Win the Day
Your mental state is the most vital component for you to win the day, especially during this pandemic and working from home. Below is what I found to be effective and would work great if you practice it.
- Start the day by making your bed. This is the first task you should try to complete every morning, which would give you a small dose of satisfaction, which in turn motivates you to complete the next small task. I am not talking about making your bed like the Four Seasons or Taj; I smooth out the bedspread/comforter, neatly arranging all pillows under it. This is a tradition followed in the military; if you want to learn more, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sK3wJAxGfs
- Take 5 minutes to write in a journal. This can be effectively done using a simple notebook.
Put the date above mm/dd/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy
- I am grateful for:
1.
2.
3.
- What would make today great?
1.
2.
3.
- Daily Affirmations
- I am ___________
- I am ___________
- I am ___________
Night – Revisit this journal
- Amazing things that happened today
1)
2)
3)
- How could I have made this day better?
1)
2)
3)
Be honest when you write this and do not go on autopilot. You will always be grateful for having a healthy family but think about a friend who is there for you whenever you need help.
What would make your day: a work-related task that you want to complete or an issue at home that you want to fix?
Finally, plan your work calendar for the next day. If you are responsible for multiple projects, assign each day a specific purpose.
This is how the top of my calendar, and I have priorities for each day.
Of course, a new customer meeting or new lead takes priority; but if I run out of priority tasks on Monday, I will look at Tuesday and know I want to work on e-commerce app sales & marketing. I plan the day by assigning tasks the previous night.
I use something called Timeboxing; if I am going to work on a marketing email, I will assign it a timeslot on the calendar for Tuesday.
It is ok to have a task list but move it to the calendar as part of your planning. If you assign one hour to a task on your G-suite calendar, you are more likely to finish it within that time.
Insert three critical tasks in the morning, afternoon, and evening, each 20 minutes, to reply to all emails. This will help you to not miss any emails. Do the same process to respond to Zoho tickets from customers.
When I start the day, I start working on the most important tasks that require creativity. I advise my US team not to ping me until noon with tasks that require decision making, especially if the importance is not an 8 or higher (out of 10). The reason for this is that our brain can only make so many good decisions requiring tasks in the morning. You are well rested from a good night’s sleep and your mind is sharp for the most important tasks at hand.
In the morning, if you can, meditate for 10 minutes and drink a cup of green tea with no sugar.
Do a few reps of an exercise that gets your blood flowing; pushups or stretching works great.
No matter what, walk for 30 minutes daily; in the summertime evenings are better because the sun and heat are down.
Develop a habit of reading a book, and not Facebook.
Now, if you had a bad day at home or work, you have a beautifully well-made bed in which to go back to sleep 🙂