Recently, I’ve shared my thoughts on time management, the GAP & the GAIN, as well as other topics on Sorta Random Sunday. For this post, I want to focus on goal setting – specifically something I have been doing recently that I think will really help jump start your day…
But first…
The productivity paradox
We all want to be productive. But no one wants to always be productive. In fact, always being on and hustling is completely counterproductive to being productive. (Sorry my mind just exploded!)
Rest, play, and sleep have been established as very important components of a healthy and productive lifestyle. Without them, we burn out…killing all productivity.
An important mindset shift
But, this kind of logic is rooted in old school type of thinking.
The type of thinking where we feel our worth and value is all tied to how busy we are. But nothing can be further from the truth!
So, I’ve changed my mindset to view activities like rest, play, sleep, and others as very productive activities. They are activities that, without them, I would not be able to accomplish all of my other personal, professional and financial goals!
Goal setting and you
One of the best books that I have read recently is The One Thing by Gary Keller. You can read more about my take aways from the book here.
The main point is that we should work to establish important overarching goals in our lives – personal goals, professional goals, and so on. These main overarching goals need to guide our activities and productivity.
But, we are really bad at doing this. Especially in today’s world, there is so much distracting noise. Our e-mail, social media, random task throughout the day, and on and on…
So, how can we focus our efforts on what is important – our overarching goals or our One Thing?
Two great strategies are to employ deep work and to delegate less important tasks to other who’s in your life.
But, I’m going to talk here about an even more immediate, actionable, and direct way to jump start your day – every day – using goal setting and a dash of mindfulness.
Jump start your day with goal setting
This is what I do:
- Each night before going to bed, I mindfully write down what my top 3 goals are for the next day
- These goals should be the the absolute most high level, important things that you want to accomplish the following day
- The goals can be traditional productivity goals like accomplishing an important task at work
- Or they can be other productivity goals, like spend quality time with your family, exercise, or relax by reading a book
- Make sure to write the goals down in a journal. I keep mine on my night stand
- In your mind, plan your day around the important goals
- The next day, execute your plan
- At the end of the day, before creating your new goals for the following day, look over your goals for the current day. Note down how many you accomplished
- It doesn’t matter if you don’t always accomplish every goal. But think about what happened and how you can improve in the future
- For example, I found that I was not always good at accomplishing my goals of relaxing or resting because I was too focused on my old-school productivity mentality. So I reflected and changed how I operate to reach these – and my other goals- better!
This simple strategy
It takes about 5 minutes each night – has allowed me to make huge gains in my life, personally, professionally, financially, and otherwise!
I can confidently say that implementing this strategy will jump start your day and see you attacking each day in an intentional and mindful, not to mention productive, manner!
If you are looking for other simple habits to build your financial success, start here! You can also check out my free masterclass webinar on The 12 Steps to Financial Freedom for Physicians.
What do you think? How do you jump start your day? Do you use goal setting? What does it mean to you to be productive? Let us know in the comments below!
