02/07/2018 - What is the one thing?
The 2nd half of the year has started! I made a really detailed routine and then realized that it is so hard to follow. Mostly because it's too optimistic or too ambitious and I ended up with becoming a quitter... It's also not good as we tend to judge ourself.
I got an insight from my partner and shifted my focus to work on only one thing. This is nothing really new but the power of focusing on only one thing per day will lead us 'towards' your goals. Not doing multitasking is included but just decide the most important and most impactful thing you can do today and just work on that. It will work very well especially when the project you are working on is broad and far from the due date. Everyday you might feel you only have a small progress but it will pile up day by day and at the end you will see impact. If you are interested in bringing this technique into your daily life in general, I highly recommend to use this journal I used for a few years.
Going back to the topic and give you some example, my specific task I wanted to do was to write an important letter to my dad. Everything else was secondary. When the day finished and looked back, if I did this and I will be satisfied as this was the most painful yet important thing.
Let me point out a few key points.
I planned my day before I started to work:
[X] 08:30 - 09:00 Dad's letter draft
[X] 09:30 - 10:30 website cleanup
[X] 10:30 -10:45 Break & entering to the launge
[X] 10:45 - 11:15 Write a draft Letter for DeFacto
[X] 11:15 - 11:30 Break
[X] 11:30 - 12:30 Journaling
[X] 12:30 - 12:45 Break & Salads
[X] 12:45- 13:45 Wellbeing roalmap completion
[X] 13:45 - 14:15 Break & Head to Roppongi
[X]14:15 - 15:00 Going to gym & possibly Massage?
[ ]15:00 - 15:40 Massage
[X] 16:00 - 17:00 Relaxing time
[△]17:00 - 18:00 Sit
[X] 18:15 - 20:00 Dinner with Miguel
[X]19:00 - 22:00 Reading and Cleaning
[X]22:00 - Sleep
1. My morning routine that were not mentioned was morning meditation (1h). I woke up at 5:30am so I finished my sitting, shower, getting ready to go to a 5 star hotel by then.
2. Bring the most biggest task at the beginning of the work. (Check out this book if you want to know more about the theory)
3. Make each action very specific so that you can imagine what the outcome you will get. (otherwise it tends to be unsuccessful)
4. I made cross (X) when I finished the task, I reschedule the coming tasks every time there was any change in the earlier tasks.
5. Have enough buffers and breaks between to not to get overwhelmed. This is not a luxury, this is essential for the success
The plan might not be going well as you planned, but as long as your each action is specific and actionable .
Ask yourself, "What is the one thing you can do to spend this precious day?"
Thank you for spending your time to read this.
Hope you have a very qualitive 2nd half of the year!