Hey there —
Ever feel like you’re not quite reaching your potential… like your day is ruling you instead of you ruling your day?
I used to feel that way too. But not anymore — now, my sacred routines help me win every day.
JP Moses here, welcoming you to Part III of my mini-mindset blog post series about how you, too, can win your day.
In Part I, we talked about why we struggle with owning our days, what it actually means to win the day and how to start thinking proactively about winning each day. If you missed that lesson, make sure you check it out.
Then in Part II, I explained what tools I use and why they help me crush every single day. If you missed that lesson, you can check it out here.
Now, on to Part III — about remembering that your brain needs to spend some time thinking creatively, how to delegate, how to get your time back and more…
Beware of the To-Do List Drain
Every day I want to be contributing my highest and best value in everything I do. And I’ve found that a necessary ingredient for me to crush it each day is to preserve the time for myself to think.
You can have the right mindset and be using the right tools — and still end up totally stifled. You know what I mean. You have this super-busy, regimented approach to your day, and your brain has no time to be creative.
You’re cranking out tasks on your to-do list, but you know you’re not doing your best, and you’re not sure why.
I hated yardwork. I really hated yardwork. We have some acreage, so it takes me 3-4 hours once a week on a riding lawnmower to mow the lawn. (You can see why I hated yardwork.)
But I love yardwork now and here’s why…
I started a new routine of popping on my headphones and playing a podcast that gets my creative juices flowing. Now, I willingly extend my time doing yardwork. Every time I’m inspired by an idea I’m hearing, I stop the lawnmower, pull out my cell phone, and use the voice-to-text note feature to send my future self or colleagues an email about these new ideas.
It’s one of the most productive times of my week. In fact, my wife suggested I start mowing the lawn on a weekday because that time adds so much value to my work.
Yes, You Really Can Delegate More Efficiently
I want the details of my days to be as efficient as possible…
So, when I realized I was spending way too much time typing emails to my personal assistant or finding time to call her about tasks I wanted her to do, I knew I needed a solution.
That’s when I started using Voxer.
With Voxer, I found an efficient way to send her all those random thoughts that would hit me when I was busy or away from my computer.
As an example — I used Voxer to record a short message about what I wanted her to do. It was set up so that she didn’t get a notification when I added a new message — instead, she would check it first thing every morning. So it was efficient for her, too.
She knew exactly how I wanted her to handle certain tasks, I wasn’t disrupting her other work throughout the day and I spent less than a minute passing off most tasks to her.
For what it’s worth, you can also use similar apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc. for the same thing. Just pick one that you like and use it.
From Time-Suck to Seamless Teamwork
Another little task that really added unnecessary stress and took me off task was my receipts.
My wife does our personal bookkeeping and our company’s CFO does our company bookkeeping. But I have a job too: I keep track of my receipts. And it is a pain.
Well, it was a pain.
I still turn in receipts, but I can do it immediately with the Genius Scan app, from Google Play or Apple. When I get a receipt, I open the app, take a picture, which is then turned into a PDF, and I email it to either my wife or to our CFO.
Mental loop closed.
We even found a way to make this efficient for my wife. I set up a “receipts” subfolder in her Gmail account and made a rule that any emails from the app should be sent to that folder for her. So she doesn’t even have to see those emails until it’s time for her to process my receipts.
It’s a beautiful thing.
Commit to Your Commitments
But, you can do all the things I’ve talked about and still struggle…
You can think creatively, solve everyday problems with technology and make even small tasks ultra-efficient. But every day is a balancing act, with unexpected tasks and unexplored ideas. Ultimately, you need to decide to keep the commitments you make for yourself.
But that doesn’t mean you should be a slave to your schedule.
I had blocked out time recently to assess a product we were thinking about buying. When that blocked-out time came, I was in the middle of writing an email, and I was really firing on all cylinders. I had to decide whether to honor my commitment or to finish the email.
I found a 3rd option: I moved that block of time on my calendar to another open spot later in the day.
My personal rule is that when I’ve made a commitment to do something, I will do it or I will follow up in such a way that I won’t drop or forget about that commitment.
OK…
I’ve presented you with loads of ways to win your day the right way. Go back and review my previous lessons — Part I and Part II — in this mini-series so you, too, can take back your day and your schedule.
Win your day!