School is out for the summer ☀️, but that doesn’t mean work stops! Make the most of limited work hours, with these 3 Productivity Tips!

It’s the last day of school… the bell rings, SCHOOL IS OUT for the summer! Two glorious months filled with running through sprinklers, meeting friends by the pool, and not thinking about school at all.

But as an adult, school letting out for the summer doesn’t mean work stops! 

As someone who thrives in routine, it’s tempting to forge forward without skipping a beat—but, summer presents an opportunity to embrace a change of pace and adopt new rhythms as a family.

As a business owner, there’s a pull to continue making progress while also wanting to embrace these long summer days with our kiddos. I have heard from countless of my entrepreneur friends feeling the tug between making progress at work while also creating intentional summer memories at home.

How to make the most of limited working hours (Summer Edition)

1. Create a Vision for the Season

Time passes. Duh. I don’t have to remind you of that. But one way I have found to magically slow down time is to create traditions in each season. Take a cue from nature and embrace the change of seasons. While you may be able to get watermelon at the grocery store year round, there is something special to a watermelon stained shirt in the hot summer sun sitting on the porch.

As technology advances, the rhythms of each season slowly start to be forgotten. That’s why for each season I create a seasonal “bucket list”.

While for some a bucket list may take the fun and spontaneity out of summer, for me it gives structure to my days and builds excitement for things planned (without the pressure of trying to do everything!). Find what works for you!

Related: See my Full Summer 2023 Bucketlist, here. 

Some ideas:

• Big Trips you want to take
• Foods you want to eat (think popsicles, watermelon, summer salads)
• Memories you want to make (like picking strawberries)
• Daily or weekly rhythms you want to adopt for the summer (like ice cream Fridays or Weekly Pool days!)

I’m a big fan of traditions! Traditions help establish memories and can help mark time. Example: There’s a reason eating cake, blowing out candles, balloons, and opening presents makes it feel more like a birthday.

You can create the same type of “feeling” for summer.

Some Summer Tradition ideas:

• First day of summer: have the same food for dinner.
• Summer Music Playlists
• Get a new summer candle
• Create a Summer Reading List

Think 5 senses here: Tastes, Sounds, Smells of Summer!

Other helpful resources on this topic: I enjoyed this podcast episode from Nancy Ray titled “The Summer Plan”, as well as this series from Kendra Adachi on the Lazy Genius Podcast.

2. Name what is Most Important! (Eliminate what is not!)

Creating a Vision for the Season & a Summer Bucket list are essentially goal setting for your summer! You’ll want to do the same with work. What do you hope to accomplish with work in the next 8-10 weeks?

Once you write down both your personal vision and work goals, take the time to rank what is most important. The worst way to spend the summer is trying to cram too much into too little time. That is a recipe for feeling frustrated and pulled in too many directions.

Ask yourself: What is the one or two goals that, when accomplished, would make the greatest positive impact on my work? If we cannot do it all (which we never can), what is the most important things we can do?

I’m a huge fan of implementing the Pareto Principle, something I teach all of my students inside my business course The Blueprint Model. The Pareto Principle states that 80% of outcomes are a result of 20% of input.

Where is the best use of your time? Put those things first!

Related: if you have some big goals but feel short on time, I highly recommend listening to this episode of Consider the Wildflowers podcast with Shay Cochrane titled “The 16 Hour CEO”. 

Whether home projects or work projects, go into the summer with an idea of what you want to accomplish. That leads to #3— carve out time to do them.

3. Carve out time for you! (without guilt!)

Maybe it’s all the people saying “you only have 18 summers with your kids” that has me feeling pressured to buy popsicles and take the entire summer off. (​there’s a reason this post went viral​.). While I have grand plans for spending every waking second with Madelyn this summer, I am grateful I took a step back and recognized that I need/want time to accomplish some other work and home goals as well.

I don’t know about you but I have this sense of guilt when I could be spending time with Madelyn but choose to spend time doing “me” stuff instead. Meh. Mom guilt at it’s finest.

Thankfully, foresight.. I made a plan with our neighborhood babysitter to come over 2 mornings a week. Whether I spend that time working on work or doing laundry or shopping by myself. Summer doesn’t mean work stops, ask for help!

💰 Budget for help: I know that sometimes the budget doesn’t allow for outside help. Here’s an incredible solution I’ve heard from several friends and business owners I work with: Community childcare! It looks like this: whether work friends, church friends, school friends— get a group together and “trade” days with the kids. One parent watches all of the kids for one day and then you switch. (ps. I have entrepreneur friends that do this all year long if preschool tuition isn’t in the budget!).

Above all else, embrace the season in whatever way feels best for you. Give your time and attention to what matters most— and know that you can accomplish a lot even with limited working hours!

Happy Sunshine Season ☀️

Shanna

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