Starting from a young age, I always carried two things with me: a digital wrist watch and a pen. This was something I observed my father. As a young man, I thought it was cool to have these things with me. This is of course before the smart phone was invented. I consider myself fortunate that smart phones weren’t around as they are a major distraction for the young.

Why is a wrist watch such a great tool:

• Sense of urgency: besides being able to see the time, it gives the wearer a sense that the day is passing by and time is running out. It forces the wearer to make the most of the day.
• Stopwatch: you can time yourself on how long tasks take, and try to beat your time.
• Timer: Parkinson’s law (covered in previous posts) states that time dilates to fill the alloted slot. Pomodoro technique is a powerful and practical use of this principle where you give yourself limited time (usually 25 mins) to accomplish a task, take a break, and have another Pomodoro, until the task is completed.
• Alarms: you can set multiple alarms throughout the day to make sure you have a trigger (the alarm) to initiate your task or habit.

Most importantly, you do not need to pull out your phone to do these things, which will distract you.

A basic watch will do the job. It will cost you <$100. You don’t want a smart watch as it will distract you. Casio and Timex basic watches are perfect. I personally use the Timex Ironman watch.

Why is a pen such a good tool:

Well this one is easy, you need to write things down and won’t need to ask others for a pen.

What basic tools do you use to help you stay on top of your day?

Cheers.