The Productive Day Challenge
Sunday, June 7, 2015 at 23:30 What I am going to do is define what I would need to have done in order to consider tomorrow (Monday) to be a productive day. I will be using FVP as my time management system.
I am going to use my list as it is - which has most of the tasks on it already. I’m not going to cheat by moving them all to the end of the list.
I’ll report back on how many of the tasks I succeed in doing.
So here goes - I would consider tomorrow to be a productive day if:
I have zero inbox at the end of the day in
Email
Paper
Evernote Inbox
Doing the dishes
I have walked at least four miles [5.17 miles]
I have done 100 press ups
I have done The Plank exercise for at least 90 seconds [110 seconds - ai yai yai!]
I have sold our unused car for scrap [got £60!]
I have, as Press Officer, edited the photos for yesterday’s Croquet Tournament, Friday’s Golf Tournament and last week’s Golf Club Dinner.
I have done at least one day’s Glossika French lesson [2 days’ Lessons]
I have listened to at least one chapter of Genesis and St Matthew’s Gospel in the original languages [2 chapters Genesis, 1 Exodus, 2 St Matthew]
I have sorted out my regular donation to the Bursary Fund
I have invited L to take part in September’s Charity walk
I have checked whether R has decided to take part in the walk.
I have emailed an update to those who have already agreed to take part in the above Charity Walk
I have said the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
I have telephoned my dentist re work needed
I have read at least something in the Qu’ran and the Hadith
I have notified my bank about my forthcoming trip
I’ve written a second draft of my paper for the Finance Committee about Running a Legacy Campaign
I sorted out a new contract for my smart phone
I’ve sent details of my expenses to my financial adviser
I have revised my plan as Press Officer
I have revised my plan for publicity for my new book
And I nearly forgot…
I have kept up to date with the comments on my website [17 replies written today]
Mark Forster
Finished! Time for a glass of Poit Dhubh to celebrate.
I’ll post a follow-up tomorrow sometime.
Reader Comments (20)
No question.
Thanks!
I feel incredibly unproductive compared with the people who post here - which is why I tend to keep my head down and almost never post about my own experience ("the forum wants to hear from the productive people - not from the likes of me").
Doubtless if I accounted for my own activity in a better way, things wouldn't seem quite so bad.
There's a lot of difference between writing a list down and actually doing it!
At the end of the day, productivity is being able to do what you want when you want.
"Zero inbox" applies to everything that fills up during the day and needs keeping on top of. That definitely applies to doing the dishes! And "Comments" too.
I struck the five "inboxes" out as soon as I cleared them. If they're not still clear at the end of the day, I'll remove the strike-out.
1. The thing that strikes me is the contrast between this approach and the "pick 3 things to achieve today" approach. I'm now not sure whether the latter approach is ridiculously slack, or whether it is aiming at a different type of goal.
2. "I struck the five "inboxes" out as soon as I cleared them. If they're not still clear at the end of the day, I'll remove the strike-out."
Is there a particular reason for doing this rather than rewriting (on the assumption that more will arise) and then dealing with them at the time? Or rewriting when more arise?
Cheers,
Will
Mark, do you find that listing in advance the tasks you want to do today in order to make it a productive day has helped you focus while working the list?
<< The thing that strikes me is the contrast between this approach and the "pick 3 things to achieve today" approach. I'm now not sure whether the latter approach is ridiculously slack, or whether it is aiming at a different type of goal. >>
I think you're misunderstanding the purpose of this. The list on the blog post is for the purposes of showing readers that I can achieve what I want to achieve by using FVP. It's not intended to be an approach to productivity itself.
<< "I struck the five "inboxes" out as soon as I cleared them. If they're not still clear at the end of the day, I'll remove the strike-out." Is there a particular reason for doing this rather than rewriting (on the assumption that more will arise) and then dealing with them at the time? Or rewriting when more arise? >>
The list on the blog is purely for public consumption. I am not using it to work off. I am using my normal ongoing FVP list - and on that I am constantly re-entering the five inboxes.
<< do you find that listing in advance the tasks you want to do today in order to make it a productive day has helped you focus while working the list? >>
There are a few things on it which I would probably not have done today otherwise, but on the whole it's a pretty average day's work.
"I think you're misunderstanding ..." not for the first time! :0(
How's the list of metrics for tomorrow building up? If I got that much done in a day, I'd be quite pleased with myself. Perhaps I'm simply not trying hard enough on the average day.
<< How's the list of metrics for tomorrow building up? >>
You can see exactly where I've got to. I'm crossing things off the list as I do them.
I'd be interested to know how your motivation and energy levels held up, but I think you deserve a good night's rest before you answer any more questions...!
<< I'd be interested to know how your motivation and energy levels held up,>>
Absolutely fine. As I said somewhere it's really just a normal day's work for me.
More tomorrow.