First, break free of your intimidating to-do list. Many of us struggle with the never-ending nature of our to-do lists. When important work needs to be done that long list of tasks looms.
When you plan for an excellent day, every plan needs a starting point. We would be remiss if we did not say this first. The foundation of any day is quality sleep. Sleep is a biological necessity, vital for sustaining your body's physicality and cognitive abilities. There is no substitute for sleep to restoring your energy. You need energy because it powers everything you do. It is one of the keys to working smart. Learn more about a Healthy Sleep
Just looking at to-do list of tasks is exhausting. It elicits an image of a labor-intensive unpleasant chores requiring a lot of effort. All you envision is too much to do, too few hours ahead. You just can’t muster up the energy or the will to start. Does that sound like most of your work-day mornings? Does it usually lead to procrastination?
Who wants to start their day intimidated and overwhelmed by it? Ditch the dreary list. It takes up headspace, while adding anxiety and stress before you even start your day.
The Plan
First, change the image you will envision when you look at your plan. Start with vocabulary. Instead of words like list or task, get into the habit of using terms such as assignment and achievement. In fact, write the words My Achievement Plan at the top of colorful paper as a heading for you plan. Attach a photograph or image that has significance to serve as motivation, remind you what you are working toward, or what matters.
Only 4 Essential Elements to Executing your Plan
In weeks 1-4 of your Assignment & Achievement Plan:
Appointment #1 - Do something totally for yourself and within your control.
Start your day by achieving something for you sets the tone for the rest of your day. You can pick any activity that is part of establishing a good morning routine such as eating breakfast or reading. Even if all you do is sit in the sunshine for five minutes, smile and think of something positive you are engaging for a feel-good achievement. Ben Franklin used to ask himself this question every morning: What good shall I do today?
The point is to immerse yourself into achieving this first activity for yourself.
This first appointment is a gesture of self-respect. It is calming to your state of mind, gives you a feeling of self satisfaction, and helps ground you. This approach sets the vibe for an excellent day whether you are headed for a productive day at work, spending time with family, or having a me type day.
Appointments #2, 3, 4 and 5 - essentially, on a daily basis you stop, think, and decide what four activities, appointments, or planned achievements will get your attention tomorrow.
At the end of each work day, write down the four most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow.
Clarify exactly what it is that you’re going to work on and exactly when you are going to work on the what.
In the morning you don't have to think about it. Just be on time for the appointments.
Choose no more than four assignments and make sure they are activities that matter. If you are trying to establish a new morning habit write it down. If you have a doctor’s appointment or dinner with family that is one of your four assignments for that day.
On work days, of course, you include pressing work assignments.
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f it’s one big project, break it into manageable segments. That way you can focus on achieving one section before starting the next. If underestimating how long a project will take is part of what causes stresses or even procrastination for you, try thinking about your work or activities in terms of how many 25-minute blocks of time it will realistically take.
Between appointments you have to pause and do something different and refreshing to help your brain recharge. That is the key to working smart and doing things brilliantly.
Studies show we work best in 90 – 120 minute cycle of alertness before we need a mental break. When your body signals you that the 90 minute boundary has been crossed, you should disengage and walk away from the computer, the office, technology and your work environment.
Checking email, making a work related phone call, researching a question all count as work, not a break.
A real rest or relaxation break takes your mind away from what you’re doing completely. A different environment like the outdoors or a different room looking at the outdoors does that. Pretend you are going to a meeting, but instead of people you are meeting with birds and trees or your favourite hobby.
Read more about Relaxation and Restful Breaks
Basically you make an appointment with yourself to commit to things like project work, creative time, reading, decision-making, strategic thinking, paperwork, behaviour modification, time for your hobbies, leisure activities, and anything else that really matters. Studies show that people who commit to maintaining healthy leisure time along with their hard work outperform those who doggedly pursue an endless treadmill.
It is, in fact, a valuable skill in itself to commit to showing up every day. Every human being wakes up every day with an initial question or primary purpose. What am I doing today? You might wake Monday morning thinking about training a coworker. Tuesday it’s about delivering a presentation, Saturday its meeting friends for lunch. Sunday it’s the game final.
Instead of making day-specific tasks your focus, you should have one primary objective and it should stay the same every day:
Rather than fretting over the assignments or tasks themselves, that one primary question mentally centers you on showing up for that one appointment and everything else you do up to that time fuels your energy to show up for that appointment.
If you only do the work when you feel like it you will be trapped in an endless loop of procrastination. That is hardly a professional approach to being a student, administrator, entrepreneur or authority on anything worthwhile and it not the person you want to face in the mirror.
There will be days when it is inconvenient, annoying, maybe even painful to step up and keep that first appointment, but...
You may have an inclination to do the fun stuff first thing in the morning, thinking that you will tackle the difficult or disagreeable assignments later. It is more rewarding for your brain to know that once you get the tough stuff done first, it will have some fun things to do later.
Whenever possible, put an objectionable assignment at the top of your plan. Once you finish something you dislike you will feel relieved it is out of the way. Your next assignment will be more agreeable. Knowing that your experience will improve between assignment – and in a short period of time – helps you to feel more relaxed. It makes for a more positive experience. As you finish each assignment your positive experiences continue to mount and your feelings of satisfaction move up a notch. When you feel satisfied, you are more likely to follow through and finish your next assignment. That is a good way to finish your day.
No matter how tempting, it might be, ignore your phone, messages and email during these appointments. Schedule chunks of time for those items outside your assignment times.
Whenever possible, leave non-essentials or mundane tasks until after you have completed your achievement plan of important work. If the nature of your work dictates that you have other responsibilities that cannot be ignored, you can designate times when you are open to interruptions or to do routine tasks. This way, disruption will not affect the quality of your important work as much.
Keep your plan obvious, so you can see it at a glance. Seeing the plan in your handwriting reminds you that the assignments and appointments are your primary concern. As you complete each achievement put a bold check mark or star on your plan.
Reward yourself. You’ve given your brain something better to do than procrastinate or yield to inconsequential distractions. Your brain loves rewards. It is important to acknowledge and reward yourself for those achievements no matter how small. Make your reward proportional to the accomplishment.
It might be helpful to maintain a timeline of recurring deadlines or upcoming projects. Use that as a starting point to choose your daily work assignments.
Key point #1 – Start your day off right because the tone of your morning will determine the tone of your day.
Key point #2 - For a quick energy start to your day and to feel grounded engage your mind to do accomplish at least one things totally for yourself and within your control.
Key point #3 - At the end of each day, write down the four most important assignments you need to accomplish tomorrow. This is your Assignment and Achievement Plan.
Key point #4 – Work is not the only thing on your Assignment and Achievement Plan that matters.
Key Point #5 – All you have to do is show up every day and stick to keeping those five appointments with yourself.
Multitaskers think they are effective
than is actually the case. Science shows that trying to multitask is inefficient and less productive. Your ability to focus on one thing
at a time proves to have a more direct advantage.
You are smarter than you think, even when it doesn’t feel like it. Intelligence reveals itself in so many ways that you are often not aware of the ways in which you display intelligence through your diversity of strengths.
In working smart, time is not the problem. Distractions - even small ones - are the culprit. Use undivided attention strategies to limit or eliminate them, so you can use energies more meaningfully and productively.
Working smart is the ability to having better judgment and control as much as you can. Choice is the most powerful control you have in life. You can use choice wisely to protect your focus and time with one of these attention management strategies.
If you are a diligent or passionate about what you do, you may find your workday blurs into your home life and you could forget to clock out. Burnout is real. Working smart requires firm boundaries between your personal and professional time.
In your waking hours your energy is centered in one of four mental states. In working smart the state of flow is the perfect mental zone. But to get there you have to be cognizant of your state of mind.
