Getting the jump on your day – identifying your key activities

If you’ve been trying to get yourself organised, you will probably have accumulated a massive list of things that you want to get done.

It then seems natural to focus on working through these lists, on cranking widgets, on getting things done.

Some days, you can make huge progress by knocking a lot of things off that list, and at the end of the day you feel a great sense of achievement.

Some days though, I knock a lot of things off the list – but I don’t get the sense of achievement. Or at least my sense of achievement feels hollow.

When I really think about it, on such days I don’t feel like I’ve made any progress on the things that really count.

It’s great to get a report written, or a bunch of emails sent, or complete an assignment. But did I really move myself closer to say, financial independence, improved health and vitality, or some other big picture objective?

Am I measuring my achievement on the right scale?

This got me to thinking about what is really important.

When I get to the end of my life, am I likely to look back with pride on all the proposals I wrote, or will I feel more fulfilled remembering the quality time spent with my family, or travelling the world, or helping those less fortunate than me?

So I thought that I would start by identifying the key areas that I think are important. I’ve identified four, but I’ve seen others identify more. Mine are:

Health	I figure that in the long run, you don’t maximise your potential unless you are in pretty good health. For me, good health underpins all other areas. I want to do something every day that improves my health.
Wisdom	Life is about lessons, and lessons are about wisdom. So I want to do something every day that improves my wisdom. I include certain types of knowledge, philosophy, meditation and compassion in this category.
Wealth	Like health, your ability to live a fulfilling life is at least somewhat dependent on money. So I want to ensure that I do something every day that contributes to my wealth. I don’t include work/career in this category. Some people give it its own separate category. I don’t.
Hearth	This is my word for family, friends & relationships. A rich life is a shared life, so I want to do something every day that improves my relationships.

 

I have a week-to-the-page diary, and I started by ruling it into 4 columns as described above. I established the habit of updating it each night with the specific activities that I managed to complete in each category. In the wealth category, I decided to EXCLUDE employment or career related activities – I only record activities that lead to passive income.

Tracking this for a few weeks, I noticed that I was doing pretty well in the health category (see Best Productivity Habit of 2007). I have been learning French for the last few months, and I have either been doing CD’s in the car on the way to work, or working through a lesson book on the train. This has been pretty consistent.

However, the alarming thing I noticed was how rarely I really did something wealth-building, and even worse, how rarely I phoned/spoke with a relative or a friend (I don’t count email).

It’s great to look back over a month and see that I’ve run a few miles every day, but it’s shocking to realise that I’ve spoken to family and friends only a handful of times in the month! All of these categories – Health, Wisdom, Wealth and Hearth are cumulative – they need constant attention or they wither.

So the most important thing for me has to get a tick in each box every day. All the other ‘actions’ on my task lists are really quite petty compared to these, although I confess it’s so easy to get distracted and think it’s all about the task list (especially the work task list).

I’ve found it’s a lot easier to identify a single action in each category at the start of each day – or better still – identify an action that I can turn into a habit.

Four completed actions makes it a successful day from my perspective, and I feel a much greater sense of achievement with those four actions completed than twenty inconsequential work-related actions.

It’s all about priority.