Finding focus and prioritising the things you spend your time is a trait I’m not so strong at. Everyone is attracted to the new shiny thing, and I definitely love new and shiny things.
It is useful to pick a thing that is most important and spend time on that thing, moving the goal closer to completion whenever you make time to work on it.
This is almost like a contract, in that – I agree that, right now, this is the most important thing to spend my time on.
Even writing this post was a priority juggling act, but at some point I mindfully decided we are posting something today.
Todo lists
Like everyone – I have todo lists, but allowing them to be completely contextual helps me achieve more focus.
Work todo lists are separated by ‘client, meta and things I just want to do’. So when I’m at work, I know my time is split up around 70/20/10 between these tasks.
Each category has a bunch of actual things I need to achieve – working on client means I’ve got 💯 focus on those tasks when I hit em, and don’t let the other 20/10 categories interrupt me until I’m done.
What feels different or better?
Measuring the most important thing and moving it closer to complete or upwards gives direction. The question I always ask now is:
Is the thing you working on right now, moving that goal forward? No? Well then, fucken stop doing it.
Periodically asking myself this question reminds me that I spend time focusing on unimportant bullshit – and pivot back to productivity.