How do you feel at the end of a day of work? Do you feel like you accomplished enough?
In the current work environment, more tasks are created than the capacity for the individuals to complete. This makes us feel like we need to do more, work longer days, check one more email before we go home, etc. By the end of the day, we feel like we didn’t do enough during the day.
Most of us have not explicitly defined what we plan to accomplish each day or we try and cram too much to finish in a day. An example is the daily to-do list that is too long for you to realistically complete. By the end of the day, you only completed a few items on your to-do list adding to your stress.
This also leads us to believe that our boss or teammates don’t believe we are working hard enough leading to a low-level worry that something bad will happen because we are not doing enough.
We don’t realize that most people feel like this (even your boss) and the whole business is run by people who constantly believe that they are not doing enough. No wonder that everything is a fire that needs to be put out.
We need to define what enough is each day which is limited by time and your energy.
I recommend you plan each day, including the meetings you will attend, and the tasks you plan to accomplish in a paper schedule.
Here are some criteria you need to consider in planning your day.
- Do not plan your day back to back with tasks. Some tasks will take longer than planned and there will be tasks that drop in derailing part of your plan.
- Fill it out with a pencil allowing you to edit if needed.
- Plan breaks in your day or you will burn out. You cannot be go-go-go all of the time. I call this breathing room. When planning my day, I will leave 15-30 min blocks open throughout to give me that breathing room.
- Give tasks more time than you initially think they will take. If you think it will take 30 minutes, give it an hour. Not every task is simple execution. You need time to think about it.
When you first start doing this you will feel that you won’t be getting enough done. The reality is that you will be getting the same amount done but will be accomplishing the most important tasks and doing it with less stress while bounding your work so you can give attention to your priorities outside of work.
Have you tried using the paper daily agenda from Outlook?
This feeling of accomplishment is crucial. I like to describe it as finding, “something to hang your hat on” each day. What’s that one task that’s been in the back of your mind? Make time to knock it out and breathe easier.
I have tried the daily agenda in the past but it did not fit the way I work. I found there is a calming effect when I write things down and I can also write in the tasks I plan to work on that are not in my calendar.
There is a productivity concept referred to as “Eat the frog”. Sometimes we have something you have to do but you don’t want to do it, like eating a frog. In stead of letting it take up space in your mind adding stress you just “eat the frog” as your first task to get it out of the way.