In this day and age of fast paced life, of continuous interruptions and multitasking, it's more important than ever to have a few tools to stay productive and use time effectively.
Having read multiple books over the years, here are few tools that stuck with me.
1. Lock and Load
Every morning before leaving bed, I open my calendar on a smartphone and review the upcoming meetings for the day. More often then not I have double bookings. This is my chance to decide which meetings I attend, which ones I miss, and which ones I need to reschedule. For the ones I choose to attend, these few minutes allow me to understand if I need to prepare, and what's my goal for the meeting. This also focuses my thinking during the morning routines and a commute.
A nice by-product of this tool is that I never look as though I was just thrown out of bed, but energized and driven.
2. Cold Showers
At the end of the shower, I turn the water to cold and stand between 10-30 seconds under cold water. It helps wake me up, and it helps me stay energized throughout the day.
As a disclaimer, it's worth to mention that where I live cold water isn't ice cold, and not even really cold, but can be considered warmish in many regions. In the end it's not supposed to be an ice-bucket challenge.
3. Goals for the day
Running multiple tasks, as we all are, sometimes I feel like I'm not making progress on any task, because I keep thinking and reminding myself about all other tasks. For me the trick is very simple - just write the tasks on paper. Then prioritize. Then pick one, and start making progress on it. This immediately frees my mind juggling the tasks to actual work.
I simply put them on sticky notes on my desk.
4. Silence your phone
My phone is almost always on silent mode. The exception being when I'm expecting an important call, and can't miss it. Otherwise, it's on complete silence, no vibration. When I'm sitting in front of the computer working I leave the phone face up. Here's the trick - if I'm in the "normal mode", reading emails for example, and a call or a message comes in, I see them, an may choose to answer or ignore. But the magic comes when I'm focused - that's when I don't notice the screen, and the phone doesn't break my concentration. Yes, once in a while I miss a call or don't immediately answer a text message, but the number of the important ones I miss is negligible compared to my ability to stay focused on a task.
5. Last day before vacation
Have you noticed how much we accomplish during the last day before vacation? We all are. As there's no "tomorrow", everything which can be completed today must be completed. Leave as few unfinished tasks as possible. That's how I try to treat each day. Send all unsent emails, make all pending phone calls, bring all I can to a closure.
Have a productive one!
Having read multiple books over the years, here are few tools that stuck with me.
1. Lock and Load
Every morning before leaving bed, I open my calendar on a smartphone and review the upcoming meetings for the day. More often then not I have double bookings. This is my chance to decide which meetings I attend, which ones I miss, and which ones I need to reschedule. For the ones I choose to attend, these few minutes allow me to understand if I need to prepare, and what's my goal for the meeting. This also focuses my thinking during the morning routines and a commute.
A nice by-product of this tool is that I never look as though I was just thrown out of bed, but energized and driven.
2. Cold Showers
At the end of the shower, I turn the water to cold and stand between 10-30 seconds under cold water. It helps wake me up, and it helps me stay energized throughout the day.
As a disclaimer, it's worth to mention that where I live cold water isn't ice cold, and not even really cold, but can be considered warmish in many regions. In the end it's not supposed to be an ice-bucket challenge.
3. Goals for the day
Running multiple tasks, as we all are, sometimes I feel like I'm not making progress on any task, because I keep thinking and reminding myself about all other tasks. For me the trick is very simple - just write the tasks on paper. Then prioritize. Then pick one, and start making progress on it. This immediately frees my mind juggling the tasks to actual work.
I simply put them on sticky notes on my desk.
4. Silence your phone
My phone is almost always on silent mode. The exception being when I'm expecting an important call, and can't miss it. Otherwise, it's on complete silence, no vibration. When I'm sitting in front of the computer working I leave the phone face up. Here's the trick - if I'm in the "normal mode", reading emails for example, and a call or a message comes in, I see them, an may choose to answer or ignore. But the magic comes when I'm focused - that's when I don't notice the screen, and the phone doesn't break my concentration. Yes, once in a while I miss a call or don't immediately answer a text message, but the number of the important ones I miss is negligible compared to my ability to stay focused on a task.
5. Last day before vacation
Have you noticed how much we accomplish during the last day before vacation? We all are. As there's no "tomorrow", everything which can be completed today must be completed. Leave as few unfinished tasks as possible. That's how I try to treat each day. Send all unsent emails, make all pending phone calls, bring all I can to a closure.
Have a productive one!
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