I asked busy Australian fashion people for their life shortcuts
Because we all need a little help sometimes.
While I’m someone who likes to wear my organisational skills as a badge of honour, I am still a fallible human (shocking). Just this week, I rocked up to a Pilates class I was so sure I’d put my name down for, only to find out I’d signed up to the one the night before. Welcome to scatterbrain season, girlies!
Another task that brings me undone? Meal planning. Try as I might, I always end up so overwhelmed by choice that I just resort to making pasta – it may be delicious, but it probably isn’t diversifying my palette enough. Luckily for us, my fellow frazzled humans, the folks at Chefgood are here to save us.
For more inspiration from fashion creatives, head to our Fashion section.
Chefgood delivers fresh, ready-made meals to your door, with a new menu of healthy meals plans every week. There are vegetarian and vegan options to fit your dietary requirements, and you can pause or cancel your subscription at any time, should your attempts at meal planning succeed. But I’m guessing it won’t be easy to go back to cooking for yourself once you’ve tasted Chefgood’s Indian biryani.
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Inspired by my realisation that I can now have vegan Singapore noodles with only the use of my microwave, I went searching for more life shortcuts. Who better to ask than extremely busy fashion people? I asked a handful for their tried and tested life shortcuts that save them on the daily.
Gemma Lyndon, creative director of Raie Eyewear
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I run all departments of Raie, everything from customer service, wholesale, design and PR so managing my time is crucial for a strong business and personal flow! Over the past two years I have found some life hacks that help with time management every week:
- I check my emails briefly every morning for a few seconds, if nothing is urgent I respond to my emails every second day!
- I always choose my outfit/workout clothes for the morning and lay it out the night prior.
- I spend an hour or two on Sunday evening clearing my inbox and packing weekend orders so I am clear-headed for the week.
- If I am super productive I also try and map out my week on Sunday and dedicate one major task per day and remaining small tasks of the week rather than doing all major tasks all on one day!
- Personally, I meal prep Sunday and do a big shop at the farmer’s markets on Saturday, then I will go home and prep all my fruit and veg like slicing up watermelon, carrot and celery for snacking for the week!
- My love language is snacks, so I always make a fresh batch of vegan brownies, protein balls or muffins on Sunday.
- Not a hack, but I work out every morning – this helps me with productivity!
Annie Carroll, fashion writer and founder of creative communications agency In Prose
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Before I worked for myself, I would put a lot of thought into my outfit each night before I went to sleep. Now that I run my own business, I’m so tired when I flop into bed at the end of the day that I can’t process anything other than a few lines of the book I’m reading. So, I’m increasingly drawn to a basic outfit structure of a white tank, an open button-down shirt, and a pair of jeans or miniskirt if it’s warm.
Limiting how many superfluous decisions you have to make each day really does help you focus on the most important ones, and while I’m not quite at the Steve Jobs level of sartorial uniformity (and I do hope I never am), it’s a relief to be sure that I’ll feel good in what I put on my back each weekday, and I can leave the wildcard outfits for the weekend when I have more time up my sleeve.
Tamara Leacock, fashion designer
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Being a fashion designer and textile artist comes with a myriad of tasks, responsibilities and thus essential time management hacks to make sure we fulfil our tasks and navigate the day with ease. My first hack is meal planning. Meal planning, particularly as someone on a plant-based diet, has been key to ensuring I have a stocked fridge or a set plan of what vegan-friendly restaurant, eateries or premade meal prep options I’ll be supporting through my week.
As a maker and a business owner, I feel a healthy balance of home-cooked meals and supporting restaurants and local food businesses to be key in supporting local industry while continuing to develop culinary skills (which is also creative, fun and bragging points when hosting friends for dinner parties at home).
The second time management hack is three scheduling tools that together help me to stay focused and on track with immediate priorities. The first is a general calendar to keep production plans, meetings, general deadlines and goals in mind. The second is a notebook where I write down and check off daily tasks. This notebook travels with me absolutely everywhere.
And the third is every evening before bed, I text myself immediate and time-sensitive deadlines that must be remembered for the following day. Having an excel master calendar, a tactile task list and a virtual Post-it like system via texts helps my very busy schedule flow in a more manageable way, safeguarded from very human forgetfulness.
Chloe Naughton, Melbourne Fashion Festival’s programmer
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I have a few life shortcuts to keep me on a tight schedule. I wear mostly similar clothes every day and stick to a uniform. For someone who works in fashion, ironically I really don’t enjoy waking up and creating a whole new look every day. I love reaching for my high-quality uniform pieces and racing out the door.
Another one is my skin and makeup routine. I’m 31 so I feel like I could be doing more but at the moment I’m a very basic wash, tone, serum, tinted moisturiser with SPF and out the door. I can have my whole face done for the day in about three minutes from start to finish.
My final hack is pretty boring but as I’m a huge creature of comfort and love repetition, I eat the same healthy food for lunch every day. It’s so easy to do a shop when you know what ingredients to buy, you know how much to make to last you the day or a few days and hopefully, it’s something you can whip up super fast.
Genevieve Phelan, freelance writer
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There really isn’t too much method to my madness, but I do believe in the value of an early rise. And an early night. I work in ‘bursts’ as opposed to long desk innings, so a 6.15 spin class leads way to two solid hours of emails/catch-ups/last-min deadline submissions and general life-sorting, all before 9am (when everyone hits the office).
Looking to simplify your meals? Head to Chefgood.
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