In Reexamine Your Commitments and Make a Commitment to Yourself, I encouraged you to consider your priorities and commitments.
Today, I want you to focus on daily priorities and how to stay (mostly) on track! Common barriers to staying on track with your daily goals:
- Unplanned demands on your time
- Underestimating the amount of time you need to complete a task
- Inefficient planning/organization of your day
- Poor productivity and/or avoidance
The good news is that becoming aware of your most common barriers is half the work!
Can you identify which barriers interfere most with your productivity and goals? Are the challenges different for the work/productive part of your day versus leisure/family time?
Chances are that a few extra minutes of planning & organization, either the night before or first thing in the morning, will help. And it’s ideal to allow time for unplanned demands on your time, especially if you have a work situation that requires flexibility and responding to immediate demands.
For today, plan your priorities for the day and track (mentally, or even better–on paper or with an app) your progress, barriers, etc. Tomorrow, when planning your day, consider the barriers you ran into today and think about how you can compensate. Considering the barriers to your productivity is a key step–don’t skip it!
For a great productivity app that adds a little humor, check out Carrot.
If you’re feeling motivated, consider brushing up on your time management techniques.
You already know that I like David Allen’s Getting Things Done for organization. I also recommend Stephen Covey’s work on planning, prioritizing, and organizing. If you’re not familiar, here are a few suggestions:
Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits, summarized by Business Insider
Planning your tasks for the day well n advance and implementing that plan sincerely will surely improve your productivity.