Balance Your Life

ORG: Balance Your Life

We’ve all heard about the work-life balance, a small industry has been started on the back of it with books, TV shows, speakers, personal motivation coaches, etc. etc. all coming at us with the same message – we need to balance the competing requirements of work and life.

Top 5 Daily Planning Tips

For as long as I can remember I have been a list-maker, not for everything, but for things I want to do.  I remember back in my teenage years I would have a big block of scrap-paper that would get filled with my to-do list.  I’d start off one day, crossing off things I’d done, adding new things, and then when the space was filled up I would start a new sheet copying over most of the items still to-do.

It was messy, un-productive and very leaky as my uncompleted list crossed more than one sheet, one half of which would get lost and I’d end up losing half of my plans.

Since then I have gotten better at managing my to-dos, but it has been a slow process of successes and failures.  While I wouldn’t dare to describe my techniques as being anywhere near perfect, I do think I have learnt quite a lot over the years.  So here are my Top 5 tips for Daily Planning.

1. Choose a system

There are so many to-do list styles, productivity strategies and task management plans that it can be really quite confusing.  But it is definitely worth the effort to do some research.  I’m a great fan of Getting Things Done (GTD) as developed by David Allen, but this may not be to your taste.  Do some searches, read some blogs about productivity such as LifeHack (http://www.lifehack.org/), Black Belt Productivity (http://blog.blackbeltproductivity.net/), LifeHacker (http://lifehacker.com/) and Zen Habits (http://zenhabits.net/).

2. Don’t be afraid of changing

I feel quite happy with what I like to call my version of GTD, it’s just me taking some of the elements that I’ve felt comfortable to adopt and not using the elements that I have been too lazy to take on!  But I do change it around quite often, something which I had previously felt bad about.

There are times when doing my daily planning in one way works perfectly well, but then a month later it no longer drives or inspires me so I alter it around to something that works better for me at the time.

And then later I revert back.  The important thing is not to be rigid in your style but to feel ok about changing it to something that works better for you at the time.  It’s about getting things done and making progress, not rigidly adhering to a set of principles.

3. Keep a single list somewhere – electronically

One of the most annoying aspects of my attempts at productivity over the years was that I wrote things down.  Now this in itself isn’t a bad thing at all.  However it leads to task vanishing when pages and then whole notepads get filled, or lost, and not everything gets moved across.

It is also very easy to lose track of things relating certain projects as keeping written-down tasks in project order is very time-confusing.

So find a way of keeping everything you want to do in one place, electronically, and in a way that you can categorise.  I like Things on the Mac and iPhone as the synchronizing between the two means I can access my list anywhere, but again do some research to find out what is best for you.

4. Do it at night

I have found that if I spend a short time at night at the very least identifying some goals for the next day, I am much faster to get started and more productive.  The night before planning has my hopes of what I can achieve the next day, mingled in with the knowledge of what I have done that day.

Planning first thing in the morning is never as successful for me as my mind is generally not as sharp until mid-morning so I delay getting a good start to the day.

5. Review the day

Not only look at your plans for the next day, but spend a few moments evaluating the day honestly.  It’s not just all about the number of items ticked off, it’s about the worth of those items.

Have you done well – then admit that.  If not, then let the next day’s plans be both realistic and ambitious.

——-

Whether you are looking for a new job, or starting your own business, daily planning can help you on the way to success.

Get a Routine

Sometimes it seems like it is the routine that is the worst thing about a hated job.  The alarm every weekday, the commute, the same-old faces, same-old job, repetitive lunch, long afternoons, the return commute and lack of energy to do anything other than to slump in front of the telly.

And if you are now no longer having to go through that routine then it can be such a wonderful relief.  You are free!!

However you may want to make your own routine….  I know, I know I’m a kill-joy!

The best way to make sure that you either get back into employment, or have the chance to break-out and build the working life you want, then you need to be organised and focused.

So getting a routine is probably a good idea.  And that can be anything you want – as long as it encompasses what you are trying to do.  You should also make sure it covers both any other responsibilities you may have taken on since being made redundant, but also some exercise.

Exercise is the best way to give you the energy and enthusiasm, and positive outlook, to keep you moving towards your goals.  When it comes to interview you want to be seen as alive and energetic, which isn’t easy if you have spent the last few days getting up late, watching TV and firing off a few CVs.

What’s my routine?  Well I set the alarm to wake me up at 6.45am, though this varies a bit, to give me time to have breakfast, read the paper and check out emails before having a wash and dressing.  I am then usually ready to start my “work” at 9am.

My “work” is trying to move forward with ideas, apply for jobs and do stuff that needs to be done.  Not something I get paid for, but generally all important nonetheless.

I break up the day into 90 minutes working, followed by 30 minutes of exercise/coffee breaks, with an hour for lunch.  That seems quite comfy doesn’t it?  But I also do stuff in the evening, and sometimes late into the night – so making time during the day for breaks away from the computer is important.

Have a think and get some freedom with your own routine!

Getting Things Done

This is a huge chance, a tremendous opportunity.  You have been given back the time you spent journeying to and from your workplace, you’ve regained the time working for the company who has for one reason or another let you go – probably through no fault of your own.

So what are you going to do with your time?  Well that is up to you to decide and we talk elsewhere about finding what you want to do, but whatever you decide on doing it is time to do it properly and with focus.  It’s time, now more than ever, to Get Things Done.

It didn’t help me keep my job, but by then things were pretty much set in motion anyway, but getting into the “Getting Things Done” system really helped me both during the final month on the job, but also since leaving and becoming my own boss.

I’ve been a to-do list writer for a long time now, making to-do lists in whatever notebook is at hand then rewriting lists each day when I felt like it – but it didn’t really work for me.  Yeah I got stuff done but was it the right stuff?  Were things going missing?  What about the days when I got so distracted or interrupted that nothing got ticked off?  As my life didn’t seem to be changing then maybe it wasn’t the right way to do things.

So I would move onto a slightly different way of working – for example going through my list of items to do and scheduling them into my calendar and then felt good, for a while. But it still wasn’t enough, I was disorganised in my organisation system!!

And then I started reading about GTD (Getting Things Done) and boy does it make a difference.

This article isn’t about the GTD system itself, there are books and websites that will tell you all about that.  This article is about how you need to Get Things Done to move forward with your hopes and goals.  You need to take the dreams, put them into a system and work that system.

You can follow GTD, 7 Habits or any number of systems, it doesn’t matter which just that you find something that works for you – and you don’t have to work for it.

If you truly want to take this opportunity by both hands then make sure you know where you are going with it, and how to get every step of the way there.