Week 1 Productivity Update

Have you been playing along with me this month?  There is still plenty of time to join!  Check out the details HERE.

One week down – am I feeling more productive?  Yes, I actually am.  Even more important, I’m feeling more focused.  Several of the exercises from Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time are really good ones for determining WHAT you should be working on each day.  I will definitely go back and re-do chapters 1, 2 and 3 in late December when I am creating my 2016 annual goals.  On to the review . . .

Instead of using a new notebook for this project, I’ve been using the back, blank pages of my daily planner (this is the one I own and I LOVE it – this isn’t an affiliate link, I just think it’s a great planner).  I think this will be a fantastic way for me to keep my projects and tasks forefront and center – even when the month of September is over.  I’ve also created my master list in the back of the planner (thanks to chapter 3) where it is easy for me to add to it, cross things off and refer to it when I’m planning my days and weeks.

I created three categories for my master list:  personal, business and day job.  Interesting how my personal list is SO much longer than the other two.  Breaking my desired to-do’s up also helps me to determine what is most important from each category to focus on daily.  I’m a firm believer that to have a balanced life you need to ensure you are not neglecting any aspect of it – another reason it makes sense to me to categorize.

Ready for some of my favorite lessons from this week?

• every minute planning saves as many as ten minutes in execution (chapter 2) – see, I knew it paid to be a planner!
• resist the temptation to clear up small things first (chapter 3) – this is such a challenge for me, but something I’m working on

This quote in chapter 4, sums this week up perfectly: [tweetherder]”Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least” ~Goethe[/tweetherder]

The first habit in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change ties in perfectly with this first week of learning.  The habit to work on and develop is to be proactive.  I think the most meaningful lesson in this chapter is to work on ditching the habit of being reactive (i.e. it’s their fault, they are doing this, I can’t, if only, etc.) and instead approach each situation during the day by thinking about how I react and what I CAN do – because I can control MY actions, I can control how various situations affect me.   When I completed the first exercise in the chapter (paying attention to how often I think “reactive” thoughts), it was very eye-opening.  It’s not easy, but I can certainly see how just changing that thought process can change how I view my days.

What have you learned this first week of September?  Even if you haven’t engaged in any formal learning, I’m sure you’ve picked up something this week – it’s pretty hard to go through life without learning something.  Why not be intentional about it this year?  Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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