Do This One Thing to be Constructive Everyday

Do This One Thing to be Constructive Everyday

One area I tend to spend a significant amount of time focusing is productivity. I pay such close attention to time management, it’s almost a fault!

Productivity “hacks,” as you might call them, really interest me. They’re fascinating! I’m always looking for a way to cut down on wasted time – to chop out anything unnecessary, inefficient, or redundant.

As such, I tend to write quite a bit on things people can do to increase their productivity little by little. I believe everyone’s capable of doing tremendous things with their life. But each person has to make the choice to go down that path. You can’t simply wish for greatness to come to you. You have to go get it. Learning to finagle this path has become an obsession of mine.

I often get questions about, or hear someone generally wondering, how to get the most done in XYZ situation. Sure, there’s a lot of specific productivity tips to share, but they’re all case specific. There is, however, one thing that everyone can do. Something simple and general enough that anyone can pick it up at anytime.

You need to write down what it is you want to accomplish each day. You want to be constructive. You want to do more with your day. That’s why you’re reading this article! When you get up every morning, write down one thing that would be really good for you to do that day. Something for you to accomplish. Try to make it something extra. If you’re going to work for eight hours where you should be expected to put out anyway, don’t include any of that.

Make your one constructive thing something you might not usually do, but that would be beneficial for your sanity or long-term goals. Maybe your one thing actually is to do something extra at the office everyday to work towards a promotion or something. Write that down. Maybe your one thing is to weed the garden. Write that down. “Today I am going to weed to the garden when I get home instead of sitting on the couch watching Netflix. I will weed the garden, and only after I finish that will I allow myself time to be lazy.”

Maybe your one thing is to practice an instrument for an hour. Maybe it’s to write 500 words towards your book. Maybe it’s to grab coffee with a friend, or to exercise before work.

When you put this into writing, you do several things. Through the physical act of writing, you’re storing that information – that goal – into your long-term memory. Writing slows down your thought process so that this idea will stick. This makes it far less likely for you to forget about your one thing.

When you write down your goal for the day, you’re also creating a visual. This helps your memory again, and gives you something physical to recall and keep on the front of your mind all day – or to carry around with you. Writing down your one thing also creates accountability. Even though you might not share this with another person, you’ve said this is what you’re going to do. You’ve made a commitment to yourself and to this piece of paper. That has a powerful effect!

I spend a lot of time talking about productivity and being constructive in some way or another. I have yet to come across a single person who’s intentionally used their extra or spare time constructively and not been happy about it. If you’d like to get into doing the same, follow this one simple guideline. Write down the one thing extra you want to do today that will make a constructive use of your time.

Thoughts?

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