"There are seven days in the week and someday isn’t one of them."
A nice quote from www marcandangel com to start this blog.
We all came accross the same recommendations from time management gurus, book and theories from famous authors: they are telling us to plan your day, list your activities, prioritize them, reserve time slots to complete them and successfully track your progress.... And there is a myriad of apps and other tools to keep us on track.
Unfortunately, the majority of us experience a different reality: indeed, 41% of us do not believe that we complete our daily todo list very well (source: authentic-happiness.com, free online happiness score, question 14). What does this tell us?
While the approach of listing, prioritizing and scheduling our tasks is fundamentally a good discipline (more on GTD and Eisenhower method in the "Manage Your Time" learning module from authentic-happiness.com), trying to complete our daily t=often turns into a new source of stress, the exact opposite of the original intent. For 59% of us, not completing our tasks means more frustration and a weaker self esteem. Add to this, procrastinating what we could not complete adds up to the pressure of the following day, and so on...
So, the lack of planning is not good, but daily action plans does not really for most of us, a true Greek tragedy! Well, maybe not, let's challenge some assumptions and try again: let's plan for the entire week ahead of us and let's do this on Friday afternoon before the week starts:
- Apply proven GTD or Eisenhower approaches or any other effective task management methodology you prefer. list all your activities for the following week, prioritize them into 4 boxes:
* top left, the most important work projects/tasks that you want to accomplish at work
* below left, other professional tasks,
* on the top right, your most important personal goals, to include exercising, taking care of yourself and your family, eating healthy food, meeting with friends, pursuing your passion, anything not business related, ...
* below right, other personal activities
- Schedule the most important activities but do not exceed 70% for each. Plan for a lunch break, schedule time for a walk or fitness, etc...
- During the week, as you think about new ideas and activities to be completed, ask yourself first the question: "Is it critically important to complete those this week?"
* If yes, schedule them in the remaining 30% time
* If not, write them down starting with a N for Next week: you will take care of them during your next planning session on Friday.
- At the bottom of the page, I found it very useful to add the 5 authentic happiness dimensions:
1. H&S: Health and Sport
2. PE&G: Positive Emotions and Gratitude
3. P&F: Productivity and Flow
4. S&A: Social and Adventure
5. M&L: Meaning & Leadership
I use these as a self-check that my activities and schedule ahead are well balanced.
Want to try??? Visit Authentic-Happiness.com, download the free "The Ideal Week" template and get started.
Please let us know what you think, your successes, your challenges, what worked for you, etc.
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