Each day, your time and priorities can get away from you. I have been working hard to get distractions out of my life and focus on the things that allow me to lead well, serve my clients and bring the highest value to my audience.
It’s been an important exercise and discipline. It starts with a decision each day. The decision to write rather than react is a difficult one. The temptation of what is urgent in my inbox pulls mightily. However, I know that the urgencies can throw an entire day off.
I have found three things lately that has been helping to drive what is important move forward. I wanted to share those here so you incorporate some productivity tips that are simple and have a high payoff as well:
- Pick the one thing first. I like to have a cup of tea in the morning. After reading and thinking through the day, I get to work on the one thing that is important. For me, it is writing. I am working on books as well as maintaining content for blog articles. This has to get done first, otherwise, the distractions of the day pull at me. I like to play music and get tuned into the work of being creative and sharing content.
- Remove screen distractions. I use Google Chrome for running my business in the cloud. The drawback of being connected is that there are alerts and distractions galore. I use the full screen view (Shift+Command+F Keys) to show only the relevant tab in my entire screen. It has been liberating for focusing on the task at hand.
- Set clear stopping points. Having a clear boundary focuses me. If I am to write 2 chapters, a thousand words or an article, I make that the focus of what I am going to get done in the short time I have. It is extremely powerful for getting things done. There is not a vague idea of when something will happen or what I am going to do. I have defined it.
You will have thousands of working days. They all add up. Doing someone else’s work doesn’t necessarily move the ball forward on the greater dreams and objectives you have. I have found that fostering these simple habits each morning has given me a lot of peace of mind and accomplishment before the demands of others fall on me.
How about you? Are you moving the important things forward? How can this help?