Productivity Tip:

Close Open Loops in Your Head

Open loops are the unfinished tasks and unresolved thoughts that keep floating around in your head. Yep, we naturally fixate on things that are unresolved (it’s called the Zeigarnik Effect)—that’s why closing the loops is so important for our ability to focus! Try this:

• Jot down tasks and ideas as soon as they come up. 
• Use the 2-minute rule: If a task will take less than 2 mins to complete, do it now.
• For bigger projects, schedule in time to break them down and plan them out.

The simple act of jotting things down or making a brief plan for how to tackle them is enough to free up your cognitive load and allow you to focus better on what’s at hand. Give it a try today!

Routine Breakdown

Kierra Lee Conover, Founder & CEO of KLC The Studio

How a Girlboss Makes the Gym Her Office

Kierra Conover, founder of KLC The Studio, wakes naturally at around 5:30 AM. “Over the years, I have trained myself to be a morning person,” she says. She:

The Routine:

• Puts on a podcast and plays a puzzle on her phone. “It may seem weird, but it’s just my way of waking my body up. I get to choose how that happens—I want to control what gets put into my body first, so I like the podcast and puzzle routine.”
• Gets up and puts on gym clothes. “I call my mom every morning on the way to the gym. It’s our little 10-minute catch me up.”
• Works on her business while on the treadmill. “I do my BEST work on the treadmill. I come up with the best content ideas, etc. When I was working full time, the gym was the only time I ever had to work on my business so now it’s like my little habit.”
• After her warm-up, runs and lifts weights.
• Showers, heads home, and sits on her sofa to work. “I’ve found that I don’t like working in a traditional office setting. I prefer to do all my work from either the couch or the bed. I only use my office when I have a meeting.”

Why it works:

• Podcasts and puzzles are both ways of engaging the brain, and brain games may also boost short-term attention.
• There’s literally nothing more important than keeping in touch with the people who matter to us—so regular chats with Mom are a must!
• A Stanford study found that walking increases creative output by 60%. Whether it’s a treadmill or walking outside, movement is good for both brain and body.
• Strength training has a bunch of long-term health benefits. Get lifting!

Our top takeaway from Kierra’s routine? You do you. Whether it’s creative thinking on the treadmill or making a couch your workspace instead of a desk, what matters is that it works for you.