While this digital planner has a wealth of productivity-enhancing features, the core of our tried-and-tested method lies in daily planning. Each of your daily planning pages is set up according to my to-do table method I introduced in my book ‘Working Hard, Hardly Working’. On each page you’ll also find a space for 3 non-negotiable tasks and habits you’ll be keeping that day to reach your longer term goals. Fill these in every day, and you’re gonna be a productivity wiz in no time.
The to-do list is so last generation: we’re all about the to-do table now.
My to-do table method is based on the essential principles of task batching, while allowing full visibility over our days. I fill in this table at the beginning of every single day, and it also includes items that aren’t going to get done that day, for full visibility and order. It will take you five minutes and save you way more than that by allowing you to prioritise, visualise and group tasks all in one before you even consider getting down to it.
Things that will take five minutes or less.
Things that will take you up to thirty minutes. These will require some work and headspace, but don’t involve more than two or three mini tasks to get the whole task done.
These are the big boys. They may not be for today, but you still want to be conscious of them as you go through your day and carry them over into your week.
These will then be broken down into tasks when you confront them in time blocks. For example, ‘design new collection’ could be split into the following
<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/0c487a3c-213e-4a32-830d-84bebe9fde86/c12055f0-2a3c-4057-9da6-b3a9393e9e97/TPM-NOTION_ICONS_REBRAND_Theme01_CallOut.png" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/0c487a3c-213e-4a32-830d-84bebe9fde86/c12055f0-2a3c-4057-9da6-b3a9393e9e97/TPM-NOTION_ICONS_REBRAND_Theme01_CallOut.png" width="40px" /> When you know you’re going to be doing a project in a particular week, split the project into tasks when you’re doing your first TDT of the week. That way, you can identify whether you need something from someone else to be able to start, and get yourself clear on how many time blocks you need to finish the whole project in the timeline you have.
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Each day, set yourself three things you will get done that day. Just three - make them realistic and at the very least tangentially related to your yearly, quarterly and monthly goals. Don’t make one of them something you’re going to get done in the first 5 minutes of your day just to tick something off. You owe yourself more than that. Make each day count, even if it’s just about getting shit out the way to work towards bigger goals tomorrow.
A year is just a collection of 365 days. Each day, make sure to fill in the habits you’re going to keep in order to help you consciously reach for your longer term goals.
