How to Get Things Done Everyday

How to Get Things Done Everyday

It's ironic that even though we've spent more time at home because of this pandemic, a lot of us may feel that we're not getting enough work done or being as productive as we'd like to be. It was only six month ago where I was daydreaming about having one week just to myself where I can start new projects, explore new passions and maybe even start a new business. Imagine what I could do. what I could accomplish with just seven days. Fast forward to today, and after months of being stuck at home, and even though I knew I did a lot of work, I still feel that I did not get enough done.

Having weeks or months of free time can warp our perception of time and appreciation of productivity. Whereas before when we followed office schedules, or even normal day-to-day habits, there was a semblance of structure or order in the way we spend the hours we are given. From that order, we try to find little openings here and there to work on things that really matter to us. Now that we're all compelled to stay at home and have lost some form of organization in our day, the tasks we do for work, for our personal interests and for other minute things in life are now mixed up in a shapeless mess inside a container which we call a DAY. That's why we find it much harder to identify wins or accomplishments because they get buried in a cloud of activities and moments that flows endlessly until we o to bed. We do not have real time, because we have way too much of it.

 

Finding Wins in Every Single Day

In their book Making Time, former Google employees Jake Knapp and John Zeratzky have compiled an excellent set of principles or what they say "recipes" where people can learn to be truly productive. By productive, they they do not mean stuffing your schedule full of tasks until you end up drained at the end of the day. Instead, they define productive as to finding wins and accomplishments in every single day so as you feel fulfilled that at the end of the day, you know you did something that will truly matter in making your life better.

Time Blocking: A Great Way to Design Your Day

Productivity hackers like Thomas Frank always recommends organizing your time even if you work from home or do not follow a pre-arranged work schedule. Time-blocking is one of the most popular methods of organizing to-dos and important tasks during your day as it among productivity hackers as it allows you to design your day based on how you want it to play out.

To create a time block, divide your day - 8AM to 10PM into blocks of 30, 60 or 90 mins. It's all up to you. For each block, you can only assign one task or activity. The rule is to not do things simultaneously to give you a chance to focus on the task at hand. Time blocking gives you a level of control as opposed to letting random events and whims shape your day.

Even if it structures your day into an organized schedule, Time Blocking does not mean you have to rigidly follow your schedule. Think of it as a mere guide that lets you make adjustments or tweaks in case you need more time to finish a task or an activity finished earlier than you anticipated. But be careful. Just because you're time blocking is flexible, it doesn't mean that you can cheat it by moving important tasks just because you were not in the mood to do it.

Tip: You can assign colors to certain activities to make it easier to identify tasks like RED for urgent tasks or Purple for things that entertain you.

Tip #2: It's always better to design your daily time blocks the night before as it allows you to factor in the things you did the previous day so you can better determine which tasks you want to accomplish the following day. Designing your day the evening before also lets you create a daily highlight.

Create a Daily Highlight

Whenever you create your time blocks, always assign one task to be your HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY. Think of this as the one important thing that will define your day. The great ting is it can be anything you want it to be. A highlight can be doing work on a project, writing a blog or even grinding out 4 hours in a game you haven't played in a long time. By designing your day beforehand allows you to plan ahead and determine which type of day you want to have tomorrow. If you think that tomorrow should be about accomplishing something about work then your daily highlight should be a task about that. On the other hand, if you want tomorrow to be about family time, then your highlight should be an activity that allows you to spend quality time with family. Always remember that the Daily Highlight can be anything as long as it makes you feel fulfilled and happy that you got it done.

Examples of DAILY HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Write 1000 words for my blog
  • Play 4 hours of Counter Strike to rank-up
  • Begin the presentation deck for my agency's next project
  • Walk the streets of Binondo to do some street photography
  • Spend time with the kids

Years, Months and Weeks Filled with Highlights

Once you've consistently designed your daily schedule then you can create a healthy habit of accomplishing wins every single day. Much importantly, it conditions your mind to not only consider work as tasks worthy of being accomplishments but other important activities in life that also brings fulfillment to you and the ones you love.

If done consistently and with discipline, then you can end the year filled with 365 highlights.

 

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