Maximize Your Time: Productivity Tips for Side-Hustling Women
- Carlissa LeBlanc
- Apr 15
- 3 min read
Are you a busy side-hustler trying to balance your 9-to-5 job, personal life, and your business? It’s no easy feat. But productivity isn’t just about doing more — it’s about being intentional with your time and energy. In this blog post, we’ll share valuable insights from Coach Lee, a productivity and accountability coach who also works as a full-time criminal defense attorney. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and wondering how to get it all done, keep reading.
Meet Coach Lee
Coach Lee is the founder of Legal Lee, where she helps driven corporate women stop feeling trapped by their schedules and start reclaiming their time. With her expertise in productivity, time management, and setting boundaries, she’s mastered the art of making time work for her. And if anyone knows how to manage time effectively, it’s someone who wakes up at 2:30 a.m. daily to build her business before heading to court!
Why Productivity Isn’t Just About Doing More
The truth is, productivity isn’t just about getting more done. It’s about being intentional with your time and aligning your efforts with your goals. According to Coach Lee, trying to do it all is a recipe for burnout. The key is understanding your capacity — your ability to do — and setting boundaries to protect your energy.
Finding Hidden Time In Your Day
One of the most common complaints of side-hustlers is not having enough time. Coach Lee offers practical advice and productivity tips on how to find hidden time in your day:
Use Your Lunch Breaks: Work on your business during lunch breaks. It’s a perfect time to handle admin tasks, respond to emails, or engage with potential clients.
Maximize Your Commute: Whether you’re driving or riding, listen to podcasts, audiobooks, or take business calls. Make your commute productive.
Schedule Grocery Pickups & Errands: Don’t waste your Saturdays running errands if you can take care of them while passing by the grocery store during your weekday commute.
The Power of Brain-Dumping
Coach Lee emphasizes the importance of brain-dumping — taking everything in your head and putting it on paper. Here’s how it works:
Write down every single task on your mind, whether it’s related to work, business, or personal life.
Break those tasks down into actionable steps.
Prioritize them based on urgency and importance.
Brain-dumping helps clear your mental space, allowing you to focus on what truly matters. Coach Lee recommends doing this weekly to plan effectively for the upcoming week.
Creating a System That Works For You
Coach Lee is a big advocate of building workflows that fit your lifestyle. Here are her top tools:
Google Drive for storing documents you can access anytime, anywhere.
Asana to organize tasks and projects.
Templates & Automations to save time on repetitive tasks.
ChatGPT (Chatty) for brainstorming content and simplifying planning.
But the most important tool? Discipline. As Coach Lee puts it, “You’re not always going to feel like doing the work, but consistency and discipline are what will carry you through.”
Common Time-Wasting Habits to Avoid
Coach Lee advises against trying to do everything yourself. Instead, delegate tasks when possible and avoid these common time-wasters:
Mindless social media scrolling
Indecisiveness: Trying to figure out what to do next instead of having a clear plan.
Unscheduled tasks: Not assigning specific times to your priorities leads to unfinished tasks.
The Importance of Self-Care
Coach Lee swears by her 2:30 a.m. morning routine. Why? Because it’s time she has completely to herself for devotionals, personal development, and preparing for the day ahead. She also emphasizes the importance of getting your workout in — for her, it’s non-negotiable. The key is planning your self-care just as you would your work.
Build Your Schedule Around Your Capacity
Productivity is not about doing more but about doing what matters most. Coach Lee highlights the importance of knowing your capacity. Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, figure out what works best for you and schedule your most important tasks around those times.
Set Boundaries and Stick to Them
Your capacity and your boundaries go hand in hand. Boundaries are the rules you set to protect your capacity. For example, if you only want to record two podcast episodes per week, stick to it. Flexibility is fine, but only when you choose to make exceptions — not when you feel pressured by others.
Final Thoughts
Productivity isn’t about doing more; it’s about being intentional and making sure your actions align with your goals. Brain-dumping, setting boundaries, and building systems that work for you are essential steps to mastering your productivity.
Coach Lee offers a 20-Minute Productivity Audit, where she helps you uncover your biggest time-wasters and offers practical steps to improve your productivity. You can find her at legally.me. Take control of your time and build the life you deserve.
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