How We Use Essential Oils for Productivity

I'm always on the hunt for productivity hacks, tips and tricks. As they say, time is money and I want to ensure that not only my clients are getting quality work (+ more) from my day, but also my family and friends. So when I'm at work, I get to WORK y'all! 

But it's hard being productive every hour of the day. And I don't drink coffee. I know, I know. I've tried a million times, but by the time where I can get it to a state where it's drinkable for me, I've added so much sugar that it's not worth it in the end. So besides some black tea and the Pinckney Palm office playlist, how else do I remain productive?

Enter essential oils. Now, I'm not saying they give you the energy of a cup of coffee, but they are the perfect burst of zest to get me working productively. I'm also no expert and feel like I've barely scratched the surface on the power of essential oils.

What I do know is that whenever I post about them on Insta Stories you always have questions and comments. So here I am today, popping onto the blog to share more about how we use essential oils for work productivity!

Here are some things I learned about essential oils to start with...

-Do your research and make sure you're getting the purest essential oils you can afford! Essential oils are derived from distillation and cold pressing and you can imagine that it takes SO much work to get oil from rose petals, for example. So yes, pure rose essential oil is going to be quite a pretty penny. There are companies who've figured out a great process so you can get that rose oil at a fair cost though, we'll talk about them in a bit. 

-How do you know if your essential oils are good quality? A few things I always check for are a brown or blue glass bottle so the oil doesn't warp due to light, the plant name on the bottle to ensure I'm really getting what it says and that it's labeled "essential oil" not just "rose oil" because that could mean it's just perfumed oil. Plus, if it's super cheap compared to other oils of the same kind, you're probably not getting a good quality essential oil.

-Get a diffuser. I have this one for home and a smaller bamboo one for work.  

-Don't ingest your essential oils unless they have nutritional facts and are labeled for consumption. Essential Oils aren't monitored by the FDA unless you see those nutrition facts on there folks. So just to be safe look for that before adding citrus essential oil to your water. If you want to ingest your oils, I love the Young Living Vitality line. 

-What brands are my favorite? I have two. Young Living (mentioned above) and doTERRA. Young LIving even has a whole post on productivity. If you're obsessed with Amazon like I am, you can find them here and here. And no friends, this post is in no way shape or form sponsored by either of these brands, nor does it contain affiliate links. Just pure love and information sharing!

-Here's some further reading if you want to know more. Check out these posts on Inc., Entrepreneur, Apartment Therapy and Waiting on Martha has tons of posts here. I also love WoM's brand, Well Code's, approach and information on essential oils. 

Ok now that we've got that done, now on to how we use essential oils for work productivity! Here's a normal day of using essential oils at Pinckney Palm. 

We fill up our diffuser each morning and drop in about eight total drops of oil. I have no idea if that's too much or too little, it's just what I've found to be enough for our space. Sometimes I'll use just one essential oil, sometimes I'll throw 2-3 different kinds in. Here are my favorite oils and blends for productivity:

-doTERRA Citrus Bliss: This is my favorite blend and seems to raise my energy and productivity the most. It's a blend of Oranges (of a few varieties), Lemon, Grapefruit, Bergamot and Vanilla. I sometimes do fewer drops of this because it's pretty potent! People always comment on it when it's going strong at the office. 

-Young Living EN-R-GEE: Can you tell I'm a fan of blends? The name says it all, I love the burst of energy and unique smell I get from this blend. It contains Rosemary, Juniper, Lemongrass, Nutmeg, Balsam, Clove and Pepper. Highly recommend!

-Peppermint: No surprise on this one, we all know mint is so refreshing and energizing. There's just something about this peppermint that keeps my energy up and kicks my productivity in high gear. I'll even open it up and give it a whiff every now and then if I'm feeling a slump coming on. I prefer the doTERRA version, but peppermint is one you can find purely from a lot of different brands. 

-Eucalyptus: Don't know why, but this smell really keeps me feeling level, yet energized. Maybe it's the earthy-ness or freshness, it just works for me. Again, I have the doTERRA version. 

Finally, there are two blends I can't go without mentioning that are more calming than energizing, yet keep my productivity up.  

-Young Living Stress Away: It's made of Balsam, Lime, Cedarwood, Vanilla, Ocotea and Lavender. I can't tell you it takes my stress away, but it does help calm me down and reset once it gets going. Really anything with Lavender is good for stress relief, you can even buy it pure. 

-doTERRA Balance: This one is fresh and sweet, but steady. Sounds like a weird explanation, but you'll know what I mean if you smell it. Coconut, Spruce, Ho Wood, Frankincense, Blue Tansy, Blue Chamomile and Osmanthus make up this one. Sounds very floral with those flowers all at the end, but it's sweet in nature if you ask me. 

I'm feeling energized already just writing about all of this! And if you're wondering, yes, I've got my EN-R-GEE misting away while writing this post :). 

What other essential oil recommendations do you have for me?

Other tips we can share when it comes to productivity and work using essential oils?

Enjoy!

-Erin