It is a successful habit to make plans. Plans may work and they may not, but when you set a daily routine for planning your day as well as your to do tasks, you have a perception ahead of what’s expected from you and to what degree can you control it.
Suppose I planned to have a 15 minutes workout, go to the club and finish a set of work-related tasks. And then it rained, I will have to cancel the club outing planned. However, I still have control over the other plans – in this case working out for 15 minutes and accomplishing my work tasks. So, you get the idea of how you’re not always in control of everything, but you still have control over a whole lot.
I love to get up and start working by planning my work ToDos ahead. Not only do I plan for work but for the breaks in between. Let me tell you a thing or two on this.There is a technique you might have heard of and it’s called Pomodoro. The idea behind this technique is to set a time slot for focus and another time slot for distractions. So, for example for each hour I will have 45 minutes work focus and 15 minutes break. Or 45 minutes at work and 30 minutes break, the slots are customizable to your preference. The work slot should have no distractions, you’re working with your full focus with no social media to attend to or anything not work related not even for a minute. At the rewarding end, your break time allows for distractions whether you have some other responsibilities to attend to like washing dishes, cooking or just surfing the internet and social networking – or both.
This focus technique may not always work 100% but they do offer better focus abilities than just leaving it on luck.And this is part of my planning technique where I use a normal notebook for it, and this is one thing I dislike about the process.I love colors and features and I would love to possess one of those high functioning planners with rich features for daily goals and ToDos, weekly and monthly reviews and so on.
It will help me start the day with more passion and enthusiasm. While it may seem like something small, I would value it dearly.It can also have motivating quotes, or I can add my own like “Make yourself proud!” I used to have a small checklist style notebook with this exact quote on its cover page and by just looking at it I was encouraged to open and enter a few ToDos for the day. Then jotting out what I accomplished was such a joy!
Years ago, my plans were totally unrealistic and complex, a “go to the moon and back” kind of planning and so it brought along a lot of depression when by the end of the day, accomplishment was obviously zero.Nowadays, I know all about that and my plans are as simple and doable yet challenging as “Make your bed”, “Take your pills at 8pm”, “Cook some rice” and so on. Accomplishing 5 out of 20 items would still be satisfying!
So here I am, begging for a planner of your choice and thank you so much in advance!
