Tuesday, March 6, 2012

organising my day with the help of Jerry Seinfeld

I don't usually like organisational tips. They bring out the worst in me. I find myself frantically trying to live up to them, falling in a heap, then abandoning all hope and all efforts to be organised in future.

But something about this simple little organisational tip appealed to me: How Seinfeld's productivity secret fixed my procrastination problem. It's really, really simple:

  1. Choose your goals. Pick three things you'd like to be doing more regularly. Later, you can add a fourth.

  2. Set daily minimums for each goal. Decide on a manageable daily goal: for example, exercise for at least 15 minutes.

  3. Set some boundaries. You might decide, for example, that sick days and vacation days are exempt.

  4. Keep a record. Every day, you put a red X on a calendar when you achieve each of your goals. The aim is not to break the chain of Xs.

    (I say "Phooey!" to that last one - I don't need that amount of pressure! - but I do like the idea of aiming for a small amount of something every day).

So here are my four goals (just put "at least..." in front of the times):

  • 15 minutes prayer (I'm not that keen on treating prayer as a daily chore, but I do want to set aside time for it, so on it goes!)

  • 15-30 minutes exercise (walk, weights - not that I've got the second going yet this year)

  • 15 minutes household management (an extra job, on top of the weekly cleaning, like wiping down the kitchen cupboards, decluttering a drawer, or getting something fixed around the place)

  • 15 minutes reading a Christian book (something I love, but often forget)

The good thing about this is that, instead of thinking "I can't exercise/pray/clean now, I missed the time for that", I think, "I haven't done that yet today, why not do it now?"

I don't expect to do all these things every day. I'm not keeping track on a calendar. But they're on my mental checklist. It means I get around to them more often. And that can only be a good thing.

HT Take Your Vitamin Z

1 comment:

Petrina said...

I also picked up this tip last week and it's been working well for my household tasks. It hadn't occurred to me to do one for prayer, which has been sadly lacking lately. Adding it now... Thanks :)