Simple planning tips and tricks that changed my life.
If you have been following me for a while, you would know that I am a planner gal. I love planning and organizing my life. But I was not like this before. I used to be super messy and unorganized.
I am assuming you are reading this because you are also unorganized but want to change your habits. Well, you are in luck. Because in this guide, I will be sharing some tips and tricks that would definitely help you be more productive.
These tips are straight to the point and aren't very difficult to follow-
1. Get a Planner
Ok, that's it. Bye!
Jk! But yes, I cannot stress enough how much getting a planner can change your life. I have been using a physical planner for 5 years now (I get a new one every year, of course). If you like to plan digitally, then go ahead. Download apps, calendars, etc. to keep yourself organized. Some of my favorite productivity apps are Trello, Google Calendar, Checklist, and Wunderlist. However, I personally like having an old-school physical planner. The satisfaction of striking off a completed task using a pen is ultimate.
Bonus Tip: Use cute stationery like sticky notes, stickers, washi tapes to make the whole process of planning enjoyable.
2. Make To-Do list a Night Before
Making a To-Do list is quite obvious when you get a planner, but my tip for you is to plan a night before. People recommend planning in the morning, which is also useful but since we procrastinate, it becomes quite easy for us to procrastinate the planning as well. When you wake up and you don't have a list of tasks to do, it becomes very easy to fall into a slump.
Make a habit to plan your day the night before. It already gives your day a productive start.
3. The first thing in the morning, is to make your bed
Making your bed, the first thing in the morning gives your day a nice productive start. You automatically get into a productive mode, then you can go ahead and start working on the list you made last night.
4. Prioritise your tasks
Brain dump all the open tabs in your mind on a piece of paper. It doesn't have to look good or organized. Just write down all the tasks you have in your mind on paper.
Once you have a list of all the tasks you are supposed to do, mark their priority. You can either assign them a number or highlight them using the color-coding method.
Assign up to priority 3, to avoid getting confused.
What I like to do is, assign Priority 1 to the tasks I am supposed to finish within 24 hours, Priority 2 to the tasks I am supposed to accomplish within a week, and Priority 3 to the tasks I am supposed to finish in a month. But this totally depends on you and your deadlines.
After you are done prioritizing, work on all the Priority 1 tasks from the list. Move to priority 2 only when you are done with all the priority 1 tasks.
5. The Pomodoro Technique
If you are anything like me, you get distracted very easily while working. To avoid this, I use the Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.
There are six steps in the original technique:
Decide on the task to be done.
Set the Pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).
Work on the task.
End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.
If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes) and then return to step 2; otherwise continue to step 6.
After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.
This really helps me to get my work done and beat procrastination. I feel guilty to touch my phone or go somewhere else before the timer rings. I hope it will help you too to stay focused.
That's all for all the tips, I wanted to keep it super short and crisp. They have helped me a lot, I hope they will help you too.
Another thing that should also be kept in mind is that you are not a machine. You require rest to function properly. Take breaks and reward yourself to stay motivated and productive.