This article is dedicated to all those people who planned the perfect day only to have it go completely off the rails. Here is a simple productivity hack to gain back what’s rightfully YOURS: Time to do what wanted to do in the first place.
It happens to all of us at some point. You’re expecting a wonderfully productive day. Everything is neatly scheduled and lined up, and you’re excited about your first appointment…and with no warning, your day begins to unravel. First your smartphone blows up with last-minute cancelations and requests to reschedule. You anxiously glance down at your landline, and the message light is going nuts. You end up spending the entire morning scrambling to reorganize your day—and just when you see a light at the end of the tunnel, your boss corners you and drops an “all hands on deck” project in your lap.
You can’t control every facet of your life; that’s a fact. Sometimes it seems like every unexpected task you’re presented with is on fire, and the itinerary you’d mapped out for your day ends up on the back burner. It’s as if your day no longer belongs to YOU.
The first step in getting a handle on a day of curveballs actually needs to be taken long before your day blows up, and perhaps even before you arrive at the office. The task I’m speaking of is taking time in the morning to clearly identify ONE thing you absolutely must work on (and hopefully finish) no matter what the day throws at you. Examples of such an activity (depending on your role in the organization) could be writing a proposal, making an important phone call, sending a confirmation email, or writing an article.
It’s a great habit to write your to-do list at the beginning of your work day when your environment is still relatively calm and quiet. Once you’ve finished the list, look it over and identify one thing that is absolutely critical for you to do today and circle it. If your day starts slipping through your fingers, you will have already identified your non-negotiable task and won’t have to assess a multitude of options when your head is spinning. All you’ll need to do at that point is dedicate a small portion of time to work on that activity when a window presents itself.
And there’s the rub! How do you find that small window of time?
For starters, you’re only looking for a 30-minute window—no longer. If this seems impossible, then commit to finding two 15-minute windows–starting with one—and lock yourself away somewhere to knock out that one task.
Here are some important things to remember so this 30-minute window method will work:
- When your day goes haywire due to circumstances beyond your control, you’re left with a feeling of disempowerment, and this does not lend itself to productivity. However, by carving out a 30-minute window, small as that might be, you are empowering yourself by taking control of a portion of your time, and thus, reclaiming your day as YOURS.
- Writing a to do list with more than 20 items might be good for charting your longer-term goals, but when it comes to organizing your day , those sprawling to-do lists are bound to leave you feeling overwhelmed and defeated because there’s no way you’ll actually get all those things done. To avoid this scenario, list only 3-5 critical tasks that are manageable within a day’s time, and then circle your #1 priority. By prioritizing and zeroing in on that one thing, you are giving yourself the best chance for success.
- Make sure the activity you’ve prioritized can actually be accomplished within 30 minutes. (If you’re facing a big project, identify ONE part of the project that can be knocked out in 30 minutes. If you end up with more time in your day to tackled other critical items, that’s a BONUS!)
- 30 minutes is an easy amount of time to wrap your head around but it may require you to still say no to something else to make room for that 30-minute block of time. (See my article called: Flexing your willpower muscle.)
- Lastly if all else fails, make like Elvis and leave the building—literally. In order to find a place you can have some uninterrupted time to focus, you may just have to go sit in your car for a half hour—or find a park bench or an empty conference room.
By taking time each day to identify the ONE thing you need to accomplish, and then carving out 30 minutes to do so, you will feel empowered at the end of your day—even if you weren’t able to do EVERYTHING you would have liked to do had the circumstances been more ideal.
We all get the same 24 hours in the day, that’s 1440 minutes. It’s easy to feel like everyone else is in control of every single one of those precious minutes. If left unchecked over time it kills your motivation AND your productivity.
Fight back –and TAKE BACK YOUR 30!!!
