I wrote this post a little while ago and wanted to report back to be accountable regarding how I went, even just to myself.  I was following a plan I read about on Asian Efficiency that I felt really made sense and already fit in with how I currently plan my days (if I plan them).  So, how did my planning go??

Great, at first, then it went to average, and then to total shit!

At first I could plan my day out really well. Then I had a few days where I wasn’t really sure what I should do, then I just stopped because a few things happened and my routine was massacred. After that it kept getting massacred and I kept having more and more trouble figuring out how to get back on the path.

I usually have a very structured day routine. I wake up early, 5am, shower and do about 30-45 minutes of work. I eat my breakfast and then exercise. After that I get into cleaning and then onto work. One of my huge problems is not knowing what work to do. I will waste time if I don’t know what I should tackle. I will also waste time if I don’t want to do a particular bit of work that day. I wouldn’t call it procrastinating, I’d be more likely to call it confusion about what other job should be a priority. Whenever this happens I need to regain focus and sometimes that doesn’t happen too easily.

In the first days I DID get a lot done and I had a list pre-made to refer to so whenever I felt a bit lost I just grabbed that list and was able to move on to a job on it. My day was set out with work times and structure that worked with my current routines. The work time spaces have a list of things to do and it was easy to mark off each thing as I finished it and be happy with the results.  I even planned in fun things to do, something I need to make more time for.

For me the planning and list making did work, what was challenging was how to maintain it when things were not working out how I planned.  I also find myself getting thrown afar, and have so much trouble getting back on the path.

I really need to start the process again. As I type this the notebook I was using is in front of me and I hope to write up a list for tomorrow. There is just one problem, I don’t know what I need to do tomorrow…

Do you follow a plan for productivity in your day?  How does it work out?  And what do you do when you get thrown off the path?

I’m thinking about some interesting things to share on this blog about myself and I think you might find it interesting how hopeless I am with my business.  I am always giving people good advice but I am pretty hopeless at implementing things myself.  At the start of 2014 I signed up to heaps of email newsletters by awesome handmade biz peoples.  I take notes about what I am learning and have so far implemented the part about constantly improving photos.  Since I re-shot just about every photo in my Etsy shop I have seen a change.  I have had more sales (compared to last year when things were abysmal) and have been featured on Etsy twice (don’t ask where, I cannot find them, Etsy just tells me the link is coming from within Etsy, just like in the scary movie where the call is coming from within the house, the one with the babysitter).

So, I’m figuring some of you might find this kinda info useful too.

Today I took notes from this article called How to Plan Your Perfect Day for Superhuman Productivity from Asian Efficiency.  These kids look like they are on to something!

I’m just the kinda crazy detailed planning works for so I am going to try plan my days as often I can.  I’ll report back and tell you how I go, they I have to at least try it a bit, right?  Don’t let me be no slacker!

HOW TO PLAN YOUR PERFECT DAY FOR SUPERHUMAN PRODUCTIVITY

1. Plan the night before. Plan your perfect day the night before as *you’ll have more clarity *you’ll sleep better *you wake up with a purpose.  Personally I find it hard to work and be motivated if I have no purpose, so hopefully this will help.

2. Tighten your morning ritual.  As soon as out of bed, without fail and without thinking you know what you have to do.  I get up at 5am, 6 days a week and have a shower straight away, then I sit at my desk with a cup of tea and watch a dvd and do some work  (I watch tele while I work as it helps to keep my eyes constantly looking up and stop them getting tired and damaged).  Often I am not sure what work is most useful to do so if I plan what work to do that might help, yes?

3. Determine your frog and eat it!  Your frog is the worse thing you need to do that day.  It is based on the Mark Twain quote about once you do the worst thing your day can only improve.  House cleaning, it is often going to be house cleaning.

4. Structural productivity.  Plan things you have to do such as sleep, eat, exercise, learn.  For me I need to schedule in the occasional nap (I am sleeping poorly at night due to my nose being clogged from allergies), chatting to my birds, making my chooks lunch and a half hour reading each day.

OKAY!  Lets do this!

I’me going to write things in the notebook I got myself from this etsy shop. Get my Phineas and Ferb on!