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6 Step Productivity Plan

Here is an Ultimate Guide to help you create your perfect Productivity Plan to achieve any goal you aim for.

By ExplainedPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
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6 Step Productivity Plan
Photo by Felipe Furtado on Unsplash

You try trying to find productivity recommendations on the web, but they somehow don't seem to figure for you. does one know why? That’s because your circumstances, mindset, and dealing style are different from the other person. What works for one, doesn’t necessarily yield equivalent results for you.

So, how does one fix your daily schedule to form progress towards your goals without tiring yourself out? It’s simple. All you would like maybe a productivity plan tailored for you.

And, guess who can prepare that? You’re right – it’s you!

Learnings – create a productivity plan suitable for your needs, designed by you yourself. After all, you recognize yourself as the simplest.

What is a productivity plan?

The definition of a productivity plan lies within the name itself. it's an idea to form yourself productive by that specialize in the proper tasks that interest you and your goals.

You will undergo a 6 step procedure to spot your opportunities and fix the issues you've got. Sure, you'll need to put an attempt upfront, but the advantages will last for years to return.

Don’t attempt to rush through the method for the heck of it. Aim on getting a strong plan which delivers solid results albeit requires you to spend time thinking, experimenting, analyzing, and improvising.

The 6 step process to make your productivity plan

So, with no further delay let’s begin. You can use a pen and paper or open a document on your computer.

Step 1: Identify focus areas

Start with listing down the important tasks or projects you would like to place time, energy, and energy on. you'll jot down:

  • Your goals
  • Your important responsibilities
  • Your interests

Here is an example of some goals for you:

  • Write books and articles which help provide great value to the readers
  • Keep gaining knowledge from books, articles, and courses to enhance my skills
  • Maintain a robust bond with my partner
  • Eat healthy and workout 5 days every week
  • Increase my annual income to X

List 10 to twenty such goals you’re aiming for. Take some time and write down everything that involves your mind, albeit it seems silly.

Once you are feeling you’ve listed most of your targets, group them into 5 or 6 major focus areas. Not all the things you listed will get into the slot. You'll skip a number of the lesser important goals.

Do not worry about the logic behind segregating the main target areas. Divide them supported your perspective and what feels right to you.

Your ally might list ‘Career’ together single focus area that has growth at work and finances. you would possibly divide ‘Career growth’ and ‘Finances’ as two individual focus areas. That’s normal because the 2 of you don’t think alike.

Based on your thoughts, finalize 5 or 6 different aspects of life that are most vital to you. you ought to stop at 6 because aiming for too many targets results in dilution of focus.

Here is an example to help you out in getting an idea of the exercise.

  • Career Growth
  • Relationship with my partner
  • Learning
  • Finances
  • Fitness
  • Building businesses

There is no selected order of priority, but if you would like to rate one above the opposite, please do so. We’re building a productivity plan for you, remember? So tweak the method any which way you would like.

Step 2: Write your Obstacles

So, you now have an inventory of 5-6 items. because the next step, write all the challenges you’re facing with spending time on those core focus areas.

What’s stopping you from giving those top categories the eye they deserve? Write down any obstacle, regardless of how big or small.

Here are some examples:

  • Lack of motivation
  • Distractions
  • Laziness
  • Lack of your time
  • Responsibilities

Be honest with yourself while you come up with this list. Admitting your faults isn’t a pleasing experience albeit nobody is watching. Therefore, your mind will feel the urge to fabricate reasons to justify your poor behaviour.

For example, you think you’re unable to save lots of money because you've got too many expenses. But if you look deeper, your notice you’re spending plenty of cash on unnecessary items that you simply can avoid.

Make sure you’re not lying to yourself to elucidate your poor habits.

People are usually unable to spend time on their core areas due to two reasons:

  1. Don't have enough time to figure out goals
  2. Face distractions like constant emails and texts which prevented working during a flow

Step 3: Track some time

Most people assume they know what they’re spending their time on. If you’re one among them, why don’t your test that theory? Once you track it down, you’ll know for yourself if your assumption and reality are in line or two polar opposites.

The activity is straightforward. You’ll need to track your entire day from the instant you awaken till the time you attend bed in slots of quarter-hour. The sheet below breaks the whole day into such slots. you'll either print the file to list down your activity or use an excel sheet.

  • Pen and paper: PDF for print – 15 min
  • On Computer: Excel for Download – 15 min

You must perform the exercise for a minimum of 2 days. Try to pick days that have a special schedule, for instance, If you write a blog post on Monday and Friday. So your schedule for those two days looks nothing like that of other weekdays.

Based on your profession, choose 2 appropriate days to perform the activity. You can extend it for more days for better accuracy.

4 out of 5 people that read this text will skip this activity or perform it half-heartedly. But, you’ll know the important picture only you write where you’re spending some time.

Again, confirm you’re honest about some time tracking. If you spent 10 minutes browsing through Instagram stories followed by reading an email for five minutes, don’t mention that slot as ‘work’. You’re performing this activity to assist you to understand what proportion of time are you leaking and on what.

Step 4: Analyze the knowledge

Total up the time you’re spending on different activities. Group them down into categories like work, responsibilities, chores, meetings, commute, and so on. Divide supported what feels right because no hard and fast rules exist.

Once that you simply have real data about how you’re spending time, evaluate if your assumed obstacles from Step 2 are the important culprits.

I had assumed I didn't have enough time. The reality was, I used to work towards too many different goals to seek out success. As a result, my time was scattered and that I was paying mediocre attention to all or any of my targets. Have you ever seen a hunter shooting randomly hoping one would hit the prey? Maybe not, but that’s how it used to be.

Are you spending enough time on your core areas or is your time going into needless activities? Once you track your time, more often than not, you'll realize that you simply are wasting some time on completely different tasks.

Identify your biggest time hoggers and ask yourself if they have such focus and energy. You’ll also notice some activities taking far more time than expected or needed. consider ways to chop them shortly.

Identify distractions like social media, Netflix, news, or breaks are eating up some time. Consider creative solutions to stop yourself from overindulging in such distractions. You can lock your phone inside a drawer while working or start Netflix only after 8 pm.

No matter what activities you’re delaying on, once you identify them, you'll consider an answer with ease. It isn’t rocket science.

Step 5: Reconsider your day

Now that you’ve had a reality check of how you’re spending your time, reconsider your daily schedule.

Are you spending way an excessive amount of time on one or two areas? Which among your core areas is that the most neglected? Have you ever maintained an affordable overall balance?

“What’s the proper breakdown for every area?” Unfortunately, we don't have a solution for you. Only you'll decide what’s best for you.

For example, if you put aside 5 hours every week for physical training. That’s ok for a non-athlete's fitness goals. But, can an athlete achieve his targets with an equivalent amount of exercise? - NO.

Based on where you’re at and what you would like to realize, allow enough time for every of the main target areas. Aim to nip a day off needless activities and channel more energy towards what matters to you.

If you would like to quit your job and begin a business, are you spending enough hours hebdomadally on planning and execution?

If you would like to enhance your relationship together with your partner, are you giving it time and attention?

If you would like to save lots of extra money monthly, are you tracking your expenses and lowering needless costs?

If you would like to reduce, does your schedule include 3-4 sessions of exercise a week?

Step 6: Experiment, improvise and re-iterate

Once you create an idea to vary your daily schedule, don't expect to magically transform into a productive demigod immediately. You’ll need to experiment to ascertain what works and what doesn’t. What seems amazing on paper can turn impractical to execute.

So keep your plan flexible to seek out a routine that works for you. Approach your productivity plan just like the visual shown below.

Identify the gap between where you're and where you would like to be. Try different techniques to succeed in a schedule that you’re comfortable sticking to for the future. If you struggle to urge the routine right initially, that’s normal. What would be unusual is that if you transform altogether overnight.

Do not attempt to go all guns blazing or expect drastic changes directly. If you aim for an excessive amount of time, you’ll fail at your attempts, find yourself disappointed and provides up early.

If your current schedule may be a mess, start by targeting one or two of your core focus areas. Keep the others aside for a short time. Once you’re familiar with giving a few areas the required attention, add another. Incrementally build-up, slow and steady, one step at a time.

In real world, what you would like vs what you get will never strike an ideal balance. Sometimes you’ll not get enough for your efforts and sometimes you’ll receive what you deserve. So don't worry about reaching a flawless productivity plan. Make a wise compromise that delivers enough results without draining you out.

Conclusion

You need to learn the way to build productivity & decide to change your sort of working and reach an inch closer to the results you desire everyday.

After reading this, you would possibly desire, “I got to create a productivity plan, no doubt. I’ll do this sometime within the future.”

Don’t be that lazy person. If you procrastinate today, you’ll ditch the activity tomorrow. Follow the steps and work on your productivity plan as soon as possible, if not immediately. Unutilized knowledge is nearly as good as useless.

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