How many of you actually journal your planned day as part of a nightly routine? Or as part of a pre-morning, morning routine?
I have outlined some big time benefits of multi calendaring, and benefits of directing your time in advance with a planful approach to your time – regardless of the day of the week.
I have also discussed an incredibly simple, and incredibly effective method to destroy procrastination and fire up your focus – even when you are most exhausted.
And for all of the kanban boards, OmniFocuses, GTD hacks, online calendar syncs, and a myriad of other productivity things I have geeked out on over the years – I still find new things every now and then.
When I came across this nugget from Brooke Castillo’s recent podcast – she hit upon something that is so damn simple, yet so effective. I knew this was something that just transformed the way in which I plan my day from that moment forward.
I do journal my day out the night before, and when necessary – I leave space to fill in when I wake up on the calendar – if I am undecided the night before. At some point, I’ll outline my various routines during set points of the day. I’ll also outline the journaling workflow that I am currently following.
Well, since hearing this tip a few days ago – my journaling and calendaring approach has changed, albeit in a seemingly slight manner.
Before I share the insight – let me ask you a question or four…
First off – do you even have an idea of what your day is going to look like before you wake up on that day? I mean – you could actually plan to wake up at a set time or window of time…
Do you schedule things in advance, even zones of ‘thinking time’ or downtime where you are not preordained with activity?
Where do you schedule your day? Is it online and readily accessible across your devices? If you have an assistant, virtual or otherwise – do they have access to your calendar?
Do you restrict access to certain calendars for only certain relationships whether they be familial or work related?
What exactly do you schedule into your calendar?
Are you a ‘blockamore’ calendar type of scheduler? This is where the block ‘looks good’ from a ways away, until you find yourself in that window and a bit unclear on what the hell you were supposed to be doing…
Do you schedule your calendar to block out a set type of activity?
I bet it is a mishmash for many of you, and for me – it certainly has been all along the way.
Here’s the lead in to the insight from Brooke, which I’ll share at the end.
The lead in is this – if you want to get the most important stuff done during your waking hours – you need to budget and commit time to DOING that thing DURING that time that you have PLANFULLY SCHEDULED.
Then you show up to that time window, and you actually do the thing.
You execute.
If you are a distraction-prone type as I am, use techniques like the Pomodoro or reduce the distractions both digital and physical in your workspace.
Then get going and do it.
I have found incredible success over my career with being able to ‘lock in’ and crush things that were big time deliverables. Yet, for much of my adult life – I would procrastinate and cause significant stress for myself with suboptimal practices.
In the last five years, I have begun to ‘schedule in’ the time to get things done. To get more strategic and compounding deliverables, KNOCKED OUT.
In the last two years especially, I have cultivated a habit of daily frog eating that has me hammering the most important 1-3 things per day with a few key daily habits thrown in for good measure.
I have mentioned previously that I have 4 key daily habits that are targets for this year, this is after focusing on just doing 1-3 over the course of last year.
So this notion of focusing on scheduling up key deliverables on the calendar has truly transformed my life.
Now before you think this is some lame ass productivity lecture – let me share this…
I am not always on, and I do deliberately schedule out blocks of time – sometimes days to be OFF THE GRID. You cannot reach me during these mini sabbaticals, unless it is an emergency.
The point here is you have to have some flex.
Some wiggle and swagger too.
Gripping that calendar app and journal so damn tight can you make you a boring and lame person – so watch out for overcompensating here with this scheduling thing. I have done that too, and looking back – I missed out on a bunch of fun with people that just wanted to get to know me a bit better.
Here’s the thing – all of this calendaring insight and various mechanics are to be employed when appropriate. If you do not know what that means, you will figure it out with practice, as it is very individualized.
So the big aha for me when listening to Brooke the other day is this…
Plan your time for results.
Stated another way, do not plan your time for blind activity.
If you ever find yourself saying ‘I’ll be working on this…’ or ‘We will be meeting on that….’ – just stop.
Schedule yourself for the result and outcome.
Know what success looks like as you reserve the time for yourself, and God willing – for those you pull into a meeting as well.
Stop it with the activity.
Stop it with the busyness.
I had a boss pull me aside many years ago and he delivered a crushingly true piece of feedback.
‘Mark, it is not really a great thing to be the busiest guy around here. Busy will not get you promoted, it will get you more work. Results are what matter.’
Then a few weeks ago, when I received a gift from Dylan – totally unprompted when he shredded this blog and in effect, my online strategy – in a very constructive manner – he said something very similar.
‘Credentials and experience do not matter as much. What are the results? That is what matters most.’
I get his point, and I am taking it a bit out of context here.
I even discussed the need to transform your elevator pitch to focus on results.
So why do we many times default to this idea of ‘doing things’ on our calendars when it comes to our time?
Start leading your time with outcomes.
Ask yourself – what is the result I want from this block of time.
Get specific.
Then write that shit down on your calendar, and if you are inviting others to your results-based calendars – get the deliverables and outcomes right in there on that invite.
And execute.
And remember – keep it appropriate.
This duality of outcome and of space is crucial in learning to wield your time as a strategic lever in building the life you want – regardless of the facet you are scheduling in on that calendar of yours.
How are you going to plan and deliver this Friday? This Saturday? This Sunday?
