I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had basically dug myself into a ditch. I was chronically tired, irritable, and hungry. I thought that I was getting more done by staying up late, but only later did I realize I was completing tasks at 20% efficiency rather than giving it my best. In hindsight, this was a giant waste of time. I spent many years getting 4 hours of sleep a night in the hopes I would have “more hours to work”. I sacrificed sleep for productivity for over a decade. I can easily memorize the handful of things on my TODOs, which cuts down on the amount of time I waste going to recheck the written list. It’s not some complicated spreadsheet or giant list on a task management software- it’s just a damn simple bulleted list with 5-10 tasks on there at any point in time. Sometimes, I will go days without checking my physical TODOs list because there’s simply no need. I also have this list memorized so I don’t constantly need to check it. I have my TODOs pinned to my browser to keep things easy. Whenever I think of something, I write it down and cross out the old tasks when completed. I also don’t have an exact time to write new TODOs. All that matters about this list is that each bullet point is tied to my larger life goals. Some are huge and would take weeks to accomplish others are tiny and take only a couple of minutes. There are no rules for how big or small these “things” have to be. All I keep on there is a list of the current things I wish to get done, kept purposefully vague. Instead, my planning is somewhat minimal: I list out the things I need to do in one simple bulleted list that I call my “ TODOs”. If I didn’t plan, I’d be wandering about my day (and life) with no purpose. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to say I do no planning at all. Overall, it was a giant waste of brain space trying to organize my daily/weekly/monthly to-do lists and calendars. I constantly had to update my goal list with new information or I would fall behind as tasks always take longer than you expect. I eventually realized that life is fundamentally too random for me to stick to these timed goals. My planning involved a matrix of prioritized and categorized tasks paired with a Google calendar and constantly buzzing phone reminders. I’ve tried a variety of goal setting techniques, from setting daily to weekly to monthly goals. Too much planning or structure stifles my creativity.īelow, I'll outline how I go about my day these days. Personally, I need long periods of empty time to allow for my random bursts of creativity. It can be cultivated through consistent practice and hard work, but it cannot be planned. When there’s too much structure to my schedule, I feel trapped.Ĭreativity cannot be planned. I also love to cook, dance, and do other creative things throughout the day. This makes for a very mundane life.īy adding some variability, I get to add an element of surprise to every single day! Reason #3: Constraints my creativity You lose that element of surprise and serendipity disappears. Honestly, it gets really boring when your entire day (or week) is planned. Reason #2: Over-planning is predictable and boring Rather than meticulously planning my day as if I was a robot with a fixed energy level, I wanted to be flexible depending on my energy levels for any given day. This is especially true for women because our energy levels vary each week based on where we are in our hormonal cycle (ladies: I have a book you can read about this if you’re interested). I can try to maximize my potential energy with the lifestyle choices I make (like diet, sleep, exercise, etc), but it’s still not entirely in my control. I can’t hardwire how much energy I will have on any given day. No matter how much I planned, I couldn’t escape the reality that my mind and my body have natural ups and downs. Reason #1: Account for different energy levels There’s a few different reasons why I decided to overhaul the “traditional” and “logical” method of carefully planning your day. I’ve found that a rather “illogical” approach to my day works way better- for me, at least! That’s what I’m here to share with you all today. However, the most logical approach is not always the best approach.Ĭareful planning might seem like the optimal way to get things done each day, but I’ve actually found the opposite to be true. After all, there’s millions of blog posts and tools designed to make us “be more productive” (e.g. Trying to measure and maximize our productivity is a logical way to make ourselves feel good. In fact, I don’t think about productivity at all anymore. But over the last several months, I’ve completely overhauled how I think about productivity. I used to meticulously plan every part of my day, tying my happiness to how “productive” I was on any given day.
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