Make Your Summer Productive

It’s hard to believe summer is now about half over. Even though it’s great to just relax and have fun from June to August, it can also get a little too chaotic with no regular routines or schedule of any kind. When you think about it, that’s three months out of twelve that we relax and give up on trying to get anything done. I’m guilty too. By July, I sometimes give up on trying to accomplish anything until September. But this summer, I’ve been trying to do better with a different approach. Instead of procrastinating until September, I’m trying to finish my summer strong. Here’s how I’m doing that:

7 Steps To Finish Your Summer Strong:

Finish some of your yearly goals by the end of August. Work on goals in the summer? Yep. Instead of losing momentum in the summer, get more motivated and use the most of your summer. If you can finish some goals by the end of summer, you’ll be ready for new goals in the fall.
Get healthy and lose weight. There’s always a good reason to put it off, but summer is really a great time to eat healthier and get outside to get more exercise. I’m talking to myself here too. Before the holiday feasts begin in the winter, I’d like to get my weight down and then maintain.
Go minimal for the summer and save money. Summer is a good time for a simpler lifestyle. Challenge yourself to use less of everything, which leads to less shopping and less spending. Use that extra money to pay off credit cards and start September with zero balances.
Get major projects out of the way. Sometimes it’s hard to get projects done during the school year, so use this time to get some projects crossed off your list. For example, I’ve been redecorating a room in our house that we have been procrastinating on. By September, I’m going to have that checked off my list and move on.
Write a summer bucket list and do it! Summer should be fun and not always productive, so write down all the things you would like to do to have a really great summer. Then, make it happen by putting everything on your calendar. Include things you want to do with others and things to do for yourself. Include places to explore or simple things like spending an entire afternoon reading on your back porch.
Re-connect with family and friends. There’s no better time than summer to get together with people you don’t get to see very often. If you don’t plan for it now, you might get busy in September and let it go for another year. Add these things to your bucket list and your calendar.
Start setting goals and making plans for fall. Take an afternoon or just a few hours and write goals and projects you want to start in September. I’ll have more about this in a later post.