My Favorite Productivity Hack
Let’s face it - sometimes there’s more to do in a single day than you feel like you’re able to address with the time that you have. You spend all day working only to feel like you end the day with a longer to-do list than what you started with.
If you can relate, you’re not alone. We live in a fast-paced world with new requests coming in at a near constant rate. It’s not an issue that you can solve by running faster or hustling more. What you need is a new approach.
Your goal shouldn’t be to do it all. It’s simply not possible. You’ll wear yourself out trying and you’ll feel a sense of disappointment and helplessness when the day is over.
Successful people aren’t the ones who get it all done. They are the ones who know how to define their most important tasks. They prioritize these responsibilities so that they don’t have to wonder when the day is over if they did what they were supposed to do.
For the past several months, I’ve set three goals each day. I spend time every evening thinking about what I most want to accomplish the following day. I try to focus on things that would be easy to neglect or ignore, but are important if I’m going to reach my goals or continue making progress. This functions as a commitment device for me. I can’t back out of doing something important the following day. By setting a goal, I already promised myself that I would take action.
Lately I’ve been trying to take my larger goals into account when I set my weekly goals. One of my goals this month is to finish my first eBook. Last week I had a goal to write two chapters. One day, my daily goal was to finish the rough draft of one chapter. This is a great example of how a larger goal becomes more manageable when we think about how it breaks down into smaller chunks. It’s hard to think about writing an entire book. It’s easy to think about writing 250 words a day for twenty days a month. If you can do that, you’ll finish your rough draft in 6-8 months.
Some days your goals will be straightforward and simple. I like to set goals on the weekend to keep up my momentum, but I also understand that rest and connection is important. One of my weekend goals was to take my son to the YMCA to shoot hoops. I accomplished that goal - and had a great time in the process.
Other days your goals will stretch you. I swim laps twice a week, but I know that I’ll quit after only a few minutes unless I have motivation to push myself. On days when I know I’ll be swimming, I set a manageable distance goal for myself. This goal encourages me to keep going even when I want to quit.
I encourage you to give this a try. Commit to setting three daily goals each day for one week. Even if you only reach half of these goals, you’ll still accomplish ten important tasks in one week. That’s nearly 40 tasks in a month or close to 500 in a year. How much value would that add to your life?
