend a simple process of writing out a long term vision and then making more specific goals either quarterly or monthly.
In a notebook we write a weekly page with any daily appointments, meal plan, and categorized to-do list.
Our daily page has categorized to-do lists at the top and an hourly breakdown at the bottom.
This easy setup takes less than 5 minutes to do in the morning and helps keep us on track all day long – even when things don’t go exactly as planned.
Pillar 3: Smart Tech Boundaries for a Connected Home
We are going full circle – right now we are in a space where more people are adopting analog or “grandma” hobbies. I love that we are bringing back human creativity.
So let’s be mindful of our relationship with our phone and social media. I think it’s kind of crazy that in the last 2 decades we have gone from the start of the internet to tech addiction and the rise of products that people pay for to help keep them OFF their phone. It just goes to show how addicting it can be.
That’s why this pillar is setting smart tech boundaries. Not giving up our phones – just making sure we’re using them wisely.
Pillar 4: Sustainable Rhythms, Routines, and Meal Planning
The next pillar is sustainable systems and routines. Nothing complicated – just a set way of usually doing things to help relieve some of that mental load.
For example, a rotating menu plan for the month is a huge help around here. Each day has a theme, like pasta or taco night, and then we rotate through 4-5 meals that fit into each theme.
It’s also a great idea to have a set morning and evening routine to help start and end the day well.
Pillar 5: Special Family Traditions and Connection
Finally special traditions help keep families connected in a very distracted age.
Some traditions are bigger around birthdays, holidays, or special events. It could be a special birthday breakfast, looking at Christmas lights, or making Thanksgiving pies from scratch.
Others are simply rhythms and daily or weekly cornerstones that everyone counts on to stay connected. Maybe it’s family dinners, books before bed, or cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sunday mornings.
Whether big or small, these are the things can can encourage connection together as a family.
All together, the pillars of “Practical Productivity” encourage building a calm home and connected family while still running a household and reaching realistic goals.
