“Courageous actors in life do not make excuses. They create plans to improve their lot in life daily.” ~~ Ken D. Foster
Time is the stuff that makes up our lives; and so the way we spend our time spells out the direction of our life. That said, if you’re anything like me, you’re probably obsessed with maximizing every minute of every hour of every day. And this seldom happens by chance.
I’d gleaned several tips from various self-help books/podcasts/webinars which I’ve been practicing to help me improve my output on a daily basis. And I’ve seen considerably positive results.
In the post, I’ll like to share what the routine looks and I believe it will be beneficial to you as well.
Plan the day ahead
You’ve probably heard it said that failure to plan is planning to fail. And definitely this applies to the day. Personal & professional success experts have always recommended planning the day in advance to make the most of it. Some suggest doing the planning the night before while other says doing that in the morning suffices. Whatever works for you, stick to it – so long as you’re able to plan your day while it’s still ahead of you, and you can prioritize the tasks you have to knock off .
Leaving things to chance will most likely not produce a significant outcome.
Spend time on [strategic] thinking
It’s kind of interesting how many successful people I’ve studied practice this every day. Individuals in the caliber of Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, J. T. Foxx, James Altucher, e.t.c, all do this. The thinking time is a period dedicated to brainstorming ideas to solving a particular problem in the area of business, career, personal, etc. It entails spending about 15 – 30minutes with a pen and paper to write down as many possible solutions to the problem at hand.
This is a great way to flex your ‘idea muscle’ which if failed to exercise regularly will begin to atrophy . To learn more about how you can improve in this area be sure to check out the book – “Become An Idea Machine” .
Note that on some days you may find it difficult to conjure up new ideas while on other days things flows painstakingly. Concentration helps a lot during this period.
Check in with self regularly
This one I learnt from John Assaraf, world’s leading neuroscience expert and author of Innercise. It’s easy to get lost in the world of work or even get distracted by secondary activities. So, he suggests checking in with yourself to find out whether or not you’re making progress in the task you’re currently working on. If the answer is ‘no’ then it means tightening things up so you can be more productive. And if the answer is ‘yes’ then keep cranking it out.
Ask the end-of-day questions
At the end of the day, before winding down, you want to evaluate the results of your activities to gauge progress. These 3 questions will help :
- What worked?
- What didn’t work?
- What will I do differently tomorrow?
You don’t have to have all the tasks on the list completed so long as the high priority tasks get completed.
Answering those questions will help you stick to what’s working and discard what’s not working so you’re more efficient with your execution the next day.
I pulled this one from the book “ Courage To Change Everything “ by Ken Foster .
Ever since applying these practices, I’ve seen noticeable improvement on a daily basis. And when my day doesn’t seem very productive it’s most likely because I’d ignored some of these.
For more on daily morning routines, be sure to check out “The 6 Life S.A.V.E.R.S: practices to transform your life“
That said, what tips do you execute on to improve daily?
To your productivity!