The 5 min ritual that makes or break my day.
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Within two hours of waking I know whether the day will be won or lost. It all comes down to a 5 minute ritual. If I get it done, odds are my day will be productive. If not, I can almost guarantee I will procrastinate the day away. Here’s the ritual: 1) I open up my Bullet Journal to a blank page. 2) I write the day’s date at the top. 3) I draw a two column schedule of the day ranging from 6am to 10pm. Each column is divided by one hour chunks. 4) I create a to-do list for the day starting with my ONE priority. Only after I have determined my most important task for the day do I move on to lesser tasks. 5) I create a rough schedule for ‘when’ I’m going to do said tasks onto my two column time block. 6) Execute priority task. This ritual takes me no more than 5 minutes and sets me up for success every time. The words you’re reading now are proof. If I lull myself into thinking, “I’m fine without it.” then I’ve lost the day. It truly is that simple. Some days the plan is no good. Something comes up and I have to adjust. Sometimes my lazy side does get the better of me and I fail to follow through on my commitments. But at least I can learn from those experiences. When a plan fails it’s not a failure; it’s an opportunity to re-strategize. I can see where I went wrong and plan to avoid the same pitfalls next time. Prompt: (The following question is one I picked up from the Tim Ferris podcast years ago and is how I determine my priority for the day.) What is the one task that, once completed, would make today a win? |
The Creator Cycle
Self-mastery with pen-and-paper systems.
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