Getting things you want to get done – done is a matter of a simple but rigid process and routine to process anything and everything that comes and requires action now, or later.
- Schedule (almost) everything. Apart from truly ASAP emergencies, put everything you need to do into your diary. Block out reasonable time for it, and for big chunks of work – put several slots over several days. Put into your calendar everything – calls you’ll need to make, document writing, DIY projects, shopping – you name it. Put them into your e-calendar of choice: Apple Mac iCal, Outlook, Google Calendar, etc. If it can sync with your phone and do pop up reminders – even better.
- Say “no” and postpone – everything and everyone that tries to hijack your scheduled tasks, unless it’s a real emergency. Including your boss. Be polite about it but firmly stick to your plan.
- Focus. Turn off email, messengers (skype, viber, slack, etc) phone even (if you can afford to) during your planned activities and come hell or high water work on what you planned to work on.
- Leave gaps between tasks – don’t cram things in back to back. Leave time for calls, checking voice mail, email, having lunch, coffee and toilet breaks, etc. A minimum 30-45 minutes between each task is a must or your schedule will start to slip. Be realistic about the volume of calls, emails to allow enough time to keep on top of these.
- Prioritise – put things less urgent and not aligned with your top goals to the back of the queue. If they keep getting pushed back, than it simply means you don’t have time for them. Get the important stuff done first.
- Review tasks for the day before you start and once again half way through. Things change, priorities change – make sure your plan reflects this. Don’t be afraid to re-schedule.
- Keep a backlog. This is an approach from the agile software development methodology. It just means keeping a list of all the things not yet scheduled for a specific time somewhere. Somewhere from where you can pick them off and schedule to a time to do next.
- Create an environment where you can work like this. Easier said than done but the right environment will be half the problem solved. If you’re in an open office – get a pair of headphones (big ones sometimes are better as they send a message to other that you’re not to be disturbed). If you can – get a quiet corner where distractions are minimal.
- Focus music. Listening to the right type of music can massively help focus. Baroque music has been known and scientifically proven to help focus and perform certain tasks better as a result. Bach, Handel, Vivaldi are all Baroque composers.
- Leave gaps – don’t fill your week so you have no spare slots left in case something comes up. If nothing does – you can always add something from the backlog.
Mind Iterations 