How not to WASTE a day?

Feeling guilty of again wasting today?

• Do you often observe that it’s the end of the day and you haven’t even started what you thought you would complete today?

• Does it provide you with a feeling of guilt?

• The worst question is, has this been going on for most of your days?

If yes, you are at the right place to understand why it happens and How you can fix it.

Why do you Struggle?

The simple answer is you have no idea what you are going to do today. All you know is some big items 1, 2, 3 on a plate that is something you have to do. That’s all. Now as the day passes, what happens is your mood controls your day. You feel a bit lazy, you take to bed and chill on your mobile for something. The chill moment is going to include an ADHOC Instagram post, YouTube or a similar app. Remember so far you haven’t started anything from those 1, 2, or 3, action items.

Now comes the interesting part. Your mind gives you a false sense of being busy. When you have too much on your plate to complete, you might often pick something which is easy. Because you want to look at DOING something. and defer the task you should be doing. It’s something I call Monkey Way. Pick anything so that you don’t do something which is important and must do.

You repeat the above for several days, weeks, months….. years. That’s how your year has gone with almost no improvement and growth in your habits.

How to fix your routine?

Your day doesn’t have to be a boring day or day where you don’t laugh. But remember, if you WASTE your day by chilling today. You are for sure going to repeat it more and more.

Focus on a few things to make the best of your day:-

1. Sleep: Get a night of good sleep, 6-8 hours of sleep is good for our body. The catch here is that if the physical activity of your body is almost no. You will feel lazy even after 8 hrs of sleep. Because you have trained your mind for it. If you are also experiencing laziness after 8hr of sleep, use that time to get a walk or workout.

2. Todo: THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT. Don’t fall for the trap of picking anything from the list. Create a list based on certain factors like the one mentioned below in priority order.

   1. Has to do today + Even if you don’t want to:- Type of task you are going to procrastinate and end up moving to another day. Since it’s important and you are not interested. It carries more risk of carrying forward to another day. Some examples are studying, workout, paying bills, document submissions, and learning sessions. These types of tasks if not avoided can add negative effects on your life in the long term.

   2. Can do today + Excites you:- Type of task you should complete but only after 1st type. It serves the purpose of contributing something interesting to your day’s accomplishment. Also, it doesn’t bore you. Examples are, workout, journaling, reading a book or novel

   3. Can do to reduce future load:- Once you have spare time after accomplishing the first 2 types of tasks. You should always focus on what is something that you can do today to reduce your workload for tomorrow. There is always something you can pick, and do it 5-10mins. It’s definitely going to make you feel proud.

Measure it

We humans have wonder capability to measure our progress. The sad part is only a few of them use it and the rest ignores it. When you start your day, you should take a pen and paper. Write what are the action items that are most important. During the phase of writing, do not care whether you like the task or not. We are not writing to make a paper plane of that notes. We are writing so that we can grow and take charge of our life. Once you have written, make sure to place it in front of you. It will allow you to always have an eye on your notes all day. And will at times correct you to take wise decisions during that day.

You are ready for 1000s of articles on Google and watch 1000s of videos on YouTube / Instagram. The crux of all those can sum up in a few lines:

1. Do what you SHOULD be doing for long-term growth.

2. Avoid short team gratification by:

   1. Watching short videos for hours.
   2. Picking easy and postponing the important task.
   3. Giving yourself the false sense of being BUSY.

3. You have to have a to-do list in priority order to get the most out of the day.

Tip : Limit your mobile screen time. If you are on mobile, it should something that really adds value to your life. Otherwise you are simply making fool of yourself.