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Welcome to Day 4 of 7 Days To Better Productivity & Time Management.
Today’s task will take about 1 hour.
Today we’re going to learn about the absolute, single-best time-management system in the world.
What are we waiting for!
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Some ongoing big projects I need to spend a day a week concentrating on 3 Tasks during my high energy times. Other projects have lots of small tasks that I have spread out during my low energy times, one a day per project. (For instance, Fall just arrived with a vengeance. Time to shift out Spring/Summer clothes for Fall/Winter. One small task a day will let me turnover one bin into part of closet & repack that bin for next Spring, sorting & tossing the old as I go.) Going to be interesting to see if this works for me.
I felt slightly overwhelmed at the thought of ‘how many magic activities will you aim to complete each day?’ then i thought, if i aim for 1-2 that’s a good start. post it notes i lose, diaries i hardly use (another tool of good intention but no action). sothe best time managemt system being ME i am using my brain to remember my magic activities. aiming for health so a/ will be a green smoothie every morning (at least for me, but is other family members are there at the time i will double amount) B/ option of gym work or a long walk with hubby (good bonding time and hopefully keep inspiring the other is one is feeling bit lazy). quantifying 45mins to 1hr for this..also drinking more water..qauntifying this by drinking a twice filled favorite water bottle,(one at home./work, one in the car )
think i should have done this one with you, from the coments it looks great,
will catch it when it comes round again
I am being challenged all the way through this. I will be spending more quality time with my family. Decluttering my home, will become a major magical activity that I will finally get around to. Definately prepare and excited to lower my standards on things that matter less. This is freeing and abonding perfectionism. Realizing I have more perfectionism that I knew of – Willing to let go of that bondage.
Is there a printable version of this course?
Start work when I get to work!! No telling stories that my coworkers care nothing about…. Go straight to my operatory, tray will already be in there, clock in , have schedule with times up, have “to do ” sheet up ( to know what extras will be done on each pt) . In reference to you (thankfully) commenting on my comments, I , without knowing you had commented, had a long dicussion with the other hygienist and got tips from her to NOT HAVE to stay late. Thank you, i left work early today, with all notes, charts etc DONE!!
I will do 2 sales calls back a day. I will rollerblade 23 mins a day, I will do 20 mins of administrative today before work, I will do 1 dr.’s appointment per week – eye, dentist, gyn, etc. I will cook something new once a week, I will drink at least 1 bottle of water a day ( aiming for success)
As I’m still on an organising drive within my house – decluttering, assessing and rearranging my possessions and my environment, some tidying and maintenance is actually a magical activity right now. I’m trying to form new habits of functioning in my space, so making time to do the dishes more often etc. is really important. My tendency to be way too hard on myself is a perfectionism that got so out of control I ended up going in the opposite direction and was living in a cluttered accumulation of procrastinated decision making under a mountain of self-expectations that were just not realistic, and which it has been an incredible relief to just let go (or move to an appropriate place in my priority list).
Identifying magical activities has been so exciting that I took some extra time to work on that (and the accompanying satisfaction and energy!) before I came back here to work on today’s task. I use a whiteboard to write a list of things that have to be done that day/morning/afternoon that I can choose from (spontaneity) and wipe off as I go, but I think I will make a printed chart and some checklists to keep me going over the week/month/time period of the goals I’m aiming for. My daily output meter has time related things (prepare school lunch, get son off to his day on time; tend to the household pets; get the washing on the line to take advantage of good weather) that have to be out of the way before the next things (work on my Get Organized Wizard course; take care of the priority items in my office inbox; produce written materials for my job; plan things that need max productivity brain) that need the peaceful and productive morning hours can be tackled. I have reached the more ‘fun’ things (sorting boxes of items for my decluttering project; putting together patchwork for quilts I’m making, etc.) so much more often lately, and been able to enjoy them guilt free, knowing the things I prioritised were done, and other things (fitness, the garden, etc.) can be addressed when it’s time rather than tormenting me as something I “SHOULD” have done. I’ also working on eliminating that word from my vocabulary, lol!
I’ve had my money’s worth a few times over so far on this course, and I’m still just over half way! Love it.
I’ve begun to keep a daily list of tasks that I can check off as I go with my “Magic Activities” starred. That way I know for sure I get what is truly magical done, but can do more when I get those tasks done. Every day it needs to change as demands of business change. Crazily enough, I have been getting more of the more important “magical tasks” done.
I’ve begun to keep a daily list of tasks that I can check off as I go with my “Magic Activities” starred. That way I know for sure I get what is truly magical done, but can do more when I get those tasks done. Every day it needs to change as demands of business change. Crazily enough, I have been getting more of the more important “magical tasks” done.
While I get that I cannot do everything perfectly every time, I’m not sure how to change my mind set. It feels unnatural to me. BUT, I also understand to stay sane, my perfectionism on the things that matter less, has to go. There are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything perfectly.
This will be a on going struggle for me.
Ok…so I think I figured some things out. I must have read this post 50 times…and it finally hit me that rather than a “set in stone schedule” this is a list of things I am going to accomplish each day…it doesn’t matter when (because the best laid plans change) but just THAT I do them! So here’s my daily output meter…spend 30 minutes catching up and prioritizing work emails (there are many) then work on and finish 3 projects (1 major and 2 minor) on my to do list daily…after school is time for my boys and household stuff…then picking up around the house and folding laundry when it comes out the dryer round me out. It sounds mundane…but i really feel like if I can accomplish those things…my work/life flow will be much better!
I had to really think about this in terms of my day and I’m still struggling so I’m going to take a little more time. I think this is where i have failed in the past. I try to book my time, etc. back-to-back to fit it all in. I know I shouldn’t and it feels overwhelming. What am I doing wrong? I identified my magic activities…but when I go to plan them into my day I just get stressed. HELP!
Step 1 – It’s all bollocks! – love it! – the original quest and the release from it!
Step 2 – I have tried to quantify how I will know when I have achieved the particular magic activities I have already identified – daily where that is applicable. I think 3 per day is a good start and then I can monitor from there (playing to my productivity brainspace).
I have created a checklist for each of my priorities with those magic activities defined – so at least they are now on my to-do list. I know I am going to star 3 to do each day, but haven’t hard scheduled them just yet, I will do so by the end of the programme on Sunday (once I know I can achieve what is needed of me for this programme in days 5-7). I have an awful habit of expecting too much of myself so one step at a time!
Step 3 – Wow! Benefits 3 and 4, I love the way you reel me in over the whole task and then wallop me on the head right between the eyes with those two. 🙂
Wow! This one took me awhile, but I am so glad I’ve done it. I’ve made a diagram so the I can easily figure out what to do every day. Yay me!
Great exercise. I’m interested to see how I do in terms of if goals are too high, just right, etc.
Excited about some of the items like writing!
My magic activities are to get enough sleep, exercise, eat healthy, clean, organize, and spend time with the family. I know I need to spend less time on other things.
I got stuck on Day 4 as I had two weeks of big distractions (2 floods and more). So now I am back and had to go back and do Day 3 as I realized I did not have a very specific list of magic activities. This was my glaringly trouble area. This seems to be a hard task for me.
Nevertheless, my general goal is to knock out prepping for taxes and putting other finances in order in February. I will do 1.5 hours of finances and .5 hrs filing and 1.5 hrs making related calls/education time. I will also do 3 tasks per week on project downsize and 3 tasks per week on project Mac album gift.
This feels wonderful having quantifiable aims. (: I also made a list of rewards like doing FB, and reading and doing girlfriend dates. I feel lighter now that I have a plan! The best part this is a new paradigm that is repeatable! (:
I’m using iCal in conjunction with google calendar for appointment reminders and your Goals & Priorities Diary 2014 for my daily output meter. January’s focus is exercising 3 days a week at the gym, eating based on a scheduled nutrition plan daily, and completing one month of tax preparation paperwork M-F. Got some other stuff to work around, but making these my absolutes!
I’m a morning person and I have about 30 minutes each morning to work on my important things. In the past, I would use this time to check Facebook, emails, etc and then I would be frustrated and complain that I never have time for working on my websites. It’s hard, but now I am forcing myself to “website” first, “Facebook” later.
I also have tried every planner and finally settled on paper notebooks for the items that don’t matter after today – grocery lists, quick reminders, etc. and Evernote for my larger goals and notes. I like Evernote because I can access it on every device and it’s not rigid. I don’t have to give each item a priority or due date. I just open a blank notebook and start writing!