Seize Your Day: 5 steps to a more joyful and productive day

Photo credit: Arnel Hasanovic – Unsplash

We’ve all been there – overwhelmed and the day hasn’t even started yet.

Staring at the emails that flooded your inbox overnight, watching them continue to pour in. Probably while you ruminate on the leftover tasks from yesterday that didn’t quite get done, the errands you have to run, and the little ones you have to chauffeur a million different places, all while making sure to keep up with the laundry, plan and cook (or pickup) meals, exercise, and relax (sigh).

So, being the strategist you are, you calculate all the time required to tackle the items on your never-ending To Do list and, realizing there’s not enough hours in the day, you ponder which meetings you can sit through while actually simultaneously knocking out emails and putting out fires.

Sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. I may have just described your typical Tuesday morning. In fact, we know burnout is a real problem – even before the pandemic that just keeps rolling on.

Now you may find that working from home has led to some blurring of boundaries – meaning the “deer in the headlights” look once reserved for your office computer Mondays at 8am while you slide back into the workweek now happens inside and outside of work hours, creeping into the time once reserved for the “life” part of work-life balance.

Thankfully, there are ways we can become more efficient and intentional with our time – working smarter, not harder.

How? We need to observe what we do, map out what we need to do, and strategize how to do it most efficiently. So, let’s hit the highlights for how to be more impactful with our time and how we can SEIZE the day.

Set priorities

We can’t do it all. We can’t keep all the balls juggling in the air at once and, when we convince ourselves we can, we soon find ourselves exhausted and burned out picking up the pieces we dropped along the way. However, I would argue we can do the majority of what’s most important. How? We set priorities each and every day. Not 20 priorities, but 2 or 3. The things that literally can’t wait, either because they are time sensitive, critical to keep a project on track, or vital in your eyes. We may dump all the To Do’s on the list, but we separate and highlight the top 3 that are the priorities. We convince ourselves that if nothing but those 3 tasks get done that day, it is a raging success – then set about knocking those priorities out.

Expect interruptions 

We would all love an uninterrupted morning to tackle these priorities, right? Fully caffeinated, well rested, and highly motivated versions of ourselves would sit down at our desk with a fully charged laptop and toil away, tackling tasks in order of importance, without interruption. No texts, no calls, no emails, no curbside consults from colleagues, no whimpers from your work-from-home four-legged “office mate,” and surely no more things added to your task list.

As nice as this would be, it rarely happens. The phone rings, a colleague interrupts with “a quick question,” or a high priority email comes rolling in. We could always use more coffee, more resources, and more time. The conditions are rarely ideal, and there will always be interruptions – but we can expect this.

Coworkers get chatty after lunch? Need a mid-morning coffee refuel to keep the neurons firing? Plan accordingly.

Phone buzzing distracting you? Put it on silent, shut it off, or put it in the drawer. Close out unnecessary browser tabs. Disable email alerts. Place a “do not disturb” sign. Do these over and over again until it is your new routine, optimized to help you focus.

Impose structure 

Set a schedule. Enough said.

Block out chunks of time to work on the priorities. Break tasks down into chunks, and if you can knock out a chunk in a 10-minute break between calls or meetings, then great! If not, schedule time to work it in elsewhere. Work as hard as you can during that time, then break – whether done or not. Refuel, then dive back in and get it done.

Zoom out 

Don’t get stuck in the weeds. Spending 45 minutes slowly perfecting one paragraph is no way to get things done. Zoom out to see the steps involved to get the task done. Writing a blog post? Maybe working on a proposal for work? Zoom out to see the process. Plan how long to allot for each step and, if you’re not finished at the end of the allotted time, reassess and schedule time to wrap it all up.

Evaluate 

If you’re like me, seeing this word unexpectedly makes you cringe. And yes, I am a brain doctor who conducts “evaluations” of brain functioning on a near daily basis. Since the word “evaluate” often puts a pit in our stomachs, it’s no wonder we like to skip over this step whenever possible. However, I’d argue it’s necessary when we are optimizing processes. Once we’ve accomplished our tasks, crossing them off our list with an emphatic swipe of the pen, we like to close the book and call it a day. Whether through diligently scheduled days or through procrastinating and pulling all-nighters, the job got done. The difference is our satisfaction with it, our stress level, and our work-life balance. We need to sit back and reflect on how it all went down to learn from our experience. So, take a minute to reflect on your strategy. Did you prioritize effectively and use your time wisely? Were there things you’d do differently next time to streamline your process? Make note and make a plan.

 And, when all is said and done, reward yourself.

Kick your feet up, treat yourself, and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Then get ready to go seize another day.