Building Effective Daily Routine

Recently, I began to be more deliberate with my daily routine. I decided to draw a line between the things I want to do in life and meeting the expectations of others. This is to enable me to close the gap between what I want to do and what I am doing. I have given careful thought on how to balance the world’s demands and my ambitions. These lead me to develop some clues that have served me very well, and I have decided to share them with you. Hopefully, these clues help you to be productive as you continue on your path to personal development.

1. Plan your day the night before.

   

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   I worry less about tomorrow. Hence, I never planned for its tasks in advance per say. I did this in the mornings. Of course, nothing is wrong with this approach, but it made kick starting my day a lot slower because the time I spent planning in the morning could have been used to swing into action straight up. This technique helps to prepare my mind for the tasks, ahead of time, so I go to bed happy for the day’s accomplishments, and in excitement for the things God will enable me to accomplish the next day. This has helped me to be more organized, and to anticipate any challenges I might have in the course of my routine, and prepare solutions well in advance.

2. Creative Work First, Reactionary Work Last.

   

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   I got this tip from a book am currently reading. Instead of waking up to your phone checking the number of comments and likes on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blog post, emails and every other reactionary activity, you reserve these for later, and instead focus on starting your day with prayer/reading your Bible, Meditation, workout, breakfast, work, write/study, and do some projects that interests you. This clue depends on the individual, I am a morning person, so I like to do all my creative work in the morning. You should find the best time for yourself and build your routine around it.

3. Switch Off Your Phone During Creative Work.

   

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   Alright, this is a difficult one. In an era where everything revolves around our cell phones and electronic gadgets, it is difficult to have these switched off for hours. You need to ask yourself what is at stake here because if you know WHY YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING, it will be easier to pay the price now and forego the immediate gratification because then you know that the outcome outweighs the momentary pain or self-denial. You might argue that you can still concentrate with your phone on while working, but trust me, I have been there before, the temptation to just check that one beep or vibration distracts you more than you realize.

4. Time-Boxing.

   

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   This is a technique I learned from Agile training. Assign time to your daily tasks. Each task ends once its time is up regardless of whether you finish it or not. Realistically, you must consider every little detail when choosing the time required for each task, and then do everything within your power to achieve the set goal. So try timeboxing your writing, music making, social media, emails, movies, visiting friends, studying and every other thing and watch your productivity skyrocket.

5. Train Yourself To Get Things Done.

   

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   You know that feeling of not wanting to get something done even though you know that it is important. As highlighted in clue number 3 above, you must convince yourself WHY you must do what must be done to achieve your desired results. This will in turn train your brain and mind to get things done regardless of how you feel. Productive and successful people train themselves not to give into moods but teach their minds to know it has to get down to work.

 

Stay Happy

Bibobra

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