Writing down a to do list in bed.

[Magnus]

...then executing the next day. Freaking amazing, I've done this in the past but have now been more consistent than i've ever been.

Instead of watching a bunch of youtube marketing vids late at night (nearly all of which I forget anyways), I've just been putting on some relaxing music, sitting in bed with my notebook and writing down key things I want to do the next day.

I know this is in every "time management" article ever written, and it seems simple but when you actually do it, it's like holy sht I banged out a bunch of quality work today. I've been lurking the "goals for october, september, etc" threads and imagine those large goals are approached with daily ones. which are of course a part of quarterly, and yearly breakdowns.


- Reformatted blog posts (i had inconsistencies because some blogs were copy and pasted from word pad, others from microsoft word. will always be using wordpad or the wp editor itself going forward)
- Write 2 articles (Wrote a 650 and 930 word article in about 90 minutes. At this stage in the game, I'm trying to put lots of personality and interesting content on my page that engages readers as opposed to writing highly "key wordey" related content.
- Reformat home page (I had one of those distracting home page carousel/slider things like a goober, as well as an "about" section that was taking up unnecessary space. Got rid of them both. this will sound easy to experienced folk, but i'm new with this theme and finding the correct settings can be tricky business)
- Made a reddit account, added some more pics to my instagram, did some active following, social building etc.

Knocked all that out in four hours, and that was all stuff I had planned and WANTED to accomplish rather than just sort of "okay cool posted a blog... I think i'll do some seo work... hmmm should probably see if there's any cool traffic building apps out... i should probably check upwork for a new logo." Stuck to the plan, executed, and knocked out a really nice chunk of work.

I'll have reached my article curation goal, and website layout goal by friday. So next week I get to dive right into promoting it now that it'll have a decent amount of really good content, and doesn't look laughable. Just two days ago, i was severely discouraged by some issues i ran into with my hosting, external relationship drama, and my full-time job stress. Didn't let that break me though. Started a new day fresh and I'm about to enter the next phase. as scheduled.

MY BODY IS READY!

lulz.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I find that anything I do in bed is extremely fun and relaxing but like you I don't remember most of it and it also ultimately ruins my sleep schedule.

Having a prepared list for the next day definitely works. If at any moment you're tempted to procrastinate or think about what's next, you just pick the next list item and keep moving. Momentum is huge and this removes the initial hurdle of getting started.

I think prioritizing lists help too, not only based on importance but on energy and attention requirements and aligning them with your own state as it changes throughout the day.

 

[Magnus]

Something that I'm noticing today is that my productivity PLUMMMETS after 3pm.

The surprising thing is, that's only partly due to decrease in energy/attentiveness.

It seems I'm only writing enough "todo" items to get me through a 4 to 6 hour work day. I don't like setting daunting work so I've been writing shorter lists (which is better than no list for sure).

Making good chunks of progress now, but will try to identify variables/emotions/settings that cause the drop off outside of the shortened list. It's 830 here in europe, in about 2 hours I'll start a longer list and see how i get on tomorrow.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I find it easier, if instead of trying to fix lulls in my energy, to work with them.

So I'd be saving menial, mindless tasks in your case for after 3PM. I'd turn on Netflix on another monitor or iPad or something and keep trucking.

We have biorhythms that can't be changed, only aligned with. If you try to change it with drugs or whatever else, you'll experience further difficulty in prime time and eventual burn out. It's how it works for me anyhow.

Tracking energy levels and subsequent behavior can bring more productivity than trying to change them, which often can't or shouldn't be done.

 

[Magnus]

I find it easier, if instead of trying to fix lulls in my energy, to work with them.

So I'd be saving menial, mindless tasks in your case for after 3PM. I'd turn on Netflix on another monitor or iPad or something and keep trucking.

We have biorhythms that can't be changed, only aligned with. If you try to change it with drugs or whatever else.

all of this^. As tempting as it is to want to just try and throw back a coffee and keep cranking out (lower quality) work, i'm going to use this time to hit the forums i'm apart of, and social media accounts for my brand and do some outreach/relationship branding. still helps the business, and lower risk of me F'ing something up. Plus, waking up after a fresh 7.5/8hrs of sleep is prob the best thing for next day productivity. at least for me.