2025 May Productivity Report: Your Comfort Zone isn’t Doing You Any Favors

Reading Time: [19] Minutes

Welcome to my May 2025 productivity report! To backtrack, check out where I started in October 2023. You’ll find November 2023 here, and December 2023 here. For 2024, January is here, February is here, March is here, April is here, May is here, June is here, July is here, August is here, September is here, October is here, and November is here, and December is here. January 2025 is here, February 2025 is here, and March 2025 is here, and April 2025 is available here.

🌱 How I Felt About May 2025

As you’ll be able to tell from my takeaway this month, yet another big change is upon me. I can feel it coming, and it’s uncomfortable. Downright brutal, even. At this point, it actually funny how many things have changed in my life. It feels like I’ve been living on the edge of my comfort zone for several years now, but you know what? I embrace it. I’m genuinely curious as to what life has in store for me, so bring it on, I say. What could possibly go wrong?

🌻 Your Comfort Zone isn’t Doing You Any Favors

We all love feeling comfortable. Familiar routines, predictable environments, and low-risk situations offer a sense of stability that feel like a safe haven, but here’s the hard truth: your comfort zone also keeps you stuck.

It’s easy to believe that staying where things feel easy is the best choice. After all, it feels good to avoid stress and uncertainty. But boy is that a red herring. Growth — real, meaningful growth — never happens when everything stays the same. If you’re craving fulfillment, progress, or change, it’s time to dig deep.

Your comfort zone is an illusion. When you stay there too long, you trade potential for predictability. You avoid failure and at the same time, success. You dodge discomfort, but miss out on a whole lot of adventure, learning, and self-discovery. Growth only happens when you are highly uncomfortable. If you think about the times you’ve learned the most (and changed the most), it definitely involved challenges, uncertainty, and fear. That’s just the truth.

Your comfort zone might feel good, but it’s not where your potential lives. If you want more fulfillment and better opportunities, you have to lean into the discomfort. In the long run, the risk of not trying is so much greater than the risk of stepping into the unknown, so ask yourself: Where am I choosing comfort over growth? And more importantly, What could happen if I stepped beyond it? I can tell you with 100% certainty that if you do, your life will change.

🤔 What happened the last time you stepped beyond your comfort zone?

Let me know in the comments below!

🏆 How Productive I was in May 2025

May was a good month for me in terms of productivity. I had more personal projects going than business ones, but I also took a significant amount of time off. Between my daughter’s high school graduation in South Carolina and my friend’s surgery, I needed to make some more space in my calendar. And I did.

📁 Projects Completed in May 2025

May saw the completion of four projects. That’s one more than my monthly goal of three, so I’m happy with that result. Unlike last month where I found myself in a bit of a sour mood, these projects were more enjoyable. Could it be because the majority of them were personal? Probably. They provided me with a deeper sense of meaning, and I think that made the bigger difference. At least this time around.

🚀 My Favorite Project in May 2025

My favorite project this month was my daughter’s official graduation. She went to a “regular” high school for two years, but then we transferred her to Whitmore, which is a fantastic online school.

Originally, we just wanted to improve her learning environment, but Whitmore provided us with so much more. We were able to travel during off-peak seasons, first of all. That’s a huge plus for a family like ours. Moreover, she was able to focus better during the day and set her own schedule, which helped her free up a lot of time. In fact, she went from an 8-hour school day to a 2-hour school day…. 🙌🏻 And as if that wasn’t enough, her GPA maxed out, no doubt because she was able to eat, sleep, and exercise with a much better structure to her day. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: your environment can make or break your goals. You need to take control of it.

All these massive improvements let her actually finishing school almost a year early (back in September). That being said, they only host official graduations once a year, so she had to wait for the the opportunity to walk. She finally did that at the Harbison Theater in Irmo, South Carolina, on May 20th, 2025. We insisted on attending, not only to anchor her memories of Whitmore, but also just to have a proud “offline” parent moment. Mission accomplished! 🎉

⏳ Hours Worked in May 2025

In May, I worked exactly 63.5 hours, which breaks down to about 15 hours a week. For reference, my goal is somewhere between 20 and 25 hours per week to reach an optimal result of between 80-100 hours per month. This result is a bit under… It’s better than last month for sure, but still not where I need to be. I took a significant amount of time off, but I still met my business goals, so I guess it’s fine. Something to watch though.

Last month, I didn’t ring the alarm outright, but I did decide to stand right next to it for a while. This month, I feel better about the results, so I can back off a little. We still have monitoring to do, but I expect that June will bring a healthier work load since I’ll be home in Chicago. Let’s see.

⌨️ Digital Images Organized in May 2025 

This month brought me 1635 new files, and I deleted only 216 of them, which left me with 1421 new shots to add to my photo archive. The majority of them were from my daughter’s graduation as well as from a photo shoot that I did while in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s one of the most instagrammable places in the US, so why not take advantage, right? 📸

Here are just a few fun snapshots from May:

If you love photos as much as I do, but aren’t sure how to manage them, be sure to join us in DPO PRO: The Ultimate Photo Organizing Masterclass. We cover how to choose your programs, how to organize your phots, and we have tutorials on the entire process in Photo Mechanic, Apple Photos, and Adobe Lightroom Classic.

👟 Steps Walked in May 2025 

This month, I walked 242,435 measured steps, which breaks down to about 8000 steps per day on average. Given that I spent a lot of time in cars, I think that’s a great result.

This year, I really flipped a switch on this goal. I finally found the internal motivation for how to make it sustainable, and I coupled that with a solution that (so far) seems to be working. Giving myself more than one chance to rack up the step count per day has been game-changing, and now I’m thinking I can apply that lesson to more of my goals. Gee… who would have thought? 🤣 The fact that I teach micro goals, but hadn’t put 2 and 2 together here is beyond fascinating. 🤨

Goals are funny…. Sometimes you have the motivation and the drive, but you cannot find the right solution; other times, you have a solution, but there’s an internal resistance to getting it done regardless. Clicking all the pieces into place requires tenacity and commitment to getting it right, and – as you can see – it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s taken me over two years to find the right solution to my step count issue, but now that we’re finally here, I can say that it was well worth the effort. 🙌🏻

📣 Language Progress in May 2025

This month, I learned 83 new words (or phrases) in French, which is WAY above my goal of 15 per month. What was the cause for this insane improvement, you ask? Well, I spent a part of the month in Quebec, Canada, mingling with the natives.

Immersion works fast. When you are in the right environment, and at the same time find yourself motivated, you can make significant strides. I had to make myself understood in business settings, hospital settings, and casual settings, which provided me with the variety of Québécois I needed to level up big-time. Was it challenging? Heck yeah, but I loved every minute of it. ❤️

🎧 Books & Learning in May 2025

This month, I read “The Most Powerful Sentence of All Time” by Neil Gordon. This book was gifted to me by my dear friend Claudine Chi, and I’m so grateful to her for passing it on. It was a nice read, and it gave me a lot to think about in terms of brand messaging.

This book is a fable. It follows Barbara, a fictional executive who has trouble pitching and closing sales, despite having decent communication skills. One day, by chance, she runs into a person who gives her a valuable lesson in persuasion. She hires him as a consultant, and as a result, she finds her brand’s voice.

The book is centered around the idea of having a “silver bullet,” i.e. a marketing pitch based on four (arguably five) pillars of persuasion. I won’t reveal them here so as to not ruin the read, but I can tell you that they make a lot of sense, and when you put them together, they do create a powerful message. If you like marketing books, this is definitely one you’ll want to pick up.

Would I recommend it? Yes, absolutely. It was a bit slow to start, but eventually caught its momentum, and I’d say the full takeaway is well worth the buildup to it. When you understand the idea of the silver bullet, it’s actually quite transferable to many other areas of life, so I’d give this 4 stars. Had the story been stronger, it would have been a bullseye.

Pick it up from Amazon or any major bookstore online.

☕️ Meaningful Conversations in April 2025

Yep, you guessed it – I’m still not offering up any FIKA with Caroline rounds as of now. Family and friends are getting every moment of my attention when I’m not working on my business, and that is enough for now. I do plan on bringing them back, but not quite yet.

⭐️ Success Celebrated in May 2025 

I may be dragging this topic out for a bit, but I have to celebrate my daughter’s educational success this month – from my perspective. Us Moms do not get enough credit, so I’m gonna toot my own horn for a bit. While I’m incredibly proud of my daughter and all the work she put into her online education, it was my decision to pull her out of regular high school that made it possible for her to graduate early.

Risks bring immense rewards, especially when they’re unconventional. I heard every argument from “she won’t be able to keep a schedule” to “she won’t have any social life,” but those fears were not mine. They were projections only. I knew they wouldn’t hold up. So, true to this month’s topic, getting out of the comfort zone paid off in spades. Sometimes it’s necessary to make difficult choices, and trust that everything will work out. They do. 🎓

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

What hubs, tools, products, and services do I use to be more productive? Lots and lots. In an effort to be really transparent, I have some of my recommendations below. Some links are affiliates links, others are not, but either way, I’d recommend them. Feel free to reach out if you have questions on any of them.

Here’s my list of things I loved this month:

• 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 hosted a Building in Notion (for Beginners) event some time ago, and the replay is available for purchase.
• 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. Great for memory-keeping!
• 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. I just renewed my own subscription not too long ago.
• Convertkit → Convertkit is now simply Kit, and I’m not really used to that change yet. I’ll come around, but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be calling it Convertkit for a while still. Change is hard. 🤣
• 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.
• 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. Great deals for the new year too!
• 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? I miss it so much when I travel, unless i bring it… It’s the best thing I’ve ever bought for my kitchen, hands down.
• Nuuly → This is so much fun. I just love renting new stuff each month. It’s a creative way to try thing you never would have picked up otherwise. 🙌🏻 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.
• Wise → Banking as a digital nomad and international service provider can be a bit tricky, but lately, I’ve enjoyed using Wise to make things easier. If you’re a nomad or course creator, take note.
• Harney & Sons → My favorite tea supplier in the US. They have outstanding quality teas for all tastes and budgets, and they’ve worth trying out! Save $10 on your order using this link.
• Canva → I love using this graphic design platform for a wide variety of marketing materials. I also feature it in some of our workshops, for example The People Index.
• Backblaze → A cornerstone of the solid digital ecosystem is a proper backup, and I just love how easy this service is to use. For just a few dollars per year, you get full computer backups and easy retrieval. It’s by far the cheapest insurance you’ll ever buy. Highly recommended in DPO PRO.
• SparkLoop → A recommendations network for content creators and email marketers that’s fun and easy to use. I have it integrated with my ConvertKit account.
• Ibotta → This cashback site helps you make the most of your personal shopping. It’s an easy way to cut down on the grocery bills, and make a little extra money back. Totally legit.
• Music Mastery Hub → Kai “Verse” Tyler is one of the most generous people in the entertainment industry, so for anyone interested in learning more about the business of music, I recommend joining his online school for mentorship and guidance. I’m proud to be an affiliate.

🫖 Tea of the Month

This month, I’m giving a massive shoutout to Ding Tea, which is a Taiwanese franchise of boba tea shops. Since I’m such a fan, people often ask me what my favorite one is, and it’s Ding Tea’s Jasmine Green Tea with brown sugar boba. When you add top it off with a sea salt foam, it becomes pure perfection. If you have never tried boba before, go for this one with no more than 25-30% sugar. You will never want to drink anything else ever again. The quality is superb all around; it’s exactly what a quality boba tea should taste like, hands down. 🧋

Ding Tea's Jasmine Green Tea w/Brown Sugar Boba

Yield: 1 Cup

Find a Ding Tea location near you!

Print

Instructions

1. Find a Ding Tea Location near you
2. Order a large, iced Jasmine green tea (fresh) with brown sugar boba, less than 30% sugar, and a topping of cheese foam.
3. Pay and enjoy immediately!

Notes

You can try to make this at home, but it's an advanced adventure. Wait until you're a boba pro. 😉

📐 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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