Grace Beverley’s Guide To Productivity

The importance of sleep...

In the entrepreneurial world it’s quite common for people to think ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’, which is absolutely not something I stand for. When you’re someone who is making big decisions everyday - which many entrepreneurs are - it’s very important to get that sleep.

I usually go to bed around 11pm and I always make sure that my alarm allows for eight hours sleep. If not, eight then nine - because I was once told that for about an hour of that sleep you’re not really sleeping.

Making myself a morning person...

What time I get up completely depends on the following day. I like to get significant time blocks done in the morning. My focus goes after a few meetings so I like to get as much done as I can in the mornings. I try to get everything done as soon as possible.

I wake up to the news every morning, I have a radio alarm - which is funny because when I wake up really early I’ll get the drivetime shows and some of the music will be really intense. I often wake up at 7 or 8am.

I don’t think I'm a morning person because I don’t love mornings, but I’ve had to become a morning person because I know how I work best. In an ideal world I’d wake up late and have a life of leisure - but I’m not really cut out for that anyway.

The first thing I do everyday…

The first thing I do every morning is cuddle my dog in bed whilst listening to the news. It’s a good way to absorb it. Then I’ll get up and wash my face, grab some coffee, before getting my morning workout in (on weekdays). Occasionally, I’ll tick off some urgent things on my to-do list before working out. Sometimes you need a bit of morning urgency.

When it comes to skincare…

Most of my morning skincare routine consists of semi-medicated stuff, but outside of that my favourite brand is REN skincare. At the moment I’m using their day cream and their AHA toner - which I have a store of in case I run out. My medicated items are my face wash and my serums, the rest is all REN.

My workout routine is pretty consistent at the moment. I’m such a routine person, I like to be either in routine or completely out of it. There’s no inbetween. I try to do a workout every weekday - plus there’s the benefit of my job (a free workout app membership) which makes it easier.

We did this thing called the SHREDDY Challenges which gives everyone one guide and focuses on really challenging you but also giving you just one thing to do everyday for the next eight weeks. So that’s what I’m doing at the moment, our ‘SHREDIT challenge’, and OH MY GOD it is hard (but really good).

What I’m eating…

I’m not a breakfast person, which surprises people. I have a blood sugar problem which means once I start eating my blood sugar levels start playing up, but I’m usually ok up until that first meal. I usually eat at midday or have a weird lunch at around 11am. Today for lunch I had an all-plant freezer meal because it was the quickest option!

Sometimes you just have to put one foot in front of the other…

I don’t allow my morning routine to affect the rest of my day. Though I try to stick to my routines, if part of it is thrown off, I have to be prepared for that and not let that negatively impact the rest of my day. If you don’t have a job where everyday is the same, you have to have flexibility and prepare for the unexpected.

If something comes up which means I don’t get to workout in the morning, I can’t let that throw me off, it becomes really easy to fall into a mindset where if you don’t do everything in exactly the same way then you’ve messed it up for the day. It’s about making sure that you know what works for you and adapting to that.

Sometimes work is about putting one foot in front of the other, not everyday needs to be about fulfilling your company's mission - sometimes it’s just about doing what you can on that day and then onto the next. Sometimes that’s what gets me through without breakdowns, just taking each day as it comes and each problem as it comes too.