A Powerful Productivity Hack For Getting More Done and Faster!
I’d like to share my fav productivity hack with you which comes from the ‘Time & Self Mastery’ section in my coaching programmes.
Entrepreneurs get the freedom of choice. We can choose to do anything we please with our day, which is great! Until you realise that when you can do any one of a thousand things, it’s super difficult to choose the next best thing to do, and EVERYTHING feels URGENT, right?
Equally, no one is looking over your shoulder making sure you’re on track, so it’s so easy to slack off, check Instagram or go to lunch a little early.
That’s why I use this simple but powerful trick to keep me on track: At the end of each day, I take 5-10 minutes and make a short action plan for tomorrow.
Many of us already use to-do lists, but here’s the thing, when you start thinking about what you need to do in the morning it can quickly feel overwhelming. However, putting together the to-do list of tomorrow’s priorities the night before does something magical. See our brains do a lot of work in the background without us realising – so overnight during our sleep, our brains are already working on solutions to tomorrow’s tasks! – sounds crazy but it’s been proven.
So at the end of every day, crack open your planner and write a to-do list (I prefer a physical planner but you do you). Get all your major tasks on the list, then rate them A, B, C, D from super urgent (A) to nice to have time permitting (D).
Then, block out time in your calendar/diary for the best time of day to do those types of tasks – e.g. I prefer doing my social media posts first thing in the morning when my creative juices are at their peak! I had on my to-do list today to write this article. I don’t write articles that well after 3pm when I’m better in meetings with clients. So, I put this article earlier in my list.
What’s more – as you complete tasks you can tick them off your list – and this not only gives you a little release of dopamine every time you do – but makes sure that at the end of the day you can see a track record of what you’ve accomplished which is so important for the busy-bee!
By following this simple process, I get more done. By writing the list in the first place, I think about all the small tasks I need to accomplish, and I put them all in one place. That way, come 11am, I’m not guessing at what I need to do next.
I trick myself into doing more, faster. I end up saying, well, why not just go on to the next thing on my list? It’s right there, and I might as well just do it. After four times of saying that I’m most of the way through my tasks and well ahead of schedule.
I advance my goals. All my small tasks are insignificant; but added together, they form the basis of my big long-term goals. You get so wrapped up in your task lists that by the time you look up, you realise wow…I’ve accomplished so much! And that’s the best feeling of all.
Do yourself a favour and just try it for a few days. If you hate it, then write me back and say sorry Jugal, not for me! That was a terrible idea. But you might just find that a little to-do list the night before helps keep you on track, completing your to-do’s and feeling great about making progress. What could be more productive than that?
If you implement this and find it makes a difference (which I’m confident you will), then you’ve just gotten a tiny taste of what business coaching does. Exactly this process, highlight a challenge, provide a simple strategy and associated tools, implement the strategy and measure the results!
If you’re an action-oriented person then you’re the ideal candidate for coaching, and I’d like to give you a bigger dose of what you could achieve. Find bigger challenges, implement bigger strategies, get bigger results!
Book yourself in for a complimentary business strategy session with me and we can take the first step to discovering what we need to work on to get you and your business to where you want it to be.
To your success,
Jugal
