I was returning after just taking Sunday off :D. That night, as I sat at home in my easy chair with my feet up and my review journal, I closed my eyes and remembered my day. Beginning from the time my feet hit the carpet to where I was now. It wasn't a productive day and my critic was trying to justify it away with, "Its okay, nobody has a productive day after coming back from vacation."
This was an eye opener for sure. I spent too much time fooling around with e-mails as I figured where I left off. During my review, I felt that lost feeling I was experiencing that morning that I kept pushing away.
A few days passed. Then another Monday and I began to experience this again. This time I knew it needed to STOP before I got deeper into the day. "But how" I asked myself. I sat quiet and listened.
"Index cards" my mind answered.
"Index cards?" "Oh, okay," my mind responded but just because there isn't something better coming up.
Kindergarten Planning Works: And Works Extraordinarily Well
By Catherine Franz
I went into the supply cabinet and pulled out a stack of index cards. Back at my desk, I sat staring at them. What’s next? "Shhh...quiet...listen!" So, I did.
"Write one project on each card." I obeyed.
"Okay, what’s next?"
"Wow, you sure are impatient!"
"Yep, my parents complaint too."
"An hour or before you leave for a vacation, or even a weekend, write down where you left off and what was your next step," was the next message.
"Okay, gottcha. But...but...but this seems so rudimentary. This feels like returning to kindergarten planning! I have all these other methods that do this."
"Shut up; wear your Nike’s, just do it."
And so I did. To my surprise it works. It works darn well too. In fact, I have given this suggestion to many clients. Yes, they too rolled their eyes because it seems so ridiculously simple.
I went on to use this on a daily basis. Every night before I went home I updated my index cards. I crossed out the previous message, no new cards until there wasn't any more room on the card, and wrote in the last thing I did on that project and the next step to begin with tomorrow. To this day, I continue this process and my productivity is always high. Yours will be too when you begin.
This was an eye opener for sure. I spent too much time fooling around with e-mails as I figured where I left off. During my review, I felt that lost feeling I was experiencing that morning that I kept pushing away.
A few days passed. Then another Monday and I began to experience this again. This time I knew it needed to STOP before I got deeper into the day. "But how" I asked myself. I sat quiet and listened.
"Index cards" my mind answered.
"Index cards?" "Oh, okay," my mind responded but just because there isn't something better coming up.
Kindergarten Planning Works: And Works Extraordinarily Well
By Catherine Franz
I went into the supply cabinet and pulled out a stack of index cards. Back at my desk, I sat staring at them. What’s next? "Shhh...quiet...listen!" So, I did.
"Write one project on each card." I obeyed.
"Okay, what’s next?"
"Wow, you sure are impatient!"
"Yep, my parents complaint too."
"An hour or before you leave for a vacation, or even a weekend, write down where you left off and what was your next step," was the next message.
"Okay, gottcha. But...but...but this seems so rudimentary. This feels like returning to kindergarten planning! I have all these other methods that do this."
"Shut up; wear your Nike’s, just do it."
And so I did. To my surprise it works. It works darn well too. In fact, I have given this suggestion to many clients. Yes, they too rolled their eyes because it seems so ridiculously simple.
I went on to use this on a daily basis. Every night before I went home I updated my index cards. I crossed out the previous message, no new cards until there wasn't any more room on the card, and wrote in the last thing I did on that project and the next step to begin with tomorrow. To this day, I continue this process and my productivity is always high. Yours will be too when you begin.
