1-2-3 of day-2-day
Getting ready for tomorrow, and not only that, but the whole week ahead is exciting and/or stressful. I read that our bodies experience both emotions in a very similar fashion (chemically speaking). So before you go to bed, or perhaps you meet this article with your morning coffee, let me share simple tricks I am trying out these days. I hope they bring you a spark, an appetizer of inspiration to your workday.
Help your tomorrow-self, tonight
Earlier I shared 3x3 Morning Routines and I believe that going to bed knowing you won’t be by default caught off guard tomorrow is a nice feeling. Try to prepare your coffee mug next to the kettle, take the plate and water bottle out, so that your kitchen welcomes you tomorrow. And if morning is as hard for you as for myself, any extra step you can avoid by preparing tonight can save you that much morning effort.
2. Be your own assistant
Instead of doing double work, try to shorten your meetings by 10 or maybe just 5 mins and invest that extra time to prepare a follow-up already now. When you schedule the next call, take those 10 minutes now and write down exactly what is the goal of that meeting into the invitation. So that when your future self joins the call you don’t have to remember.
Usually, I think: “The worst-case I will review details just before the meeting.” But more often than I would like, calls get prolonged, we run late, and then we are caught in the awkward welcoming to participants who just like you are curious about the call. And frankly, I believe that calls get prolonged (also) because of the lack of planning, so you get 2-in-1 if you prepare now.
TIP: Stack. Plan smartly. Don’t let annoying routine things spread throughout your whole week. As you will see in the next tip, accept the routines/admin/manual and get it over with in one go, then you are (usually) done
3. Complaining is not a strategy
I watched a video of Jeff Bezos giving the advice to lead a successful life. I can’t forget a sentence that resonated with me since that moment. He said: “Complaining is not a strategy.” While I do think complaining and venting are useful to release the energy I was blown away by realizing that most of the time I end my efforts at that step. And suddenly it hit me, I am not being strategic. I am sitting in my cozy seat ready for my daily after work / after meeting / after fail rant… but that will not work!
If tomorrow you have to deal with annoying unavoidable tasks you hate, the sooner you accept them, the better for you. I like to think in the famous Casablanca quote… these tasks will haunt me down - Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and until I get them done. If you face one of those tasks, get it over with as soon as you can.
But don’t stop there though. Be creative - think of automation, delegation, outsourcing, removal of the task from the process completely… explore how to get rid of it… learn from other colleagues/teams/tv series.. whatever would help … creativity finds solutions where others gave up.
Talent hits a target no one else can hit;
Genius hits a target no one else can see.
- Arthur Schopenhauer
TIP: If worse comes to worst, try to turn your tasks into a game. How fast can you get them done? How many different ways are there to finish? Make yourself a punch card and after 10 points get an ice cream. Reward yourself for completing them with something you enjoy.
Before you go…
When was the last time you talk to someone you did not have to talk to?
When were you last time curious about how other people handle it?
Don’t be afraid to reach out outside of your circles, horizons, expertise. I found people are usually open to share their advice if you ask.
So why wouldn’t you?
