Increase productivity with mini-routines

Changing Routines

Have you ever thought “I could so much more done if I didn’t have to work”?

Well, I thought so too but I’ve found that it’s surprisingly difficult to keep productivity up since I finished work.

Work and Routines

I left my job about 2 weeks ago as a strike towards Making Money vs Earning Money, and my intention was to use the time to be super-productive in all those things I thought the job prevented me from doing.

As the final day of work approached, I started to look at my daily routines, and I noticed that a lot were actually driven by work-related factors.

For example, my early morning routine was kept in place by the deadline of catching the 6:50 train. Would I keep this up when I no longer needed to wake up at the same time to catch the train to work?

The Home Extension Project

To complicate matters, my first non-work project is building an extension on my house and I’m finding a number of further factors are sabotaging my established routines.

First, while I’m handy, I’m not a builder so it’s a steep learning curve and it takes a LOT of concentration. I’m spending most of my waking hours thinking about what has to be done, how to do it, the optimal sequence of events etc and this has shifted my focus away from my usual activities that still need to be done.

Second, the work is physically demanding and while this is GREAT for getting a good night’s sleep, there’s less incentive to keep up my usual exercise routine, which included getting up early.

Third, since I’m outside working, I’m away from my usual productivity tools (PC and Action list) which reminded me of my daily tasks.

Without my Action List beside me to jog my memory, I’m not making calls, doing Internet banking etc, that I used to fit in during my work-related activities.

And in preparation for this project I had created a work breakdown structure, complete with buffer activities such as ordering materials ahead of time so they would be here before I needed them. But without access to that via my PC, I’m missing deadlines on some of the
activities and putting the whole project under pressure.

Fourth, I have very little ‘dead time’ – I used to learn French on the train, and keep in touch with friends and relatives from cabs on the way back from meetings. I don’t have that time anymore so those activities aren’t getting done.

I’m pleased with how focused my project time is now but I don’t want to drop activity in other areas of my life.

The New Routine

I’ve realised that productivity is best served by establishing a number of mini-routines in my day – ones that see progress on key actions but fit in with my different circumstances.

To start with, I’m rising early and exercising, even though the day’s work will be quite physical. I’ve then allocated time for writing blog articles immediately after this, so I’ll do a little each day.

And for this week, that’s it – it’s better to focus on reworking my mini-routines one at a time so they can become established.

The Top 3…

So the top 3 ideas I’m acting on this week are:

1. Working out my mini-routines to allow me time to get the important things done
2. Realising that I can only establish one mini-routine at a time, so focusing on just the morning for now
3. Working out how to fit in mini-routines when there’s a change in my daily routine

Here’s a good article on routines: Optimize Your Productivity with Daily, Weekly Routines and here’s a good one on How to become an Early Riser.