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The 20's Survival Guide
Welcome to The 20's Survival Guide, a podcast about navigating life in your 20's - the unfiltered edition. Each episode is a candid conversation about the unique experiences and challenges of your 20s, covering everything from career highs and lows to dating escapades and self-discovery. Whether you're figuring out life's next big move or just looking for a good laugh, we've got your back. Tune in and join the ride through the rollercoaster decade of the 20s with us!Join me every Wednesday as we navigate the complete survival guide to thrive in your twenties!Instagram: @_the20ssurvivalguide
The 20's Survival Guide
De-influencing Your Productivity Guilt - (Time Management Hacks That Actually Work)
Are you tired of all the wellness and productivity bait on social media at the moment? It feels like we are constantly made to feel badly for never being productive enough. But some days, all we can do is the bare minimum and that's ok!
In this week's episode, I am de-influencing you on the need to feel productive all the time. We discuss niche top tips on how to put in the least effort possible to get the most out of your time and productivity!
We also discuss why it is so difficult to be in your 20's at the moment with a feature from Mel Robbins!
Enjoy!
Welcome back to another episode of the 20s Survival Guide. This is your host, emily. Today I'm actually here to de-influence you and I know you might see a couple of reels on Instagram that is like let me de-influence you what a normal day looks like, let me de-influence you on what being in your 20s looks like, because, let's be real, a lot of this podcast I do give great tips at least I like to think so great tips at least I like to think so on how you can be more motivated, be more productive, be more this, be more that, be more this. Honestly, sometimes it's exhausting and you're just like can we just not be more? Can we just understand that it's hard enough to go through your 20s at this time? And there is this reel that Mel Robbins actually put out and I really just listened to it today and it was basically her saying that everyone who calls Gen Z snowflakes and everyone who says that being in your 20s now is so much easier than it was when our parents were in their 20s, they're lying and they're not true and they're not right because we have so much debt. If you went to university, your debt is huge, house prices are like unaffordable, and the list goes on and it's. It's like can we get a bit of appreciation for the fact that we're just doing our best out here and it's just so much harder?
Speaker 1:The essence of why I'm saying this is because being unproductive is so normal. It's great to be productive all the time, but we don't, as human beings, have the ability to just be productive, be switched on every single hour of the day, like every single day of the week. You're going to have slumps, you're going to have days where you are procrastinating and you're going to beat yourself up about it and think why couldn't I just focus? Because you can't do it all day every day. You don't have to wake up at 6am every single day. You don't have to take off your makeup every night. That's not realistic. Sometimes it just doesn't happen. You don't have to go for a run before the birds start bloody chirping. You don't have to have your life together and have this perfect morning routine where you have like an ice bath. It just isn't realistic. And I'm not here to tell you how to be more productive with your time and how to make the most of it, and how to be productive 24 seven, because it's just not true. The people who are like that and who look like they don't have any bad days. They're lying. They do, they just don't show it.
Speaker 1:I had one thought that this episode was going to be how to be more productive with your time. But you know what I don't want to talk about that? It's just not going to help anyone. I'm not going to tell you that you should eat more protein and throw away your phone. We're going to talk about how you can really use your time efficiently, but with the least effort possible. You don't have to do much to actually achieve these tips that I'm going to tell you. They're just really small things that you can do which don't take much effort and could probably help you, so you can put the least effort possible and just get something out of it, because sometimes we just don't want to be productive 24 7.
Speaker 1:I hope that sounds good because we're about to get into the episode. So, like I said, let's be honest. It's the typical perfect routine that you're always told to stick to and make and have this routine that you do every single day, and it's super easy. It doesn't always work. Sometimes you've got parties, sometimes you you've got work. Sometimes you've got to go for drinks with friends after work, like sometimes you're just busy and it doesn't always happen. Our 20s are messy. They're unpredictable. We have no idea what's going to happen in the next year or so theoretically, like your whole life could change. So we're here to talk about the time hacks that are actually going to help you improve your 20s, that are just easy and that aren't high maintenance.
Speaker 1:I've got eight main tips. I've literally scoured and thought so much about this one because I didn't want to just put in random tips that just sound really average or ones that you've heard before. So I've got eight specific tips that are going to help you and we're about to get into them. Tip number one is the mentally, mentally dead time bucket. You're probably thinking what the hell, emily, is that? Like, that's a thing that you've made up. It is. It is what I've made up. Technically. I don't think anyone ever calls it that.
Speaker 1:But what the mentally dead time bucket is is that time in the day where you're alive, obviously, but you're kind of dead to doing work, like you aren't productive, you're not gonna be productive in those hours. You can't really focus, you're just in a slump, and that is the time in the day where you should be dedicating to really small, minor tasks like folding your laundry or calling a friend or unsubscribing to emails or whatever it is. That time is like your downtime, but you're still kind of working if you need to, but you know you can put your small tasks that are really easy then. So lots of people. It's from three till five pm when you just hit a wall and you're just thinking I can't work anymore, I'm exhausted and I have no energy.
Speaker 1:That is your mentally dead time bucket. This is where you should be doing your intentionally low effort tasks. If it's 3 to 5 pm for you, that's when you should do it. If it's 9 in the morning because you're not a morning person, then that's also when you should do it. But that is how you can use your time most efficiently. You're really just maximizing the time when you do have the most motivation and productivity levels for bigger tasks that you struggle with that you know are going to take up more time, and when you leave those tasks, which I do all the time.
Speaker 1:I procrastinate and I leave the tasks to later in the day because I'm like I'm gonna do it later and I just have so much to do right now and I've got to reply to this email and then, an hour later, the email's being replied to. 70 billion reels have been scrolled on and I figured out a new hot take on some celebrity or their favorite food and I'm just like what the hell have I done with my life? No, you're going to do the stuff that is important before and then, when you hit the crash, you can doom scroll. If that's what you want to do, go and doom scroll in your mentally dead hours. That is my tip number one. Tip number two create a bare minimum mode template. Another thing that you're probably like, girl, you need to stop talking. You need help. No, I do need help, but that's a whole nother story.
Speaker 1:So we know that not every day can be hyper productive, and the people who are on social media that you're watching, who look hyper productive, are literally just showing you those days when they are, and they're not like that every day because people need rest. There are going to be days where you're going to set out to do so much work but you're really feeling low and your body just isn't working with you, your brain isn't working with you and you're having an unproductive day. That happens, it's normal. You're not the only one and you can't fight them sometimes. So you're creating this low, bare minimum mode template, which is what you're setting yourself out to do when you're having these unproductive days. So you might be thinking, oh, this is a terrible day, I can't get anything done, my brain isn't working. You don't want to end the day obviously thinking I've done nothing. You want to be able to get some gratification from ticking something off your to-do list. So this bare minimum mode template is what you're going to be doing when you have these days the things that you know that are really easy for you to tick off. So you finish the day and you're saying I've already done this.
Speaker 1:So what does a bare minimum day look like to you? Literally putting in the bare minimum, because sometimes, when you're hungover or when you're having a bad day, that is all you can do and that's fine. Maybe, for example, a bare minimum day looks like two healthy meals and then one meal you're eating out or you're getting takeaway. Maybe it means one hour of focused work or focused ish work. If you're really trying to have a day off, one hour is better than nothing and you're at least setting the fact that it's going to be hard, but you can do one hour of it answering three texts. Maybe you're just going to answer some messages. Answer three messages, like, sometimes it's so hard to answer all your emails, answer all your texts. I've spoken about this before I I really am not good at it, but answering three texts, tick, wow, we've already ticked something off. How good does that feel? Unreal. I love ticking things off. Answering three text messages, yes, please, bare minimum, yeah, but that's the whole point of this thing. You know what? You can even put a shower on the list.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's hard, okay, I mean, we really should be showering every single day, but there have been days when I was, I must admit, there were days when I was studying for my finals for my degree and I might have never left the library. So, yeah, I think we can all agree that sometimes a shower might be intended and then it doesn't happen, but those are very few days, because we're clean people. The point is is that a shower should be on your bare minimum mode to-do list? And you know you have those four or five things. You've done them. Okay, cool, that's better than nothing. It looks so much better when it's written down when you're having these hard days, following this script or this template is a win. You're having these wins and what this really does is it prevents you spiraling and thinking, oh my gosh, I've done nothing today. I've done nothing, I've, I've only had a shower. Yeah, but if you put that on your template for one of your few things that you're going to do that day, that is a win. You've ticked it off. So you're then thinking I've had a shower, though instead of I've only had a shower. Moving on, I did say they were going to be bare minimum guys.
Speaker 1:Number three is use micro rituals to switch modes. God, that was a literal tongue twister. Okay, the point is, your brain will sometimes struggle to switch gears from work mode to play mode or work mode to doing your own personal admin or your side hustle, and creating tiny rituals for the in-between time that you're switching is probably going to help your brain so much more than you think. So, let's say, putting on different music from shifting from working to resting. So maybe you listen to house music when you're about to work and you're getting yourself pumped and then resting. Maybe you listen to like, really chilled music. You know a bit of brazil or a bit of, you know, country indie, whatever it may be. Shifting your music will be your mind shifting as well, thinking okay, now I'm gonna rest instead of working and just having those splits. Your brain's probably going to really appreciate that, because you're separating what you associate with work, what you associate with rest.
Speaker 1:Another good one is changing your location. Everyone knows that if you stay in the same location for so long, you get really burnt out and just get in a slump. And I think what's a really good point is to go and choose different locations for different tasks that you're doing. So if you're working from home, let's say maybe you're gonna work in the kitchen and you're going to do your actual job or whatever work that may be in the kitchen, and then when you're going to go and do your side hustle or when you've got to do other admin stuff or you've got to take calls, you can go into your bedroom or you can go into the living room or something like that, or to a library. But just switching areas, switching locations when you have to switch what kind of work you've got to do, is a great way to associate different locations with different work.
Speaker 1:Another one for this new energy thing is, maybe you want to light a candle when you're going to start writing. I don't know if you're a creative writer out here or if you've got to write a paper for your dissertation or you've got to write a paper for your uni degree. Light a candle. That kind of changes the energy. Let's's not lie. It's really nice to have candles and it's great to have candles before bed, and I normally put my candles before I go to bed on because I just think that it really calms me. But if you're writing and you're really stressed, put a candle on, create a vibe, create an energy and obviously you've got to do the work but add a candle. Maybe that will change your mood and change your energy to shift towards, like, calm and focus. Or maybe when you're really struggling to work and you're working from home, put some shoes on. That can make you feel a little bit more professional, instead of wearing tracksuits every day because you don't have to leave the house. I find it really hard to work in tracksuits because only when I'm really on my bad days, because I just don't feel professional. I don't't feel like I've really woken up.
Speaker 1:We're on to tip number four. Guys, this is probably the easiest one. What you're going to do is you're going to have a to-do list and you're going to have a done list. So your to-do list has everything that you need to do, everything that you've set out to do for the day, the week, the month. But the done list is something that people really don't have, because you just tick it off of the to-do list but that doesn't really give the same satisfaction as writing everything onto what you've done for the day and having that list to see exactly what you've done that day. The whole point of this is to reframe how you see your day and how productive you've been. So by writing down the things that you've done that day on days where you feel like you've done nothing, is really going to shift your mind and think, oh, I've actually not done nothing and it just helps you feel a little better, gives you that boost and it will really show you how productive you actually were. Might surprise you. I'd put these done lists in my notes app on my phone because it's just a great reminder to be looking at that and it's on your phone and you can see okay, look how much I've done today. And I'll specifically do these done lists on days where I'm really struggling and I have like no motivation, because when I'm already feeling like I've got a lot done, it doesn't really matter. But on days where I feel like I've done nothing, my gosh, I want to write it out so I can actually remember huh, I've not done nothing. And when your parents ask you or your friend asks you, what have you done today, and you're like, oh, I've done nothing, and they're like, really, yeah, this done list is going to show you exactly that you haven't done nothing and it's true. So don't say that you have, because you've probably been more productive than you think.
Speaker 1:Number five protect your high ROI time slots. If you guys didn't know, it is so normal, it's so fine to not know, but ROI tends to be return on investment. That is like an investment term and a business term. But what that means in these terms is your return on investment. You're investing in yourself.
Speaker 1:The time in the day where you have so much focus and you feel like you're just most productive at that time. It's probably the time where you set out these, these big projects, these big tasks to do in I don't know three hours or two hours, and you get them done in like half an hour. Those times in the day deserve to be guarded. They are precious times. They are times where you need to treat them with care, because you shouldn't be replying to emails at this time. This is gold dust time, where you need to be focusing on the projects that drain your energy, the projects that are the most difficult out of everything you've got to do that day, because you're probably gonna do the best at them at these times and you're gonna focus the most. So you shouldn't be replying to emails, you shouldn't be replying to messages and you shouldn't be scrolling on Instagram at this time. Maybe it's at nine till 11 in the morning, or maybe it is between one till five. I don't know what they could be. It could be so many different hours you could have a one hour slot, or it could be a three hour slot that you feel like this, but the point is that you have to figure out when that is for you and protect them and do your hardest tasks when you feel at your best, and that's just another strategy for low effort but a higher return on investment. Do you see where I'm coming from? Now? You really don't have to change your whole routine and your whole life structure in order to be this productive person that has their whole life together. All you have to do is just think a little more about when you can be the most productive, rather than working hard and not smart. You don't have to change anything in your day by finding out what time in the day this is for you. You just have to change when you're going to put your priorities and how you're going to slot them in.
Speaker 1:Number six set time-based goals, not just task-based goals. So let's say you've got your dissertation to write and I feel like a lot of us have graduated from university. A lot of us didn't go to university. Maybe you don't know what a dissertation is. It's your final paper. The point is I'm using this as a good example because you have a lot of pages to write.
Speaker 1:Normally, when you're doing your dissertation and you're thinking how am I going to do this today? How many pages am I going to write today? I need to get five pages done Instead of doing that, which is a task-based goal. You can also reframe it and look at it like this and say I'm going to write for 25 minutes today and let's see how much I get done. Then you're not actually selling yourself an amount of pages that you need to get done, because sometimes that can lead to a mental block of knowing how much words you have to write on the page and then getting blocked and stressed because you can't get that done. So, setting yourself 25 minutes, you might even be able to do more than what you set out to do in terms of pages. You're actually just saying I'm going to write for this long and even if it's like three sentences, it takes the pressure off massively and also a big part of essays and writing and whatever writing tasks you have to do. Maybe it's for work. It's hardest to start. The hardest part is starting. That's always what I found. So the whole point of making it a time thing, like a time-based goal, not a task-based goal is it just makes it easier to start. You can just start writing I've got 25 minutes, let's get a word on the page, let's get the title down. That's all you have to do.
Speaker 1:Number seven your calendar should include non-work stuff, non-work related things, as well as work stuff. Seriously, I mean that because a lot of people just have you know your work and what you've got to do and I don't really know. But what, whatever fun stuff you've got to do, whatever fun things you have planned, whatever pub dates, whatever dinner parties you have planned, add them to your calendar too. It doesn't need to be just a work serious kind of thing, because it really just shows you that you have such a balance and you can look forward to the fun things as much as the work stuff. You're booking them in like they're gonna happen and they're just as important. Number eight this is the last one you need anchor events in your week. What do I mean by anchor events? Great question, great question. These are things that I had at uni all the time and I really miss that part of uni.
Speaker 1:So sometimes, as we were a house of seven, we would have scheduled nights most of the time where we'd either go to the pub or go to the club on this night pretty much every week, or have a girl's dinner or have a group dinner or have a Sunday dinner bi-weekly, and it made it so much nicer because there was always something to look forward to and you always knew that your week was anchored down by that thing. So when you're planning your week you already have those things in there. It's like do you want to have a Thursday night with the girls or a Thursday night with the boys, a pizza night every single week? Maybe it's a Wednesday gym session, a Wednesday evening gym session and you know that that evening is always for the gym, something that anchors your week because you're always going to do it at that time. Or maybe it could be just a Sunday reset.
Speaker 1:On Sundays, from four till six, you're having a reset, planning your week cleaning your room, tidying stuff, packing, unpacking or it could be a Friday pizza night with your best friend, just something that happens every single week. I think that that is something that really picks up my mood when I know I've got this, this event that I have every single week and I don't really have much of that right now, which is quite sad, I need to put those in. But when you have a person who's down to do something every single week and say, ok, on Fridays we go for pizza and we go to the pub for a drink, and you always know that you've got that one thing to look forward to If everything else fails that week, if it all turns gray and everything else fails, you've got that pizza night. You know it sounds kind of sad, but it's actually so nice to think about when you've got that person who you can just have that with and that can be a best friend, that could be a boyfriend, it could be anyone. These things just make you feel grounded. You're like everything else might be chaos, work might be chaos, but on friday I'm doing this with this person and it happens every single week. That's really nice. Obviously, some weeks you might have different plans, but on the whole, having an anchor event that happens in your week, it's just such a great thing to do with a friendship group and it's such a great way to stay in touch. It could be a Zoom call with your uni mates on a Thursday evening with a glass of wine something as little as that it really just keeps you going.
Speaker 1:Okay, guys, those were my eight tips. The whole point of this episode is just shining a light on the fact that you're not always looking to find a way to be more productive. The whole of society right now, and the whole of social media, is always telling you how you could be more productive, how you can be better at this, how you can work out harder, how you can eat healthier, how many calories you should get in the day. Honestly, it's just not realistic and we all know that. Sometimes you're gonna be unproductive, and that's okay. Sometimes you're not gonna wake up on time for things, and sometimes you're not gonna wake up at 6 am for a run, and sometimes you're not gonna wake up at 6 am for a run, and that's also fine. The whole point of these eight tips is to help you figure out how you can use your time most wisely and make it feel like it's actually yours. Guess what? Like? Sometimes you will mess it up. Sometimes it won't work out to plan, and that's fine. These are just small ways to help you without putting in much effort at all.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you're gonna procrastinate, sometimes you're gonna doom scroll and sometimes you're gonna binge watch on Netflix for hours, maybe it's a whole day. The whole point is that's fine. We can't be perfect. We're not perfect. We're here to test and try things in our 20s guys. So when you're having days and you're beating yourself up because you're telling yourself that you're not productive, you've barely done anything and you haven't set out what you intended to do, it's fine. Take a deep breath. It's normal and bare minimum days are normal and everyone has them, so don't worry, it's okay to not feel like you're being taken in by the cultish social media channels which are telling you that you need to be waking up at 5 am because they do, or at least they do on my feed.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, guys. Maybe you have people binge watching and you're loving it, but mine is not. That it's very hard to find that actually. Essentially, it's just trial and error. There's no one tip that's gonna fit all, not one size fits all in everything.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you might be having a chaotic week at work and all you set out to do that week is just to survive and keep going. And maybe you don't have social plans, and that's fine. Maybe you don't have social plans on the weekend that's normal. That's what I'm here to de-influence you about. That you shouldn't have to worry about not having a Saturday night plan, and you shouldn't have to worry about going to bed at 10 PM on a Saturday if you want to. It's not a big deal and it's so normal.
Speaker 1:So just don't stress, guys, because your routine is going to fluctuate just like you do. You have ups and downs and you're not always going to be perfect. Not every day is going to be a hundred percent, but just finding a way to make you feel like you've at least given 1% every day is what we're trying to do here. So this whole thing about Mel Robbins, I'm just going to play it to you. I'm going to play the video that Mel Robbins was talking about because it's really good and maybe you've heard it, maybe you follow her, maybe you're a big fan of the let them theory. But if you haven't, I'm going to play it for you now.
Speaker 2:The average 20 year old today is under so much stress and pressure and chaos right now and it's not pressure and stress and chaos that existed five or six years ago. And you know, we sit here and we look at 20-somethings and we're like, oh, they're weak or addicted to social media or all anxious or this or the other thing. Have you stopped to consider what it's like to be a 20-something today? Homeownership is out of reach. The generational wealth gap is absolutely massive. Nearly 10 million people right now are falling behind in their student loans. That's $250 billion worth of debt that is past due. The world is in chaos and most 20-somethings have parents that lived in a very predictable, stable economy. They went to a corporate job, they reported to the office, they had a network of friends at work. That's not the typical 20-year-old experience. They're now in the middle of a recession and hybrid work. The world is shifting. The landscape is shifting. If you feel lost, I'm not surprised. This is exactly how you should feel.
Speaker 1:Okay, guys, the video goes on for a little longer, but the whole point of that is just to shine light on the fact that it's not easy to be in your 20s now, and I'm serious. All the people who are telling you, as someone in their 20s at this period of time in history, you're chilling, you've got everything. The world is so much more advanced. No, it's super hard, and don't let them make you feel small as a person, because it is hard and that's normal. If you liked any of these hacks, though, please let me know.
Speaker 1:I'd love to know which one suits you best, which one you resonate with most, and which ones you do already, or even ones that I haven't mentioned and you have and you think are great, that are just low effort, bare minimum tasks or tips that are just really easy to implement to make your life easier. Please let me know. Dm me on instagram or dm me in the show notes. However, you want to reach me, please do. I'd love to hear them, and I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. If you enjoyed it, we can bring more of this stuff back and we can shift it, because I'm a big fan of these episodes. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Have a great rest of your wednesday. I'll see you next week. Bye.
