A Week In Instagram Lives: Planning Your Week Ahead

Have I mentioned recently how much I love an Instagram Live? 

Give me a barre class, brownie bake-along and bingo in one week and yes indeed, you will have my heart.

Okay, so come 9am, 4pm and 6pm things get a little bit rush hour over on the ‘gram- but hey, if it ain’t for you- you can just keep scrolling. Thankfully for yours truly, I’m a sucker for a social (media) gathering, and have truly loved getting lost in exercise classes I might never have attended, baked recipes I might never have tried or found wise words from voices I may otherwise have never have discovered.

I’ve been astounded by the generosity of brands and individuals sharing their time and knowledge for communities around the world; whether that be in fitness, food, coaching or otherwise- and have rounded up a few of my favourites into a weekly schedule for the week ahead (subject to change, of course), that you can get stuck into if you so wish! Again, I’m sure I’ve missed out some absolute wonders- so please feel free to share below! Each week I know things do change, so I’ve tried to keep things broad (and grouped together people that don’t do set days too)!

YOUR WEEK IN INSTAGRAM LIVES

Monday:

A barre class @psyclelondon (throughout the day): One of my absolute favourite classes ever- having never been brave enough to attend an IRL class, this has been the perfect introduction to barre. They do several time slots a day, so check back the night before for the following days agenda.

A chat with @shotfromthestreet and @lindseyholland_ from Things You Can’t Ask Yer Mum at 5pm: One of my favourite lives, these girls are sunshine through and through and their Q&A style heart to hearts are such a gorgeous start to the week.

Fake-away cook-along with @gizandgreens at 7pm: Gizzi Erskine and Professor Green bring you weekly dinner cook-alongs to recreate your favourite takeaway dishes at home. Deeeelicious.

Tuesday:

Elevenses with @thissarahpowell (11am, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays): Wonder woman and founder of Celebrate Yourself Sarah Powell does thrice-weekly chatters on her Instagram which are as funny and warm as they are wholesome.

Lunch time LBT with @pt.angeline at 12pm (and on Saturdays): Missing your live LBT workouts? My PT and absolute babe Angeline is hosting weekly LBT workouts on her page and they are bloody brilliant.

Wednesday:

Wednesday Wine Club with @esteelalonde and @rebecca.munroe at 7pm: If you’re up for a natter with some wonderful women with a glass (even if it’s a lemonade) this is a great space for a chatter and a giggle.

Bingo with @julesandsarahpodcast at 8pm: If you need a mid week LIFT this has to be it. The absolute best @julesvonhep and @thissarahpowell doing Bingo. Or Bev. Sometimes Keith. Always Maureen.

Thursday:

’80s Aerobic workout with @moveyourframe: Okay this isn’t an Instagram Live, but if you want a fun Fonda-esque workout towards the end of your week I can’t recommend checking out Frame’s online classes enough. Monthly subscription with unlimited streams!

#getdressedforwork with @emsladedmondson at 3pm: Live interviews with wonderful women about working from home, getting dressed, motivation and everything in between.

Friday:

Hand in Hand Live at 5pm with @loudoillon: Beautiful story and poetry readings with the incredible Lou Doillon and (sometimes) her mother Jane Birkin too.

Pub quiz at The Stay Inn with @lucysheridan at 8pm: Oh this girl LOVES a quiz- and Lucy’s is a brilliant pub quiz stand in each week. Tune in and get competitive!

Saturday:

At Home With… @theannaedit and @lilypebbles at 1:30pm: If you want a chatter and watch-along whilst you bake Anna’s cookies, then this is the live for you.

Noel Fielding’s Art Club 3pm: With a different theme every week, Noel challenges you to get creative with different mediums and sometimes with a very special guest judge too.

Sunday:

End of the week quizzing with @jessiloumilton: In case you’re craving a little more trivia, Jessi normally does a Sunday night quiz too!

******

But there’s more! 

Obviously there are tonnes of brilliant lives going on daily- and some of them just don’t stick to a schedule, but fear not! I’ve listed below the people to keep checking in on both daily, and every now and again if you’re after a little more…

The people worth checking in on for a great live (and who do them most days, if not every day):

@africabrooke for beautiful conversations on self sabotage and coaching, @holliepoetry for wonderful readings, @katiejanehughes for chats and wonderful make up tutorials, @carolinehirons for unrivalled skincare advice and tips, @sophia_roe for DMC’s with her and her brilliant circle, @babba for brilliant lives every Tuesday and Thursday at 10am (EST)

For musical moments and special live shows:

@furbabyfur for brilliant acoustic sets, @firstaidkitband for the most beautiful performances (sometimes with live orchestra’s too- I know), @wearescientists for nightly chatters and a song, @robbiewilliams (I haven’t seen his but apparently they are quite something), @christineandthequeens and @ohwondermusic for nightly sing-alongs, @jamesblake for piano-fuelled goodness and @jamesbaymusic for music lessons

For your fitness fix:

@aliceliveing for brilliant varied weekly classes, @sassy__dance for weekly dance classes and routines on a Wednesday at 6:30pm, @bootybymich for classes across the pond, @kirstyraynor for daily live #minimedi sessions, @otimabuse for weekly dance classes which are BRILL and @barre.balance for live classes.

For foodie cook-alongs:

@iamlaurajackson and @hoste.london for cook-alongs with special guests, @ghenetactually for easy-to-follow bakes, @frances_quinn for crEATive bakes, @ottolenghi for delicious dishes, @bonappetitmag for all your foodie fixes and @christinatosi for her daily baking club.

x

Five Steps To Your Most Productive Week Yet

Time to NAIL IT…

Being the planning lover that I am, I can’t say that I hit 2020 running and you just *know* that that’s not my style. Mark was ill with flu, I was jet lagged and struggling with my usual 6am alarm and I’d cancelled more workout classes than you can shake a stick at. It was a slow start and with my love for organisation and impatient nature (GUYS I’M SO FUN TO BE AROUND), my need for getting back on it was there but my brain and body just couldn’t keep up. One month back though and everything has finally clicked back into place. Mark has stopped coughing up his lungs 38 times a night and is back to eating us out of house and home again, I woke up at 5:30am the other day and managed to keep my eyes open till bedtime and I’ve managed to work out multiple times a week and have weirdly enjoyed it. So today I thought I’d share the five steps that I’ve been putting place to ensure maximum productivity every week; Monday through till Friday. And seeing as we got back from Sri Lanka yesterday and our body clocks are currently set to afternoon-mode right now, I think I might need this post today more than ever…

P.S) Sri Lanka travel guide coming your way soon! 

PUT IN THE PREP. There’s nothing more satisfying than setting down to start work on a Monday morning and already have your to-do list laid out and ready to be ticked off. If I’ve had a productive week previously then I’ll usually set aside 30 minutes or so the previous Friday to sit down and have a look through the next week’s plans in order to put a to-do together to tackle, if not then I’ll dedicate the first section of the day on a Monday morning to it. Here’s how I put it together.

– HIGH PRIORITY TASKS. Allocate set days for you to complete your high-priority tasks for the following week. Make sure you’re being realistic with your timings and you’re giving yourself long enough to get the most important jobs done to the best of your ability. I tend to set myself just three to five medium to larger size tasks a day.

– LOWER PRIORITY TASKS. Then I set about buffering those already full days with items that need to get done, but perhaps aren’t so pressing. I tend to sandwich these things in-between meetings or events when I know I might not have so much time on my hands.

– ERRANDS. Instead of adding in errands and more life admin tasks to my to-do list I have them on the opposite page in my planner in a list, so I can eat away at them throughout the week. They are really handy when I’m feeling spent for the day, but still want to get something done – that’s when I tend to chip away at them most.

– SOCIAL STUFF & EXERCISE. Finally I look at how my week is panning out – hopefully with my high priority tasks given the attention they deserve, low priority tasks in there too so that I’m up to date with all my editorial work around that week’s meetings with an errand buffet to pick at when I have time – and then I add in social stuff and exercise where possible. Always booking onto classes where I can to give me a much higher chance of actually completing them.

WORK WITH YOUR PRODUCTIVITY LEVELS. I know I’m always harping on about this, but if you can, factor your natural productivity levels into your planning. For me I’m an early bird so I will always weight my days so that I do the meatier tasks in the morning, trying to schedule mornings at home and keeping them free from conference calls or meetings, leaving the afternoons for those things and any tasks which don’t require as much brain power. These days I prefer an evening workout as that way I don’t disrupt my productive mornings and they give me a nice distinction between work and home life too.

---

KEEP UP WITH OTHER LIFE STUFF. I will always feel like I’ve had a more productive week if the household side of things has run smoothly as well. So I meal prep where possible making big batches of dinners so that I don’t have to cook every night of the week, ensure that Mark and I keep on top of our weekly cleaning schedule and try to keep on top of clothes washing and putting away. Then there are the self-care cogs like leaving the house at least once a day to get some fresh air, reading my book in the evening, trying to get an early-ish night, not ditching my spin and Reformer classes – you get the gist. They are all little building blocks that once you start to work them into your life so you do them without even thinking, can help free up time and decrease your stress levels so you can run at 100%.

---

KNOW HOW TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF. This is perhaps the hardest part of productivity – procrastination and how to find the motivation to slap yourself out of it. If I’m having a tough time getting in the mood to complete a task then I switch it up, tackling something that’s completely different in order to try and jump start my productivity levels again. If that doesn’t work then a short 20 minute walk round the block often helps, or giving myself something that I can do whilst listening to a podcast or music, like photo editing or adding links to video description boxes to let my mind wander a bit and have a break. Often I find that I’m usually way more productive when a deadline is looming too, so sometimes getting something done super early just doesn’t put a rocket up my arse in the same way. Basically it’s trial and error, but have a few methods up your sleeves to see what sticks that day.

---

GIVE YOURSELF SOME BREATHING SPACE. I might have written a book about life organisation, but that doesn’t mean that I always tick everything off my to-do list by the end of the week. In fact, the reality is far from it. I’m chronically optimistic about what I can get done in a day, so will always over-plan and ultimately leave myself with not enough time on the clock to get the task in hand completed. Because I know that will be the case nine times out of ten I now force myself to take Friday afternoon to work through the backlog. The motivation is that if I do keep up with my tasks then I have a bit of spare time on my hands come Friday 2pm, but if I haven’t then I should in theory have a bit of time to complete them before the working week is over.

---

My January Goals

My January Goals 2020

Every new year, I try to set an intention for the next twelve months. I think I did a pretty good job about staying present last year, although it definitely devolved around the last quarter of the year.

This year’s intention is actually something that I inadvertently started last year. I want to focus on my daily habits. As great as it is to have long-term goals (and I certainly have mine), there’s something to be said about setting and maintaining daily habits. I have been doing the same things every day and love the way it feels. Some are things I do first thing in the morning and it gives me the boost I need to start the day off on a productive foot. Others are things I do just before I go to bed and it helps me get in the right mindset for sleep.

Some of the things I have been exceptional at already (for example: meditating, drinking water, making my bed, going to bed early) and others I need to focus on a little more to make them truly a daily habit.

I just think that there’s something to be said about making small, consistent changes to your everyday routine to improve your life. It’s not always the case that you need a GIANT overhaul to change your life.

One thing that I’ve done to help set me up for success is to have a tracker in my notebook where I do my daily to-do lists. Every morning, I write down the habits I want to do every day, as if they’re a task on my to-do list. Because, at the end of the day, they really ARE tasks I want to do.

I’ve always been a pretty disciplined person, but I’ve found that focusing on daily habits only makes me more disciplined in other areas of my life too. Excited to kick up the habits even more this year!!

Would love to know what your intention is for the year.

december to-do list

December is a month where my to-do lists always feel they’re bursting at the seams and despite not being the biggest lover of the festive period I always look forward to December. I think it goes back to my childhood where it was when naturally we’d always be getting ready for Christmas and doing some of my favourite things like putting up the tree and festive baking. Does anyone else find that they love the run-up to Christmas more than the day itself? Anyway, here is what is on my to-do list for December.

kick start my couch to 5k app again

I’ve also had some stomach issues flare up a little that makes running pretty difficult but I’ve managed to work out what is the best for me right now. One of my only goals for the entire year was to be able to run a 5k by the end of it and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to hit that goal which feels ever so slightly deflating but I still really, really enjoy running so it doesn’t matter in the long run whether I run 5k this year or in 2020. As I’m the furthest thing from a natural runner something that I’ve used to help me learn how to run is the Couch to 5k app which I believe the NHS created and it’s such a brilliant app. It’s helped so much with my breathing and things to look out for when I’m running like if I’m moving my head around too much. If you want to get into running and have no idea where to start then I highly recommend this to get you going.

decorate for christmas

Our living room looks very different from what it used to which has made me pretty excited to decorate for Christmas this year (see the renovation here). Now it’s a room that we actually enjoy spending time in and it’s finally not a mismatch of patterns and colours we dislike it makes decorating seem so much more exciting. We’re not in the market to buy anything too big as we don’t really have the room but every year we try and pick up a new tree decoration as we don’t have a theme and it’s a mix of things from my childhood and ones we’ve collected together as a couple which is something I personally prefer over a perfectly themed tree. Some of the best places I’ve found to get cute decorations are;

• Homesense
• Tesco
• Etsy for something a little more personal.

friendmas

Around seven or eight years ago my best friend and I started our own little Christmas tradition called Friendmas. Over the years it's changed quite a lot as we’ve grown up and now we have our own homes so each year we take turns hosting. As I don’t get a traditional Christmas work party it kind of serves as that as well as our chance to eat and exchange gifts and it’s always something that I look forward to so much. If you’re like us and hate the idea of a Christmas party but still want to see your closest and dearest friends where you can potentially wear your sweatpants if you please then Friendmas is a great thing to do. The general gist of the evening goes a little something like this;

• Food, we rotate between take out or a veggie Christmas dinner.
• Gifts
• A board game or a jigsaw puzzle.
• 

• what have you got planned for december?