This week my workload is a bit lower than usual – I have plenty to keep me busy, but a lot of it is background work, not urgent work.
It’s the type of week that is usually hard for motivation and where I am usually fairly unfocused and end up at the end of the week feeling like I could have done better.
So I thought it would be a good opportunity to get into some new work habits – while I have time to focus on some ways of working without the work getting in the way.
So here’s my plan:
- Check email three times in the day – morning, midday and mid-late afternoon.
- Using GTTD principles, action email that takes less than 5 minutes, write to-do items for any that take more.
- Work in 20 minute concentration blocks (not getting up to make tea, put the clothes on the line, turn the vacuum on, tidy my desk). Just work. With twitter closed.
- Tackle the hardest thing on my to-do list first and do easier things later in the day (I work better in the morning).
I think that’s enough to start with – any more would be too much.
I’ll let you know on Friday how I get along.
2 Comments
Donna,
Love your new plan and work habits! Would love to know how it turns out. I tracked my time spent on tasks last week, and noticed after two days: 1. I accomplished more in the morning. 2. tasks took longer than I expected, meaning I need to schedule differently
Thanks Deborah. I time-track everything already (using Harvest) and have done for years. It’s a great practice and I’m fairly good at estimating how long things should take, assuming I’m not being distracted as I do them.