Productivity is one of the things I’m struggling with right now. Something that has worked for me, however, is a mindset of accomplishing three things each day.
Every week on Sunday night or Monday morning, I write down 10-15 of the biggest tasks I have on my plate to move me towards my goals. These tasks vary and can take as little as five minutes to as long as 5 hours. The tasks vary in difficulty as well – from technical, to administrative, to creative.
Sometimes I write tasks that are technically cheating, in order to trick myself into getting things done. For example, instead of writing “I’ll get blog changes completed this week” I write “I’ll get a list of blog changes done this week.” I break tasks down into pieces that can be outsourced if necessary, just in case I’m short on time at the end of the week.
But regardless, I’m very big on the power of three. Every morning, I wake up and complete three items, then I get to relax. Three is a manageable number of tasks, but not so few that if you don’t get all three done you wasted your whole day (unlike the power of one). There is something very powerful in the psychology of three, and three is the number that works best for me.
I’m curious though – what works for you? What are the big to-do items on your list this week? And what information could we share with you to help you get them done faster?
Great article, I too break things down and often trick myself to get started on something when I’m perceiving it as too big or insurmountable.
I’ve tried the 3 ‘Most Important Things’ approach before but I think I’m going give it another go setting my list on a weekly basis, instead of setting 3 tasks at the end of each day for the following day. I’ve never been one of those people who’s motivated by to-do list accomplishment, so perhaps picking daily whichever 3 I’m in the mood for out of the things I want/have to do that week that will work better than picking 3 pressing things every day.
One thing I like to use for big aims or projects is drawing a simple progress bar: as I complete a task that moves me forward I get to shade in a section. I stick it somewhere in my line of sight and it serves as visual reminder and motivator to keep moving things forward.
What works for me is being completely aware that if I don’t do something productive, I’m going to regret it bc time goes by so quickly.
The big thing I have for the next couple weeks is to work on content, and organize the launch of Yakezie.com. With 100 members counting on me, I best not fail!