Jul 22, 2021
Get more done in 1 day
If I only knew this earlier, I would have wasted less time
By Jort Janssen
Want to get more done in a day? Do less! It sounds illogical, but when we set the bar extremely high for ourselves, we often get very little done.
We feel that the to-do list is endless, which results in disappointment and frustration. The trick is to prioritise tasks, expect less of yourself in the day and learn to be satisfied with what you have delivered. How to do that? You can read it in this article.
GETTING MORE DONE IN THE DAY
We want to get a lot done in a day. Use our 24 hours as efficiently as possible. When we feel pressure, we often freeze. In our heads we are incredibly busy with all the things we still need to do, without really getting much action.
By expecting less from yourself, you learn to be content with what you do have. This will make you feel better and you will get things done every day.
I hope this article will help you spread your tasks out over the week so that they are small portions of a day. You will feel like you need less from yourself and you will actually get your actions done. You can’t? Then you are still setting the bar too high and you can do even less the next week.
PRIORITISE YOUR TO DO’S
If you have a huge to-do list in your head, you might feel that everything has priority. Of course, this is not the case. A business deadline is more important than washing the windows, just like your gym session (yes, really). Those windows won’t go away.
Write down all the tasks that are in your head. Start looking at what needs to be done today, the next week, the next month and what needs to be done ‘someday’. Yes, there may be tasks left over now that are not actually your task, cross them out! Also think about whether you have to do all those tasks yourself, maybe you can outsource something just fine.
DO A FEW SMALL TASKS EVERY DAY
All those small tasks that don’t feel like a real activity but that you don’t carry out immediately still get stuck in your head.
Example
Making an appointment for the hairdresser or dentist is a good example. Put these mini tasks on your planning, then they go out of your head and it gives you a satisfied feeling when you can put a check mark on it.
USE A WEEKLY PLANNER
On a weekly planner you write your appointments, but also your to do’s for the day. You divide your previously prioritised to do’s over the week, so that it no longer feels as if you are going to climb the Himalayas this week.
It gives you an overview and therefore peace in your head. Plan time every day (especially before going to bed) to sit quietly on the couch, this is not a luxury but a must! Make sure your planning remains realistic and that you are not ruled by your weekly planner.
Picking up a small task each day in addition to your normal work day will ensure that your to do list will become shorter. Actually ticking things off your list gives you a super feeling of satisfaction and there is less left over to worry about.
I myself had a very large ‘to do list’ outside of work. It was not clear. Everything seemed to have priorities. I no longer knew what I had to do first. Then I just started brooding. After a day, still nothing had been done. This had to change, I thought, after half a week.
I started to write everything down in 4 different groups. Group 1 had to be done now. Group 2 was important, but could wait. Group 3 had to be done soon but was not a priority and group 4 I would do as soon as I had time.
By writing it down this way and using all the other things in this article, it got done. I am very grateful to a friend, because he told me all this. Because of him I finished everything and started doing things differently.
DON’T FILL UP TIME WITH EXTRA WORK
Have you finished your tasks earlier than planned? Applause, then you have now managed to find extra time for yourself. No, from now on you are not going to use this time to do some extra work.
Why not? First of all, extra time for yourself is never wrong, a little relaxation does man good. Secondly, not filling that time with new tasks will help you to be content with what you have done in a day. Good is good enough, if you can feel this, you learn to be content.
Because the feeling that you do not have enough hours in the day is not because you are not doing enough, but because you cannot be satisfied with what you have done. Good point to work on.
Switching off notifications
When you start working with the pomodoro technique, you are really concentrating for 25 minutes, so it is important not to be disturbed.
Want to know more about Pomadoro-technique?
Click on this link
Therefore, put your mobile phone on silent and turn off or mute the notifications from all kinds of apps so that they don’t disturb your concentration. Even better is to simply not use certain apps, such as Facebook, on your mobile phone and to read e-mails at fixed times of the day.
Workflowy
This is a handy app for people who like to make lists and cross off tasks. With this tool you can make lists, tick off tasks when they are completed and search in the list.
You can tag tasks with a date, for example, and if you then search for that date, you will immediately see what you have to do before that particular date. This gives you a nice overview of all the tasks per specific subject.
The handy thing about Workflowy is that you can install it on your smartphone as well as on your laptop, so that you have your list with you everywhere and do not have to put it on post-it notes or in your agenda.
Coaching
Would you like to carry out an idea, dream or task, but don’t know how to start? Let yourself be coached! The coach is not going to tell you how to do something.
He/she will help you on your way and let you discover what capacities you have within yourself to bring your task, dream or idea to a successful conclusion. For many people, being accountable to someone else helps make them more likely to persevere or persevere.
I hope this article has inspired you to lower your sights. Goals don’t always have to be realistic, but they do have to be achievable. If you apply all this, I guarantee that you will get more done in a day. Good luck to you!
