How do you set yourself up for a PRODUCTIVE day?
You may have a morning ritual; You exercise, meditate, have breakfast, or drink a freshly brewed coffee to start your day.
Or you pick up your phone when you wake up and start replying to emails immediately.
This may be a productive START to your day, but at the end of your day, will you still feel like you’ve been PRODUCTIVE?
How will you stay focused on tasks and keep your energy high when obstacles and hurdles crop up that distract you from what you set out to do?
Here are 3 things to CREATE a productive day and keep you on track:
1. Identify your TOP 3.
Identify the Top 3 most urgent or important tasks you want to be done today. You can only have 3 priorities per day. Plan to work on them as early in the day as possible. If you get these 3 tasks done, you’ve achieved what you wanted. New energy is released when you complete tasks. It’s not the distractions that drain your energy; more often, it’s the dissatisfaction of ‘not getting things done’ that’s exhausting.
2. Practice saying NO.
We've learned to prioritize being liked and pleasing people over being honest and protecting what’s important to us. Be true to yourself and value your time by gently spreading more NOs.
3. Turn your problem into a project.
We often procrastinate when we need to solve a ‘problem.’ Our minds see ‘problems’ as complicated, messy, and time-consuming. That’s why we don’t like to work on them and push them away. What happens if you turn your ‘problem’ into a ‘project’? I’m sure you’ve successfully completed many projects. Projects are a collection of solvable, active, doable tasks. Turning your ‘problem’ into a ‘project’ prevents you from overthinking and puts you in ‘action’ mode.
If you want a productive day, CREATE a productive day. Obstacles and distractions are part of the journey but not a cause for derailment. Keep your mind focused on what you want to be done TODAY, stop people-pleasing, and go from ‘thinking’ mode into ‘action’ mode.
