How to get a sense of achievement from each day
Think about a day where you finished it with a sense of satisfaction that everything on the task list is completed. How often does that happen? If you are like many people, not often enough. More often than not, you are feeling drained and exhausted but not sure why.
Why is it that in a world which is filled with ways in which to complete tasks faster, people are feeling overscheduled, overcommitted and overstretched? It seems almost popular to be in a state of busyness than to be seen to be doing ‘nothing’.
Yet research is showing that it’s stopping for a moment to reflect on what your most powerful actions for the day will be, which is going to help you achieve what you want.
A research paper by Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano, and Bradley Staats found people were more productive if they stopped doing more and spent more time thinking.
Some would call it decluttering your day or clearing out what you don’t want, but whichever way it’s presented you are looking for ways to be more productive.
Here’s how to mindfully have a productive day.
- Consciously choose the actions and behaviours to make sure that you get the outcomes that you need. Be conscious of how you’re using your time. Look at your calendar and look at how that is consciously helping you to progress your goals.
- Be in the present moment and be consciously aware of what you are doing at that time.
- Be compassionate to yourself. Understand that it is impossible for anyone to get everything done on the To Do list.
One of the tools that I suggest people use is at the beginning of the day before you switch on your computer and before you look at your To Do list, think about what’s one action that’s going to help you move forward towards what you need to do. Then look at your To Do list then look at your schedule and eliminate those things that are not going to lead you to where you want to go.
It may be hard to believe for some but there are actually benefits to doing ‘nothing’. It’s what is done with the time that counts.
What is your one action you are going to implement today?