You get up at whatever time you need to get up. Maybe it’s early because you go to bed early and want those morning hours for yourself or maybe it’s later because you’re more of a night owl and thrive in the evening hours.
You grab some form of breakfast. Sometimes it’s whatever you can throw together. Sometimes it’s something you prepared in advance. Sometimes it’s drive-thru.
You get anyone other than you ready for the day ahead. Maybe it’s your partner at home. Maybe it’s your partner (or partners) at work. It could be your children. It could be your colleagues. It could be anyone but you.
You start your commute. You listen to whatever is available – the car stereo, your mobile device, the din of your surroundings.
Sometimes you have a plan for this so you can enjoy the journey. Sometimes you just want to get to your destination and could care less about what happens along the way.
You get to work. You do the things at work that you have to do. There are days when that goes smoothly. There are days when more things show up than usual. That’s when you long for those days that go smoothly.
You take breaks. Sometimes. You might even leave your desk for some of them.
Your workday officially comes to a close. Sometimes you end it at that time and head home. Sometimes you work beyond those hours so you can get that “one last thing” done before heading home. Sometimes you do it once you are home.
And sometimes work time and home time bleed into one another.
You eat dinner. If it’s planned in advance, you know what to expect. If not, you could be eating take-out. Or you could just be eating late.
You help the household settle in for the night. You might read your youngest a story, being mindful that you won’t always get to do this. Sometimes you might read a story but your mind is full of something else entirely.
You spend time with your partner. Sometimes it’s in animated conversation. Sometimes it’s reading a book…separately but together. Sometimes it’s reading your mobile phones…separately. Sometimes that partner is (once again) the one you have at the office.
You go to bed when you need to go to bed. Maybe it’s early because you’re an early riser and you’re at your best in the morning hours. Maybe it’s late because your primetime is in the evening.
Then what you do starts all over again.
If any part of the above describes what you do, then I’d like you to ask yourself the following:
QUESTION 1: Is that really what you need or want to be doing?
QUESTION 2: Think about why any (or all) of THAT is your “what” + write that down. Be brutally honest with yourself on this. As Simon Sinek said, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.” (Remember: You're people too.)
QUESTION 3:Wonder how you can align “why you do what you do” with “what you are doing” so that course correcting is less challenging. Then put ONE of those into action.
If you want to be more personally productive, then this is what you do. Doing anything less removes the “personally” from the equation. And that’s when you find yourself doing productive instead of being productive. #endthread
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Here They Are: The 5 Ingredients for Personal Productivity.
You absolutely need to use two of these ingredients to make a palatable productivity process but if you add any or all of the other three you’ll make a much better meal.
Let's go.
AWARENESS
Without this you won’t be able to cook anything. It’s the ingredient that makes you realize something is either working well or needs improvement. It may not offer much beyond that on its own, but it's the ingredient that kicks the rest of the recipe in motion.
CLARITY
I think this is the ingredient that combines with the first one to make the third one really pop. Once you’re aware, then you can get clarity. And that’s a powerful productivity ingredient. And it's different than focus: entrepreneur.com/starting-a-bus…
Read through this short thread if you're up for it.
STEP 1: Identify ONE area where you excel.
Prince excelled as a musician, which is pretty broad. But he was also a tremendous guitarist (Eric Clapton called him the best guitarist in the world). Figure out your one area and write it down at the top of a sheet of paper.
STEP 2: Write down three small things you need to do to get even better at that area.
then...
STEP 3: Write down three small things you want to do to add even more skill/expertise to this area.
I’m not a fan of the term "to do" (or "to-do"). It just doesn't resonate with me. I know the term is clearly a part of the lexicon, but I'm at a point where I'd like to adjust peoples’ vocabulary when and where I can. I think I can start with these 3 alternatives. 🧵 1/13
TASK
This is probably the easiest to adopt because it's already used by different apps and tools that help you get things done. The interesting thing about the word "task" is while it can mean a single item it can also mean a single item with many variables inside of it. 🧵 2/13
In essence, a task can be a project when defined that way. For example, here's how Robert Greene uses the word "task" in his book Mastery: “Your Life’s Task is to bring (your uniqueness) to flower, to express your uniqueness through your work.” 🧵3/13