Hi, folks,

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where your todo list was about 30-50 items and you never had the time to figure out what needs to be done? Ultimately you were frustrated and you had to give up that list in favor of watching Netflix? I have been there, I have done that. And I am not proud. Read on this post to know more about how I solved this problem for me. This could be an eye-opener for you as well.

But before I start this post, I want to feel grateful that you are reading my post at this moment in life and though there are bigger problems around us and the world is receding into multiple problems, you are safe and you are encouraging others to be safe as well. Thanks for that.

Since I have started writing my book link here - https://www.jeygeethan.com/books/the-love-demons, I have found a lack of sincere time to write and complete my chapters. My time gets spread across so many things that I don't get enough time to concentrate and write every single day. I decided that I wanted to find out how my time gets spent and probably wasted.

It was not an easy effort, but ultimately I found out about a few tools and some techniques that can help to closely monitor and even reduce your time wasted.

Wake up At 5 AM

This is one of the best and greatest pieces of advice that I could ever leave you with. Life changes once you start waking up at 5 AM. You get so much time and you get so much work done in the early morning. You can plan your day and then get things moving so quickly. This could be the miraculous potion if you are looking for one.

Use a todo list app like Trello, Todoist or Asana

You already know this one, but you have to keep track of what you are putting into the list. Only have the items that are actionable and don't put anything into the list that doesn't help with your goals. Be very clear.

Track your working hours using another app like Harvest or Toggl

This is where the buck stops. This is exactly why and how this can be turned to your advantage. Let's say you are working on a book or coming up with a marketing plan for your startup. You want to step into the work and measure how well u are doing. So what do you do? You measure the number of hours you put into the tasks and you do that by switching on the timer in any of these apps. They automatically track the time and they have the reports where you can see how much of work that you have put in.

First, you track, and then you compare. Let's say you have a target of 5 hours of work every day, with the reports that these apps give out, you can figure out if you have worked for the target. If not, you have to up your game.

Follow a system like GTD - Getting Things Done

If you are working on a set of tasks and you want to know which ones to keep and which ones to prioritize, you should be following a system like Getting Things Done. My favorite is GTD and learned it through this book - Getting Things Done

I urge you to read the book and get to learn the technique. For most people, this system will work. If you feel that it's better to have another system that works for you, that's good as well. Follow whichever makes you more productive.

Track and Measure

The next step is for you to measure outcomes. Don't measure the number of tasks completed and any other vanity metrics. Just measure if you are having the desired outcomes. For me, its the following:

1. Chapters completed
2. Outlines are done
3. Research completed for future chapters

These metrics help me take the step forward and it does help me to go to the next steps of my future goals. Good advice is not to get stuck.

I hope these tips help you to achieve your goals quickly and better.

Thanks,

J

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