Ask anyone how they’ve been and you’re likely to get the same answer: busy. We’re all moving at a million miles per hour and feeling the need to do more and make the most out of every single moment of our days. We all have full plates, we’re always connected and thanks to social media, we’re all about broadcasting the most polished versions of our lives.

I’m as guilty of this as anyone – balancing blogging with working full time isn’t easy and I definitely feel the pressures of comparison pushing me to do more, have more and be more. Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on this, and ultimately what I want long term for myself personally and professionally and I’ve realized that one of the first steps toward getting to where I want to see is doing me. Worrying less about other people, spending less time feeling overwhelmed and busy and more time focusing on becoming my most effective self, because at the end of the day, we all have the same amount of hours… it’s all about maximizing them by being strategic about how you’re using them.

* Photos by Tory Putnam

One of the first steps in becoming your most effective self is becoming really aware of your time and how it’s being spent – make note of your daily routine: what are the key tasks that are repeated? Where do you have moments of down time and how are they currently being spent? By taking that step back and thinking about how your time is being spent rather than only focusing on getting through your to dos can help you identify opportunities to create more efficient workflows or repetitive tasks that end up being time wasters. Even taking small steps like running certain errands near your office instead of at home can end up saving you time in the long run.

After I focused on what my time was being spent on, I started to think a lot about how it was being spent – chances are you’ll get through something much quicker if you do it at the right time of the day for your workstyle! For me I’ve found that I’m much more likely to skip an evening workout than a morning one, so I stopped trying to force myself to try and get on an after work workout schedule and instead have shifted things to accommodate for 6 AM workout classes (and the 5 AM alarms that go with them… oof). I also know that I can work much faster in the morning than the afternoon, so that 6 AM workout class helps get me into the office earlier, which in turn means I’m able to cruise through my biggest work tasks of the day before the rest of my team is in the office and also helps guarantee I’m out of work at a reasonable time which frees up my evenings for blogging. Think about when you feel best while working and run with that! Even if you have traditional work hours, you’ll be able to maximize them if you’re doing the day’s work during the timeframes when you’re personally most productive.

One of the biggest realizations I’ve had recently on my mission to become my most effective self is the importance is investing in the right tools to set yourself up for success. Do you work better in a quiet space? Noise canceling headphones will go a long way! Do you need to be away from distractions? Rent a Breather for an hour and crank away! For me with working in digital and running a blog, the right computer is a must and I’ve been loving the HP Pavilion 17″ with Windows 10– it’s become my secret weapon in being as effective as possible. For starters the HP Pavilion 17″ laptops come in a bunch of color options so you’re able to think of it as your own personal accessory, not just an electronic. I love the sleek white because of how clean and modern it looks – the laptop also has a backlit keyboard and full numeric keyboard which makes it a dream for writing content or dealing with invoices. With the HP Pavilion and Windows 10 I’m able to easily move between apps and windows, and even multitask with multiple things on the same screen, which has been awesome for editing photos and managing social media but best of all? It has a touch screen. Seriously… it’s a dream come true!

Chances are a new laptop could be a big helper in your own mission to become your most effective self and HP and HSN are partnering on an exclusive sale of the HP Pavilion 17″ on July 18th where you could scoop up your own secret weapon for only $699.95… AND there’s even free shipping and handling.

When do you feel your most effective? Are there any tricks recently you’ve learned for making the most of your time?

This post was created in partnership with HP and HSN