I start my workdays with checklists. Reviewing my calendars, notes, and any tasks on my to do losts, I place them in one of three buckets:
1. Personal development: these are things that I have to do everyday, like, meditate, journal, stretch, skip rope, spend 10 min on a book, etc. Tasks that I want to build habits of daily go here. I will modify this list from time to time, but this list is most important of the three.
2. Personal work: these are day to day admin tasks, any projects I may be working on those days (short or long project), grocery lists, anything that takes time and discipline to accomplish. These items are ranked in priority.
3. Work-work: this is the list of tasks related to my daytime job. It’s important to prioritize tasks and do the best to accomplish them. As I get more efficient in this bucket, I can improve my earnings and allow more time of personal development tasks. 80/20 applies here too (see below).
I use a blank piece of paper to write these lists, and don’t save these lists. I find using paper superior to electronic formats.
Carry forward: any item not completed that day may go forward, or get screen out.
80/20: realizing that this 80/20 rule applies to my lists, I don’t aim for 100% completion, rather, allow items to be unaccomplished. Since the list is rankes by priority, the less important items will filter out.
Parkinsons law: by limiting the time I allocate to complete tasks, I force myself to complete them effeciently. As Parkinson’s law states: time will dilate to what you allocate to accomplish a task…
Pomodoro: giving myself 25 min per task, keeps me motivated to finish it before the timer runs out. It actually becomes a fun exercise, and I reward myself in between.
Systems vs goals: this may seem like a goal-oriented approach, but it is not. The ides is to develop a system which I improve with every iteration. But honestly, it is fun!