Building a productivity blog has been hard, and the level of discipline required has been beyond anything I’ve done before. There are days that I am tired and I just want to watch TV or look at social media, but in order to meet my timelines I have to stay true to myself and perform even when I don’t want to.
Frameworks will vary from person to person based on their schedule, for example for me as a working dad raising two daughters, I have to set up blocks in a time to do creative work.
These are the 5 elements to establish a good framework:
- Consistency: Pick a time, pick a place and do the same activity religiously: Think of brushing your teeth, even if you miss a day at your usual time, look for another time to make it up.
- Energy renewal: Whether it is meditation, going out on a walk or playing the piano. You need to find a way to keep your energy levels high, without it you will lose focus and concentration, which will make it very difficult to get anything done.
- Relevant: I always wanted to build websites as a side gig, but never found the time to build the skill necessary to do it. Now I am spending my time on productivity; because the impact will be immediate.
- Prioritize: The work that makes us grow is difficult and requires a lot of hard thinking. Make sure you are prioritizing this work everyday otherwise you will not be making much progress towards your goal.
- Schedule it: Everyone has ideas but very few people have the drive to implement them, the first step at getting things done is by putting time on a calendar and being strict at doing what you put you were going to do.
Example of using the 5 Elements:
Goal: I want to learn to play the piano.
- Consistency: Everyday I will practice the piano.
- Energy Levels: Every day I will walk/exercise for a combined 1hr.
- Relevant: Everyday I will remind myself that learning to play the piano will help decrease my anxiety levels and increase my focus.
- Prioritize: I will make sure to depriotize all tasks that are not helping me with my future goal so that I can have time to practice the piano.
- I will make sure to schedule practice time on a daily basis at least 30 mins in the morning and 30 mins at night.
Tips on prioritization:
- I watched a quick YouTube video by Yancey Strickler on how to prioritize what you should be doing now to help your future become a reality. The bento box, explaining four quadrants that can help you create your to dos. The other method is the more popular Eisenhower matrix that separates tasks into urgent and important. Please take the time to look these up to learn more about the process.
Final Thoughts:
Without having a good framework to plan your day and complete your tasks, you will struggle to get things done. In this day and age the distractions are endless and we have accustomed ourselves to be very excited by receiving high doses of dopamine levels. In order to be able to achieve your goals, you need to be able to follow a framework.
When I was younger and I literally had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted, I couldn’t find the motivation. Ever since I’ve been dating someone and now married with children I barely have time to go to the bathroom yet, I’ve accomplished more in a day than what it would take me weeks if not months to do when I was single and with a job that didn’t have a lot of responsibilities.