I’m very motivated to make 2014 my Best Year Ever … so far. It comes from years of built-up frustrations, realization that I’ve not truly been stepping up and the passing of my mother due to cancer. All of it. I feel even more awake now than I ever have in my life.
It’s Go Time. And I want to be extremely focused and productive in all My Life Areas.
One of my biggest productivity tips is to honestly look at and assess what I’m actually doing daily, weekly and regularly.
Here’s your chance to do the same for a week! Remember to use it as a process to learn about what’s really going on, not beat yourself up and get stuck in negativity.
- Using a small journal or a smart phone app, log your activities
- Do this for a week (without looking at the numbers yet!) to get a true sense of where your time (and energy) is going
- After the week is done, add up the times for various activities and compare with one another
Here are some questions to ask yourself once you’re in the review mode:
- Is this activity really contributing to my growth in an area of my life?
- Is this activity something I could do less of and still be okay?
- Is this activity something I should stop altogether?
- Is this activity something I should consider outsourcing if it’s not really a strength of mine?
- When do I get lost in this activity? Am I really using it to numb myself or somehow avoid something else that’s important?
The findings may surprise you! Most of us tend to react (heard a text message notification? a new email came in? a Facebook msg alert sound?) regularly throughout our day rather than keeping focused on our own priorities to get them done FIRST. Now that you have a better sense for where your time has been going, you can start to adjust to give your priorities the focus they deserve so you can reclaim your life.
by Sean O’Meara