September's "back to school" feeling is a gift if you use it well. The kids are back at school, the routines have clicked back into place, and that structure — even if it took a few chaotic weeks to settle — is welcome. It's easy to forget that "back to school" energy isn't just for children. It's motivating for the rest of us too, if we know how to use it.
But let's be honest about what actually gets in the way of a productive day. When the schedule fills up fast, the hard part usually isn't doing the work. It's getting your brain to sit down and start. Some days that takes ten minutes. Some days it takes thirty. The difference is rarely willpower. More often, it's whether you've settled yourself down first.
Why Calm Comes Before Focus
Stress and focus run on overlapping wiring. The prefrontal cortex — the part of your brain responsible for sustained attention, planning, and decision-making — is also the first thing to lose bandwidth when your nervous system is activated. In other words, a stressed brain and a focused brain are competing for the same resources.
That's why a few slow breaths paired with a calming scent before a hard task can do more for your productivity than another shot of caffeine. You're not avoiding the work — you're clearing the runway so your brain can actually take off.
With that in mind, here are two techniques I come back to again and again, both from my corporate days and from years of helping others get clear on their priorities.
The Priorities Matrix (aka Eisenhower Matrix)This is my favourite way to see the big picture of what actually needs to get done — and how to approach it. I do this once a month.
Draw a simple grid with two axes: Urgent to Less Urgent on one, and Important to Less Important on the other.
Before you touch the matrix, though, there's a brainstorming step that makes all the difference.
Answer this prompt, and don't stop writing until you have at least 20 things:
"It is now the end of the month, and I am proud I got all of this done."
Let it all out. Big items like moving home. Small ones like sending a friend's birthday card or finally booking a haircut. Mix personal with professional — doctor's appointments sit right alongside work deadlines and family commitments. Keep pushing past the obvious answers until the list feels genuinely full.
I like to do this exercise just before the start of each new month, though it works beautifully for a whole quarter too — which makes it perfect timing as we head toward the final stretch of the year.
Once your list exists, start placing each item into the matrix. This is where it gets interesting: at first glance, everything feels urgent and important. Push back on that instinct. Is it really?
How to Actually Place Things in the Quadrants
Once your list of 20+ things is staring back at you, the placing part is simpler than it looks if you ask yourself two quick questions for each item:
- Does this have a deadline or consequence attached to acting soon? That's your urgency answer.
- Does this move me toward something I actually care about — my health, my family, my goals, my peace of mind? That's your importance answer.
Run through your list quickly, item by item, without overthinking. Your gut answer is usually right.
Here's what almost everyone finds when they do this for the first time:
- The urgent-and-important box fills up fast, but it's often smaller than you expected. A lot of what feels urgent — that email, that notification, that "quick call" — doesn't actually belong there once you look at it honestly.
- The important-but-not-urgent box is where the good stuff hides. This is the exercise, the relationship, the project, the doctor's appointment you keep meaning to book. Nothing forces you to do these today, which is exactly why they get pushed aside — until they become urgent and stressful instead.
- The urgent-but-not-important box is full of other people's priorities. Requests, interruptions, things that feel pressing mostly because someone else is waiting on you. This is your delegate-or-decline pile.
- The not-urgent-and-not-important box is bigger than your ego wants to admit. Scrolling, busywork, tasks you're doing out of habit rather than purpose. Seeing them written down in black and white is oddly satisfying — permission to let them go.
The real value of the exercise isn't the grid itself. It's the moment you notice how much of your energy has been going toward the loud stuff instead of the stuff that actually counts. Once you see that clearly, deciding what to do next stops being a struggle.
You won't see any of this clearly until it's laid out in front of you. That's the whole point. Once the matrix is populated, sitting down at your desk stops feeling overwhelming — you already know what needs doing and how to navigate through it.
A Quick Word on Where this Matrix Comes FromI can't take credit for this one — it's called the Eisenhower Matrix, named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the five-star general who led the Allied forces in WWII and later served two terms as U.S. President. In a 1954 speech, he shared a line that's stuck around for 70 years: "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent."
What I love about the history here is that Eisenhower wasn't just saying it — he lived it. Despite carrying one of the heaviest leadership loads of the 20th century, people who worked with him described him as remarkably calm. He delegated relentlessly, protected his time, read every morning, and still made time for golf, even during global crises. He understood something we're all still relearning: being busy and being effective are not the same thing.
The matrix itself — the actual 2x2 grid — came later. Stephen Covey formalized it in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, turning Eisenhower's principle into the four-quadrant tool millions of us now use to sort our to-do lists.
I keep coming back to it because it does something most planning tools don't: it forces you to separate what's loud from what actually matters. Anyone with a full inbox knows the two get confused constantly. This little grid, nearly a century old in spirit, is still one of the fastest ways I know to cut through that noise.
The Pomodoro Technique (with a bonus for your body!)The second strategy is simpler, but it earns its place for a very practical reason: hours of sitting add up to real pain in your back, and the Pomodoro technique builds in relief without you having to think about it.
The method itself is straightforward...work in focused 25-minute bursts.
Choose a task
Set the time and work for 25 minutes (resist the urge to be distracted!)
Take a 5-minute break (paired with a movement snack or stretch and a sip of water!)
Repeat the cycle throughout the day until the task is done
What I love is what that break actually becomes. Every time you stop to stretch, walk to the kettle, or just stand up and shake it out, you're sneaking in a movement snack. Small, frequent, and exactly what a body that's been hunched over a laptop needs.
It also plays nicely with the calming-before-focusing idea above. Use the start of each Pomodoro as your reset moment — a breath, a scent, a beat of quiet — before you dive back in.
My Other Favourite Ways to Prioritise and Be Organised
- Time blocking / calendar blocking — assign every task a home in the week, not just a spot on a list. For example, on Tuesday mornings, Maggie and I write what we care most about to you!
- The "one big thing" rule — pick a single priority per day before anything else gets added. Make sure you do it.
- Weekly review ritual (e.g., Sunday reset: plan the week ahead and check the matrix)
- Theme days (e.g., Mondays for admin, Wednesdays for meetings, Thursdays for yoga and friends)
- The 2-minute rule — if it takes under 2 minutes, do it immediately instead of listing it
- Eat the frog — do the most dreaded task first, before willpower depletes
Mindset Matters!
Mindset matters when it comes to keeping your energy steady, knowing what needs your attention first, and following through on what you set out to do. Essential oils really shine in this area because they support how you feel in the moment.
Don’t forget to use your oils to help you focus and feel good about your work. They can clear your mind and mark the shift into a settled, productive frame of mind.
Bringing it together
September's "back to school" feeling is a gift if you use it well. Get clear on what truly matters with the priorities matrix, protect your body and your focus with the Pomodoro technique, and give your nervous system a moment to settle before you ask it to concentrate. Structure doesn't have to feel restrictive — done right, it's what gives you the freedom to actually enjoy the season ahead.
If you'd like a little support, I'd love to sit down with you for a one-on-one session. We can look at your current routines, set out your priorities together, and take the guesswork out of what actually makes sense for your daily life. I won’t give you a massive to-do list. We will just figure out a few simple, doable steps that fit your life right now.
You can book a short introductory call with me right here to get started.
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