In order to 10x your performance and reach your goals, you need to have a plan and get in the habit of daily planning to succeed.

Just like most people, I used to have a simple ‘to-do’ list. I would write down the tasks I need to do in my notebook and hope to tick them off as the day goes on adding any new tasks that emerge to the bottom of the list.

When you use a ‘to-do’ list, what tends to happen is that you write down tasks that are often just business as usual and some tasks tend to just stay on this list forever and never get done. You also procrastinate throughout the day and have no real sense of when you should be working on what and often you prioritise the tasks at the top of the list rather than those that are the most important.

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One of the main changes that I’ve made over the last few years that really helped me level up my productivity and valuable output is to focus on setting goals and planning every minute of every day accordingly.

As a part of my daily routine, I now sit down with my coffee and plan out my day and this is what it looks like.

The first thing I do is write down my goal. This is usually a short to mid-term goal I’m looking to accomplish in the next 12 weeks. I find that 3 months or a quarter is a good amount of time to keep the finish line in sight but long enough to achieve something substantial. I’ll cover goal setting in a separate post but your 12-week goal should be a stepping stone towards achieving your long term goals.

Secondly, inspired by Gary Keller’s ‘The One Thing’ book, I ask myself:

‘What’s the ONE THING I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?’

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With my goal in mind, I want to focus only on the tasks that will get me towards achieving this. What action must I take today to move me a step closer? This is your most important task of the day and indeed the first thing you should work on.

In my case, I write down three targets for the day. The reason for this is because my goal is split across business, health, fitness, family and finance so on any given day, I believe I’ve got time to achieve three meaningful tasks which ideally will contribute to one of my goals.

I might use the question above to ask what the one thing I can do such that by doing it I get one step closer to my business goal. And then again for my health and fitness. And then again for my family. How you do this is up to you. You could have three actions that will drive you towards one goal.

Either way, your top three actions should be achievable within the day, large enough to require at least 90 minutes to achieve or should at least by such that if you evaluate your day at the end, if you just do those three things, you can say that your day is a success and you’ve achieved something meaningful and moved yourself closer towards your goal.

Next is to plan out your day. I like to plan my day in 30-minute chunks and leave no minute unplanned.

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I do group some of the 30-minute chunks together for most tasks but my notebook is at 30-minute intervals.

I start with getting up and my morning routine and then go straight into a 90-minute block (3 chucks) to complete my top target for the day or the first of the 3 actions tasks I outlined above.

This then usually moves on to either lunch or a 30-minute slot to go through email and messages. Then once I’ve allowed some time for admin I go straight into the next action task, usually another 90-minute block. I’ll again break this up with another slot to check emails and deal with any business as usual issues but try and get straight into my 3rd and final action for the day.

It’s important to list these top three tasks and to block out the time to do them with focus. It’s good to find a quiet space where you can work without being disturbed and turn off any notifications for email, slack, text etc.

If you don’t sit down and think about your day, and plan tasks that will help you hit your goals, you’ll likely just get bogged down by being busy but not achieving anything. We can all easily fill our day by replying to emails and solving issues and chatting about things to our teams but whilst these things must be done, you won’t get a raise or promotion by listing how many emails you sent and even if you do manage a large number of customers as I do, they can likely wait at least 90 minutes before they get an answer.

Furthermore, I block out time to think, to read, to eat, to spend time with my family and even breaks. You might not want structure and you’ll probably rarely follow your day plan to the minute. What matters more is the process of gathering your thoughts, putting your ideas down on paper and crafting a plan for success.

As the saying goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” followed by “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”.

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Things come up during the day and tasks take longer than expected but that’s not the point. The point is to stop you mindlessly being busy and doing business as usual and not working on the things that matter.

Finally, I take stock at the end of the day. Did I complete my actions? Did I complete the habits I’m looking to ingrain in my life? I also note down any success for the day and evaluate my own performance. What did I learn? Is there anything I could have done better?

Self-evaluation is critical to success and improvement and will help in your journey whatever it may be.

So stop reacting to work and start planning your day to set you up for success.

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This article was written by Stuart Munnich. If you’d like to know more or receive notifications for future articles, please head over to the Website and subscribe at the bottom of the page!

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