Getting Shit Done
It’s 1:45 pm, you have to rush to finish up your next due date at 5 pm. Along with all the other responsibilities you have to take care of, and those wishful projects you have always wanted to get started. It’s a hassle how busy we all are as people these days. And where does the day go? To companies that are trying to steal your attention away so that they can make a profit. It’s not wrong for them to advertise after all, and it’s not their fault that that’s where you spend most of your day, chatting on social media. The fault lies in yourself. The fact that you are even reading this shows that you in part realize this, and want to get better. And I want to do my best to help you. But it’s not easy.
Thanks to my couch, Dan Morse, at Make School, and from my own trials and errors of trying to gain productivity will be shared here with you today!
I had heard it all, reading articles about productivity-boosting and the saying “instead of asking for more time, you should be asking for twice of your efficiency.” But must say, even tho I would love to 2x my efficiency, I would also like more time on top of that! But life is way too short, and with all the amazing things you want to do and accomplish, there is a lot of things we are going to have to clear up.
There is no fast way to gain efficiency, you have to just keep trying different things until you see what works best for you. Keep that in mind, as well as take my advice with a grain of salt, because what works for me, might not work for you. The fastest way for me to explain everything will be in steps.
Step 1: List your top 25 life goals, career or other are included here. It doesn’t have to be exactly 25, it can be a little less or a little above. However you should make this list around this length, and if you don’t have anything, then break down bigger goals into smaller ones.
Step 2: From this list, pick only 5. What are the most important things right now on that list for you? What has to get done first? What will make me happiest? These are all things you should carefully consider when doing this step.
Step 3: Taken from the 5/25 Strategy by Warren Buffet, these are your new “Top 5” and it’s the only things that you are allowed to work on. I’ve made the personal exception of taking care of basic health and responsibilities first. This is because becoming productivity is kinda like building a pyramid, and at the base of that pyramid is your well being, and picking up your kids from school.
Step 4: Now that we have our “Top 5", we should make a list of all the things that have to be done in order to complete these 5.
Ex. If one of my “Top 5” was to learn how to swim, I wouldn’t just jump straight into the pool, I would probably want to look for swimming lessons, either online or in-person. So something on my to-do list would look something like this: 1. look for swimming lessons 2. find a way to pay for those lessons 3. schedule an appointment, practice how to swim.
There will be more difficult things to solve then this, but hopefully, you get the point. Break it down into smaller tasks.
Step 5: Schedule it! Putting it on your calendar or in a planner helps you think less about what you have to do, and instead just do it. When a new assignment in class comes up, instead of trying to remember that you have to do it later, put it in your todo list, then put it on your calendar. The rule of 5 also applies to new tasks. If a new task that you are assigned can be done in 5 minutes, do it right now! Otherwise, follow the process.
Ex:
7:20 am → Work Out
8:00 am → Breakfast
8:30 am → Drive kids to school
9:00 am → Go to work
5:00 pm → Look for swimming lessons
5:45 pm → Dinner
Step 6: Some intensive work requires you to work long hours at a time, but by following the Punjabi WorkFlow, in which you take a 1–2minute break for every 20 minutes you work, to avoid getting into bad workflows which can cause you to later burn out, or even feel sick and over exhausted. Make sure you are taking plenty of breaks, drinking water, and eating right.
Step 7: Are you doing what you are supposed to? Only the things that pertain to your health, basic responsibilities and “Top 5”? For me, this includes following the 20–20–20 rule, because I work on the computer so often. In order to keep my eyes, every 20 minutes I look at something 20 ft away for at least 20 seconds, which also falls perfectly in line with step 5!
How to deal with Carona?
In these times, however, making such a schedule hasn’t been easy for me, and I can’t say that I have always stuck directly to my schedule. But on a good week, when I do, I find myself getting more done in a week, then I would have in a few months doing otherwise. So for this self-quarantine season, making a workspace can be difficult, but is necessary for getting things done. Work away from the place you sleep at so that you don’t become restless. Try to maintain a schedule despite being home all day. it may help to get dressed, take a walk around the house as if you are going to work, then sit at your workplace until you are done. Something that has really helped me is by simply making three sticky notes stating three simple things I want to get done for the day. I am a bit of an overachiever, so on top of this, I also have a “Daily Works” list of things to do that I would usually do on my calendar schedule. And because I focus my schedule around my top 5, it is easy to look at my 10 items of the day and try to complete them. Of course, productivity will be down during these times, but life moves on. Stay safe, and I hope that this article did you well.
