Many people create these long list of things to get done. It’s similar to that annoying hamster wheel spinning around and around without actually getting the most meaningful projects done. It can be frustrating and even daunting. They are constantly trying to get caught up with their daily responsibilities with no avail. The good news is that you can learn how to prioritize your day!
Here are 5 Ways to Organize and Prioritize Your Day for Success.
1. Do the hard things first.
Know what is most significant to you and make that your ultimate goal. Look at the bigger picture of all aspects of your life. Schedule your most important work first. It’s that simple. We often indulge in low priority activities during our peak-performance hours because our top-priority jobs seem so daunting Do you busy yourself with unnecessary or low-priority tasks? You can solve your overwhelm problem by noticing when you avoid big tasks.
Years ago, I made a list of the things that mattered most to me. They include:
- Health. After a minor stroke at 45 I decided that health and feeling good had to be part of my daily routine no matter what.
- Family. After climbing the corporate ladder for 25 years I decided to put my family first. My two sons both played sports and during their games I would keep my head completely buried in my laptop barely paying attention to it. I made a decision to put in boundaries and honor family obligations as much as I do the business related ones. Schedule time for your family and put them into on your calendar. When you do you not only love them but by giving them 100% of your attention and focus when you are with them they know how much they sincerely mean to you.
- Spirituality. Connection to Higher Power is the link to my higher truth and best self. I must align with that energy of something bigger and greater daily therefore must set time aside for prayer, meditation and other spiritual activities.
- Service. I have been gifted time, talent and a great amount of resources. I believe that the purpose of these gifts is to share them by helping others in some way shape or form.
2. Segment your time.
Have you ever heard yourself say “I’m so BUSY?” Maybe right now you are thinking “I don’t have time to sit back and block out my time I have too much to do”! Well the only way to change your circumstance is to change the way you approach your priorities. Here is how I segment my time:
- Create Time Blocks. I create two hour time block for most activities. I wake up at 5:00 and focus the first two hours of the day on my spiritual practice, learning and health. I then focus on my most important project.
- Calendar and Scheduling. I am a systems person and have even created a calendar system to help me to stay super focused and organized. I write an outline of my priorities on Fridays and review it on Sunday before the traditional work week begins. Everything including workouts and personal time goes into my planner. When it’s in the calendar I am confident that it will happen without slipping through the inevitable cracks.
Priority TIP: If you spend a good amount of time each day answering text messages, phone calls and emails, set aside a designated time each day to respond to them. It’s also helpful to notify people that may be trying to reach you on your voicemail message and email. Your clients and co-workers will appreciate the boundaries you have in place.
3. Put distraction at bay.
On a day to day basis you can close your office door and let people around you know you’ll be working on a project and unavailable for a set amount of time. You must be direct yet courteous when it comes to your time. Drawing boundaries with your friends, family, and co-workers can seem intimidating at first, but over the long haul will pay off in big returns. Let them know that when your work is complete you will make yourself 100% available to them. By setting boundaries you are modeling what that looks like for others. Here are are a few additional tools I use to keep distractions away:
- Earbuds. Many times I plug in my earphones and play relaxing music to help me focus on the task on hand.
- Put on a timer. Let’s face it sometimes distractions are a healthy thing. I allow for social media breaks or for a quick phone call to a friend occasionally to break up the intensity of the day.
4. Acknowledge your daily accomplishments.
We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays – but when it comes to our own daily accomplishments, we don’t celebrate them very often. We many times even dismiss them and are off to the next thing. Actually most people focus on what they haven’t accomplished instead of that they actually did get done. Here is what I have adapted over the last hand full of years:
- Rewards: I give myself permission to go get my hair styled or my new favorite, a foot massage. I actually connect that kind of reward to an activity such as when I finish writing my article for my blog post I am going to get a massage. I then finish and follow up with a well deserved massage reinforcing completing my projects. I then think about the achievement (big and small) while having the treatment. It’s a win- win- win. Some of the rewards are activities I would of done anyway like watching a movie with my fiancé but I tie them back to the completion of a something that needed to get done. For example, I’ll watch the movie with you after I send that important email.
- Speaking out my wins out loud. One of the methods I have used to drown out the voice of criticism and judgement is to speak out my successes out loud. I say something like” Today you got that done, good job, Wendi, I am proud of you”. It’s a little weird at first but if we can’t speak a compliment over ourselves how on earth would we ever expect anyone else to. It also helps boost self confidence and increases your overall success mindset.
- Smile. It takes two seconds and is another way to acknowledge success by releasing happiness. Smiling releases dopamine into your system which is a feel good chemical.
Telling yourself that you are successful and that you can accomplish things does wonders for your confidence. Instead of downplaying your achievements, or attributing them to luck, or giving others the credit, it’s important to acknowledge them – and celebrate! Let your accomplishments be a reminder to you that you can succeed – because you’ve succeeded before.
5. Close with gratitude.
The end of the day is your golden opportunity to recharge your systems and set the tone for the next day. It’s easy to think about the things you didn’t do during the day. Perhaps you, like many people struggle with a feeling a unworthiness or end up comparing themselves to others and their perceived successes. Years ago, I would end the day wiped out and gratitude didn’t even enter my mind. That has certainly changed. Here is how I now put gratitude into action:
- Gratitude Journal: I write out 3 things I have accomplished for the day and that I am grateful and happy about. Two out of those three of those things are the simpler and smaller things like I spoke to a friend or I started reading a new book. I keep it fresh by adding in new categories and reflections everyday without repeating the same ones very often. What happens is profound. I begin to look for the gratitude in the day to day magical moments that happen but sometimes pass us by because we don’t slow down enough to notice them.
- Present Moment. Focusing on gratitude at the end of the day brings me to the present moment. It simplifies the over analytical mind and calms the mind from worry about the future.
- Allow the Feeling In. Closing the day with this practice feels good and if we were to be totally honest with ourselves our highest priority is to FEEL GOOD anyway. All of the activities, all of our goals, and all of our priorities actually boil down to one question “what do I want to feel.” I have learned to allow this feeling in. Not everyday is a great day but even when I have been faced with major challenges in my life I have still be able to find something to be grateful for even when the only thing I could think of was I’m still here, I’m alive. And the gratitude thing, especially at the end of the day really helps sets the stage for a better next day. It works.
Wishing you much success,
