Doing one thing a day; or, a calendar plan that’s actually productive
A couple of years ago, I wrote an article called ‘Working for half a day to be more productive’, and while my intentions were good, that piece suffered from a problem that has affected many of my writings on the subject of getting-things-done: I wrote the piece without having actually settled into the very routine about which I was enthusing, and — lo and behold — I no longer follow my own recommendation, having failed to stick to such a rigid schedule.
But something good came of that attempt: a new and improved method of calendar-planning that still incorporates blocks of commitments — like getting the kids ready, doing emails, walking the dog — but has evolved to become something I would loosely describe as ‘doing one thing a day’. (Everyone loves giving their TGD techniques brands, right?) The idea is that when you’re juggling multiple projects, you’ll be at your most productive if you assign specific days (or parts of days) for specific tasks and — most importantly — don’t let yourself do other days’ tasks in their non-allocated slots.
This is nothing revolutionary. It’s compartmentalising in its simplest form. But for me, personally, I really struggle with balancing multiple projects. Sure, in an ideal world, I’d not be juggling so many different aspects of work, but I’ve come to accept that it’s…
