A strategy I use every day is to pick one to three tasks that I will complete on that day. These are relatively important things that if I complete them, I will be able to say “today was a successful/productive day”.
I try not to decide on those tasks at the end of the previous day (as some people have suggested) because I prefer to follow my areas of interest. What do I mean?
Say you have two worthy tasks and you can only complete one in a day, wouldn’t you rather do the one you’re excited about right now? Completing either would make your day productive. I’ve found that interest levels change from day to day.
The thing is, you can’t change that list once you have decided on it. If you decide to do it, you gotta do it that day, or that day wasn’t successful. If you decided the day before and the task you picked was of less interest to you that day, you’re just making it harder than it needs to be.
Sure other things will come up that seem just as important, which is why you don’t plan things that will take all day. Look for tasks that might take an hour or two each.
This will help you focus on what’s actually important to you.
I like to get up in the morning and sit quietly while having a coffee, reflecting on where I’m at and what I can do on that day to move my business and my life forward.
These three tasks don’t have to be just business or job related. You might choose to listen to a particular podcast, read a chapter of a particular book, go for a run, sort out your tax return or mow the lawns.
You’re looking for things that will take effort and which you wouldn’t naturally do. Like you wouldn’t put “do the dishes” on there! It has to be something that will help you move forward in some way.
To give you an example, my task list for today was:
- Watch two videos from the SEO Pro course;
- Finish reading the book “Talent is Never Enough” by John C Maxwell; and
- Write this post.
While I’ve done other things today (like watching day 3 of the Ashes Cricket and I’ll be playing volleyball and then indoor soccer tonight), doing these three things, I feel will help me move forward in my life and business.
Ever since I started choosing these daily tasks, I’ve noticed a huge leap in my productivity.
I hope you do too.
Great idea! I’ve started using it and i’m writing it into my daily planner. I find that my to-do list is so long, I often get overwhelmed just looking at it – but three things looks much more achievable. Even on those days when I feel like a lot of things didn’t go to plan, I can look at that list and realise that I still had a successful day! 🙂
Ok – so I’ve chosen my 3 things – 1. Pack away Xmas tree, 2. Buy iPad, 3. Read next section of Pascal’s “Penses”
This is such a great idea for me during school holidays – am usually really disciplined and achieve lots when kids are at school but feel really demotivated when kids are home, often feeling like I haven’t achieved anything… I could even include kid specific things like play a game of scrabble with Bek (which she always wants to do)… Thanks!
I have made the decision to let go of disappointments and setbacks and anything that would keep me from mooving forward. This is a new day and a new beginning and my wonderful husband took some of my tasks so I could have more time to focus on what’s actually important to me, relax , read and meditate.
This is Sean’s (8 y/o) list for the day (written by his Mum after sharing this site with him)
1. Playing outside with new puppy Bailey
2. Play a board game with Mum
3. Read some of my Pokemon book
(Thanks Mike for being an independent motivating voice…!!!)
Hey Sean! Welcome aboard man! Cool list. Sounds like that’d be a really good day if you got them done! Thanks Sean’s mum for sharing this site with him 🙂
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