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Welcome to my April 2024 productivity report! This month took me to not one, but two, beautiful cities: Columbus and Washington D.C.. I also got to spend a bit of time at home in Chicago, which felt nicely grounding. The topics that stood out this month were quiet productivity and boundaries. How much of your life do you share vs. how much do you keep to yourself? I had that conversation with many people, several of whom had very public launches, and the message came through clearly: we need to be highly mindful our own boundaries, even as highly visible entrepreneurs. Read on to hear my takeaways.

For more reports, check out October 2023 here, November 2023 here, December 2023 here. For this year, January 2024 here, February 2024 is here, and March 2024 is here.

🌱 How I Felt Going into April 2024

Going into April, there was a lot of anticipation in the air because several big projects that I had been a part of (or somehow inspired) were coming to a close. I can’t speak publicly about many of them, but seemingly all of the people in my orbit – whether clients, colleagues, or friends – were buzzing with excitement over their new milestones. It was a joy to behold, and we did so much celebrating together. I love playing the role of cheerleader, and I take it extremely seriously.

There’s no better feeling than when someone takes a major leap forward with renewed energy. As a Productivity Coach, those are the moments I live for, especially when you’ve been there witness all the work that’s gone into it behind-the-scenes. In honor of that spirit, we’re talking about quiet work, a.k.a. quiet productivity, in this month’s report. It’s a topic that far to few coaches address, so let me step up to the plate and do it justice.

Here we go.

🌻 When Quiet Productivity is the Most Powerful Use of Your Time

What exactly is quiet productivity, you might wonder? Well, it’s all of the unseen work that someone does to get to the next level – the early mornings, late nights, or other trade offs that are made in order to facilitate change. You see, what we perceive as someone’s overnight success is only ever surface-level stuff. Only you pay attention to you. No one else (unless you have a partner, or work with me one-on-one) gets to witness the hard work first-hand. Only the tip of an iceberg appears above the surface.

Extroverted people often prefer to work publicly, which means they share experiences in real-time and bring you along on whatever journey they’re on. We call that “loud productivity.” Because you get to see progress over a period of time, you understand better what effort went into the final result. Think YouTubers who make daily shorts that you follow, or about reality shows like American Idol or The Voice. Unknown artists take their best shot and then, over the course of 2-3 months, you get to witness their transformations. Even this report is a form of public, loud productivity. I share progress with you on a monthly basis, so that you can better appreciate my commitments and see how I accomplish my goals.

Loud productivity begs for attention, but it’s still edited to some extent. When you are watching a reality show on TV, you are only seeing the highlights. A YouTube short is a short for a reason. It may be somewhat current, but It’s not a play-by-play of every minute that happened. When you are reading this report, you are getting a summary. There’s always more to the story, and that’s what we refer to as “quiet productivity.” It’s the part of the iceberg that’s underneath the surface. And it’s huge.

Introverts (like me) tend to do a lot of quiet work. We don’t always feel the need to share everything with everyone, and because of that, people are often taken aback when they finally see the results. “Whoa, what happened to her?” is a phrase I’ve heard plenty of times in my life, and it’s because I kept my head down and focused on what I needed to do, without sharing any of it in real-time. When people don’t see the day-to-day grind, only the results, they perceive it as overnight success. In reality, it’s not. Far from it.

My take is that quiet productivity is the most powerful use of your time when you are working on personal matters – because it promotes focus. Without having to deal with “how things appear to others” or “editing” ourselves, we can release expectations of what the journey should look like, and merely take it on. That’s very helpful if it’s a bigger mountain to climb. Yes, loud productivity is fun, but it’s also comes with a lot more work that you may not need to add on. Your choice needs to be based on the size of the obstacle in front of you, how much people need to know about it, and if it matters commercially. In my experience, boundaries win out almost every time when you’re “in it” because you can always choose to share more afterwards. Let me elaborate.

🏇 Quiet Productivity is a Boundary Choice

The time and effort warp that is quiet productivity, as experienced by others, is not your problem. It is a boundary block that is completely valid to leverage, should you feel that’s the correct choice. You don’t need to share anything you don’t want to share, regardless of what others do, think, or feel they have a right to know. Your always get to set your own boundaries. That being said, there are some things to consider, specifically around business strategy and personal well-being.

When to Choose Loud Productivity

One of the more negative aspects of quiet productivity is exclusion …because the flip side, loud productivity, promotes inclusion. This means that when people get to see what you’re working on (as you are working on it), they feel a sense of satisfaction too. They get to cheer you on, which makes them emotionally invested. It makes them feel like they have a better connection with you, and was somehow a part of your success. If you have ever voted for an American Idol, you’ll can probably relate. This is my role as a Coach too, and you can see how much I enjoy it. If you’ve ever been a sports fan, there’s another example; seeing “your team” go from being underdogs to winning the league creates a very powerful bond. Quiet productivity forfeits that entire experience.

If you are working on a commercial endeavor, for example a new course, you’re better off working in a collaborative, agile way – using very loud productivity. It will help you build momentum, get your customers excited, and provide you with a countdown to launch. Most companies give their base a heads up that a new release is coming, so that people have a chance to budget and plan their purchases. Simply put, it works. Bring your customers along for the ride, and you’ll make a lot more money. Ask any sports team how much merch they sell, and you’ll get the idea quickly. The key with this is that it’s not personal in context. That matters a lot.

When to Choose Quiet Productivity

When you are working on self development or any other personal matter, you may be better off using quiet productivity – unless there is a origin or conversion story baked in there somewhere. For example, if I wanted to be a Financial Coach and I was severely in debt, it would make sense to share “how I got rid of my debt” with the world (as it was happening). That would naturally give a boost of credibility because potential customers would be able to see themselves in you, and learn how you overcome that obstacle. That’s good marketing. However, if you were in the same situation but didn’t want to become a Financial Coach, perhaps the debt-relief journey would be best kept to yourself. When you are working on something personal that has little or nothing to do with your career, it’s perfectly fine to work quietly. You get to decide that.

Something to keep in mind when you employ quiet productivity is that people will gasp, wonder, and comment on your results, and there’s not much you can do about that except shrug it off. They weren’t part of the journey, so there’s natural curiosity there. People crave the inclusion that your loud productivity would have offered. They’ll want to know “your secret,” so they’ll keep asking. You’ll be fed up with people commenting on your “overnight” transformation, or your “instant” accomplishments, but that’s just what it is. Human nature takes over. You might become frustrated with comments around “how lucky” you are to have caught a break – because you know that luck had nothing to do with it. It’s super annoying to the person who just worked her butt off… but if you can let those things go (as I have many times), you will maintain your sanity just fine. Choose you, and keep your boundaries firmly in place.

🤔 Do You Prefer Loud or Quiet Productivity?

I’d love to know – how do you prefer to work? and if you share regularly, how do you do it? Has there ever been a time when you choose something you’re not accustomed to?

Let me know in the comments below!

🏆 How Productive I was in April 2024

April was a quote unquote “normal” month for me in terms of productivity. I spent time in Columbus and Washington D.C., so I had a decent amount of time off and lots of fun. Nothing felt out of the ordinary. Everything flowed well and what needed to get done got done. I actually really like those ordinary months. They feel steady. We should really celebrate the ordinary a lot more because turbulence can be energetically draining. April 2024 was not a turbulent month, and I’m grateful for that.

📁 Projects Completed 

This month, I completed five projects – once again surpassing my monthly goal of three. That’s a pretty consistent stat at this point, but even so, I’m not upping the number. Last month, I talked a lot about flow and finding your sweet spots, and three is the number I’m sticking to for the rest of the year. I like having three projects as a goal because there are three months in a quarter, so it makes sense math-wise. It’s also gives me a lot of flexibility because I can mix and match pretty spaciously. If I take on one giant project, I know that I can still pull off two smaller ones too. If I take on three smaller ones, I can usually pull off another medium-sized on. This approach works really well for me, and keeps me on track.

🚀 My Favorite Project in April 2024

My favorite project this month was wrapping up the Prosper Now Masterclass for The Photo Managers (our industry community for those professional organizers who specialize in digital asset management, photo organization, and other related niches). This Masterclass kicked off in December last year, and together with my colleagues Darla DeMorrow, and Jill Yesko Diana, I had been coaching the 2024 cohort for 4 solid months. We all met at our annual conference in Columbus, Ohio, to conclude with a full-day in-person event on April 3rd.

Coaching this group of savvy entrepreneurs was so rewarding (shoutout to those of you reading this! ) because we saw some major breakthroughs and a-ha moments. Many in the group have already leveled up in terms of personal growth, revenue, and profit. Yay! I cannot wait to coach the 2025 cohort and I’ve already signed on to do it, so December can’t get here quickly enough!

⏳ Hours Worked in April 2024

This month, I worked just over 91 hours, which is close to 23 hours per week, just about the same as last month. This was just slightly under my goal of 25 hours, but I’d rather be under than go over, so I’m satisfied with that result.

I spent quite a bit of time this month on my own systems and operations, streamlining and updating my funnels in anticipating for more website traffic. There are a few different reasons for that, but the biggest one is that I have contributed to some major publications recently. I have done several interviews in the past few months that are due to come out any time now, so I want to make sure I’m ready for that. And you know what? Even if a huge surge in traffic doesn’t come, there’s never a wrong time to be on top of your systems. The more seamless and current they are, the better I do in business. In other words, it always pays for itself in the long run.

If you’re not on top of your systems yet, please join is in Creative Systems Architect to learn how to identify your workflows, document your procedures, and automate the mundane. There’s no better way to free up your time than to delegate, and it doesn’t have to be complicated.

⌨️ Digital Images Organized in April 2024 

I took less photos in April than I normally do: only 677 photos. Why, you ask? Well, I didn’t do any huge photo shoots. Normally, I do one or two per month for my business, but I skipped that this month. I did do some quick shots in Washington D.C., but since that trip was mostly family-oriented, I limited it to about 10-15 minutes. I’ve gotten quite good at my angles now, so I don’t need as many clicks as I used to in order to get what I need. That’s a good thing because sometimes you only have a few moments of magic available (especially outside when there’s light, wind, and other weather to deal with…). #progress

Out of the 677 photos I took, I deleted 84, leaving me with 593 photos to organize. The majority of them was from Columbus, the trip to D.C., and the Laura Pausini concert I attended in Rosemont, IL. I’m a huge fan of hers, so I felt the need to record many of my favorite songs for posterity. Great show, all around! Next month, there will likely be more photos because I’ll be in Sweden for yet another concert. Stay tuned to these reports to hear more about that soon.

If you’d like to learn my workflow for organizing photos, join us in DPO PRO: The Ultimate Photo Organizing Masterclass. Memories matter, and being able to repurpose your business assets is key for loud productivity.

👟 Steps Walked in April 2024 

This month, I walked a total of 180,260 measured steps, which breaks down to just over 6000 steps per day. Goal accomplished. This is, once again, undoubtedly because of travel and going around sightseeing with my family. Washington D.C. is actually a fairly walkable city, so even though we had a rental car to get between our Airbnb and downtown, we parked it and walked around.

My goal for 2024 is to walk (or run) at least 5000 steps a day to maintain good movement, and so far, this year has been decently consistent on that front. A few dips here and there, sure, but you can clearly see an overall improvement compared to last year. Lasting change takes time, and I’m not going all out here, as I often do with other goals. It’s been more of a flexible goal to encourage me to walk more rather than a fixed goal, so I’m OK with slow progress over time. As long as it’s going in the right direction, I’m good with it.

🍋 Home-Cooked Meals in April 2024

We can in at a whopping 89.3% percent for home-cooked meals in April. Woohoo! We exceeded our goal of 75% by a lot this time, and I think it was because we have house guests. I cooked a bit more than I normally do, and enjoyed the process more since there were more mouths to feed. That’s actually an interesting turn of events. I would have thought it would be more stressful than usual, but no. Hmmm.

We did eat out a little bit while on the road. We had some great Ethiopian food in D.C., some nice Hawaiian food from Aloha Eats in downtown Chicago (one of my favorite spots; highly recommended!), and some amazing Indian food on our drive through middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania. I never felt like I was missing out on anything, so overall, this is probably my most successful month for this category so far! That deserves some confetti. 🎉

🎧 Books & Learning in April 2024

This month, I listened to the audio version of The Courage to Be Disliked by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi, two of the world’s leading social psychologists. The book discusses the Adlerian philosophy of becoming truly free by not seeking recognition and approval from others, but to instead live to contribute to the greater society as a whole. Talk about quiet productivity!

I really enjoyed this book overall. There were a few things I didn’t agree with 100%, like how it ignores the impact of past trauma on our lives, but for the most part, it aligns with how I see the world and how I approach life. It’s a good read and I’d recommend you picking it up if you enjoy philosophy and personal development topics. There were some really cool takeaways for me too that I knew in my gut, but never had been able to put into words, like the benefits of developing horizontal relationships (to help, encourage, inspire) rather than vertical ones (to demand, order, manipulate, or influence).

If you’re interested in listening to a more in-depth discussion of this book, hop over to Instagram and check out the live I did with TJ Jackson, Martina Bacoccoli, and Carrie Gilbert on May 5th (available in TJ’s member’s section). We talked about a lot of these concepts and how they relate to one’s self-image, growth, parenting, and community. Great discussion, all around. 📕

☕️ Meaningful Conversations in April 2024

I had so many great conversations this month, and because I spent time at an industry conference, I was able to reconnect with lots of fun and interesting people that I already know, but haven’t seen in a while.

I also did some online catchups. One catchup in particular that was double fun was with Jennifer Loomis of Signature Photo Organizing. Not only did we get to spend some time together in Columbus, but we caught up afterwards over Zoom too. How lucky am I!?! She is such an incredible force of energy.

Someone else I always enjoy zooming with is Jaleh Zandieh, one of my dearest friends. She is a global leadership expert, and a highly intelligent woman who always has profound advice and insight to share. We get each other on a deep level and our work is complimentary, so we often collaborate on projects together for those reasons.

If you haven’t yet read her book “Nourished by Diversity: Creating a Legacy of Inclusion and Community for Your Organization to Shine” you are missing out. In fact, I am helping her plan out her book tour in California this summer, so if you’re on the west coast, pick it up now and send me an email. We’ll invite you to come get it signed at a live event. We’re also going to having some networking events for leaders that may interest you, so be sure to join my email list for updates.

⭐️ Success Celebrated in April 2024 

March was another great month in terms of celebrating accomplishments, and one in particular that I’d like to highlight is our Building in Notion workshop. This was an event that we had been planning for some time, so it was nice to finally get it done. In my courses, I often recommend Notion as a perfect digital information hub because it’s such a versatile and customizable platform. As such, lots of our students sign up to try it out, and we had noticed for quite some time that we needed to cover the basics. This workshop took care of that, and we were pleasantly surprised to see how advanced some of our students had gotten! Woohoo! 🎉

Another big thing this month was that we officially launched live Welcome & Onboarding calls for current as well as prospective students. For current students, we cover logistics, like how to use our academy, Circle community, and how to ask for help when you need it. For prospective students, it’s nice to get a behind-the-scenes tour of what you could expect if you were to enroll. You also get to meet us (my team and I) to ask questions, and we give you a roadmap for how to be successful.

These calls are completely free, and there’s no need to even register, so if you’re potentially thinking about joining one of our courses, we invite you to join a call to talk things through. The next one is on June 18th at 2 PM Central US time via this link. If you can’t make that one, you can see all upcoming events on our calendar.

😍 This Month’s Favorite Hubs, Tools, Services, & Products

What hubs, tools, products, and services do I use to be more productive? A great question! In an effort to be really transparent, I have a few recommendations below. Some of these are affiliates links, others are not, but I would recommend them regardless – they’re just awesome. Check them out!

Here’s my list of things I loved in April 2024:

• Notion → Where would I be without Notion? Not anywhere close to where I am now, that’s for sure. I run my entire life and business in Notion, so I wholeheartedly recommend this platform. We just hosted a Building in Notion (for Beginners) event, and the replay is available for purchase now.
• Airtable → We have used Airtable for many years now – as our main hub before Notion, and now for student-facing databases, external editorial calendars, and intake forms. Love it!
• Forever → This is good platform for storing photo archives. I invested in this company when they were a startup a decade ago, and it has only gotten better since then. We have a workshop coming up on it this year, so stay tuned for more info on that.
• ShowIt → Love ShowIt! It’s the most flexible and best website platform out there, IMO. Plus, it’s run by nice people, which is a plus. Check it out if you’re a creative soul or a visual artist.
• Convertkit → This has been my email system for seven years now, and I love it. It’s so easy to use, and I love that I can keep my subscribers organized and properly segmented with just a few clicks.
• Lightroom Classic → This is a program I’ve been using for two decades. I teach it and several other solutions in my course DPO PRO. Join us to learn how to use it!
• Teachable → I’ve been a loyal customer with Teachable since back in the early Fedora days, which says a lot about how much I like their platform. It’s a great place to host your courses.
• Circle → Circle is easy to use for everyone – from students to coaches to guests. We love it as our community hub. It stands well on its own, but also integrates nicely with Teachable (see above).
• Trackabi → My new time-tracking platform, which is working out wonderfully so far.
• Toggl → I’ve just switched away from Toggl, but that won’t stop me from recommending it. It’s a great tool to use for time-tracking. The free account can do a lot!
• Audible → I love my Audible subscription for when I’m getting my steps in, and I recommend trying it out if you want to get your learning on. Sign up for a free 30-day trial through my link to get a free book (or 2 free credits if you’re an Amazon prime member!) – cancel anytime!
• Secret → This is a wonderful place for finding deals on software hubs and tools. Who doesn’t love to save some $$$? Invest a little, save a lot! I’ve saved thousands.
• Grove Collaborative → Love my Grove subscription! It saves me so much time because I can restock all my household needs easily. They write sweet messages on each box too! So cute. Get a free gift set by signing up through my affiliate link!
• Almond Cow → In 3 minutes, you can have fresh nut milk. What’s not to love?
• Nuuly → I get so much use out of Nuuly (my rotating closet subscription service). It’s like shopping, except you never get tired of it. 🙌🏻 Highly recommended! Use my link to save $ on your first order.
• Taja → I really like this AI-driven platform for optimizing YouTube videos. It’s a great starting point for coming up with attention-grabbing headlines, descriptions, keywords, and more.

🫖 Tea of the Month

This month, I’ve been turning a lot to Triple Leaf’s Jasmine Decaf Green Tea for my hot cups. Normally, I don’t recommend bagged teas, but this one is good to travel with, and besides, I haven’t found a loose version of it that I like. It’s good enough considering that it’s decaf, and that aspect has to take precedence. Don’t get me wrong – I love a strong cup of caffeinated green jasmine tea, but having that is not always in my best interest, specifically when I’m jet lagged and trying to get some rest.

I always have a few boxes of this tea on hand at home, and I throw a couple in my bags anytime I’m out and about. It’s hard to find good tea on the go, so preparation is my best friend.

Triple Leaf's Jasmine Decaf Green Tea

Yield: 1 Cup

Cook Time: 3 minutes

Total Time: 3 minutes

This a great Jasmine green tea without the caffeine. The green tea in this delicious floral tea is decaffeinated using a carbon dioxide effervescent process, and you can enjoy it hot or cold. Highly recommended for anyone who cannot have caffeine or need a detox.

Get it from Amazon.

Print

Ingredients

• One Tea Bag
• 1 Cup of Hot Water

Instructions

1. Steep water to 80 degrees Celsius.
2. Pour over tea bag
3. Enjoy!

📐 Measure What Matters

Thanks for reading this report til the end! I hope you enjoyed it. Please remember that productivity is very personal, and you DO NOT have to track the same metrics that I do. Your goals and metrics could be quite different from mine, and that’s OK.

If you’d like to understand where you should be focusing your attention, join us in an upcoming Quarterly Planning Workshop to identify your own goals.

🎬 Prefer to Watch This Report?

• About the Author
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Caroline Guntur Organizing & Productivity Coach

Hi there! I’m Caroline, and I’m here to help you get organized and be more productive, so that you can live better and have time for what matters.

www.theswedishorganizer.com

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