How to plan the work to get the most out of every day

Digging Nokia has developed the design system of the day, based on the principles of design thinking. Planning begins with a conscientious objection to the idea that you can just work.

Regular meetings, buzz messages and calls create the illusion of productivity. It seems that a lot of you have time, while really done enough.

You are more productive when clear about what you are doing, when and why. This allows you to reach personal and professional goals and to be focused and efficient without excessive force.

Multitasking - is a myth.

In fact, we are working on the basis of consistent focus, and the focus may be only a limited number of ideas. Perform complex tasks - is to solve a lot of small turns. Focus - is the most precious, because we are easily distracted.

How to manage your day

Keep track of time and energy

Days and hours are relatively easy plan. However, the calendar does not show how much energy you need for a meeting or a training strategy. Consider both of these parameters.

The key to maintaining performance - part of the recovery. Rest helps to be in shape. This is true for physical and mental work. To save and store energy, use the following tips.

• Take breaks. Short break in the hard work to help stay focused longer. The trick is to find the best rate for different types of tasks. Often to exercise, move around the office or go out for a walk.
• Work in the stream. Focus on one task or a series of such instructions, so as not to expend energy to switch between themes.
• Get enough sleep. Good sleep is essential to be energetic.
• Watch out for power. Proper diet with regular healthy snacks help save power.
• Arrange a weekend. Holidays and long holiday promote energy accumulation.

checklists

They will allow to focus on priorities and not to keep in mind several objectives. adjust checklists during the day, to assess their relevance and decide what to do next.

Make friends with GTD

The now classic time-management system Getting Things Done by David Allen brought the idea of ​​a perfect way to list all control. The technique requires the setting and discipline. Recommended study its detail, but we give a few key points.

• Observe the rule of two minutes. If there is a task, which will leave only a couple of minutes on your list, choose it immediately.
• Ask yourself, what's next. To develop a large project may soon be too difficult. This will bring up in your mind block. Instead, the task "Make a presentation," add the check-list "Prepare performance plan" or "Begin to explore the issue."
• Make weekly reviews. Periodically take the time out to make out the mess in the tasks, mailboxes and lists.
• Dive into the stream. At the individual level, this Search the most effective way for himself the task - a kind of personal production line.

Delegate their tasks

It seems very easy to allow other people to solve them for you. However, you do need to be able to give clear tasks and be disciplined. This is often discouraged.

personnel outsourcing concept popularized by Tim Ferris in his book "How to work 4 hours a week and do not hang around in the office "from bell to bell" live anywhere and prosper». The author notes that you should be excluded from the plan of your day tasks that anyone can do you less.

the habit

When you decide to repetitive tasks, the brain spends less energy. Identify things that you have to perform repeatedly in an automatic mode, and turn them into daily rituals.

Plan your life, not just work

Idea the balance work and life is causing some concern. It seems that these concepts are in opposition. In fact, the scope of unearned supports working and at the same time makes demands on you. You should make sure that your time and energy to everything that's important to you.

The concept of balance is not easy. Sometimes you have completely given to the work to open more opportunities or to respond to the crisis. This is normal and necessary. But if you are designing a few days, then you know that the work may displace family communication, society, exercise only briefly. We need to ensure not only a variety of food, but also to develop various types of activities - communication, games, exercise, focus, and others.

Put specific goals

Correctly decide what to look for and how to allocate resources much easier if you have a clear goal.

Set goals - not just a good life advice. It is relevant to your efficiency every day. Understanding why you go to work, reduces anxiety and makes you more productive.

Increase productivity with design thinking

Think about today, as a prototype. What would you change?

Tim Brown, co-founder of IDEO

Tim Brown popularized the application of the principles of design thinking in solving business problems and in everyday life.

• Create favorable conditions. This means having the right people around, the necessary atmosphere and the right tools at hand.
• Learn from mistakes. They are vital in the search for the best solutions. When plans go awry, think about what can be learned from this experience and improve next time.
• Limit yourself. We believe that creative minds are not able to work within. In fact, they crave established structure within which you can be creative. If you have limited work and personal life, then in the planning of the day to develop creative and strategic thinking.

Nokia has developed a set of tools planning, based on the ideas of design thinking. They bribe the fact that it is not in favor of any particular scheme, and asked to choose a specific approach for the preparation of his schedule.

watch

To plan your day, you first need to understand how you work. This can be harder than it seems because it requires rigor.

• Keep a work diary a few days. Write down what you do every hour. Specify your emotions and energy levels.
• Schedule for the day. Keep track of how you practice it.
• Describe the good and bad day. Based on his notes or from memory. What does not work? What's stopping you? And vice versa.
• Be impartial. Analyze your actions somewhat detached. For example: "I wonder why I leave the windows open all the time?"
• Write about yourself. What you are doing well, when it happens, what you need for a good job? When things go wrong? What are the habits you are useful and which hamper?
• Get feedback. Ask colleagues to share their impressions of you. Do employees feel you are well organized, happy, efficient? What you could improve your performance? Tell us about yourself and ask if colleagues agree.

prioritize

The more you go back to it, so can be more effective. When things get crazy and you are not sure what will happen next, take a timeout. Designate or revise their priorities.

How to plan your day

The key idea is not to just turn the big life. It is to daily change something and to learn from their failures.

Start the morning with a set of questions:

• What I want to accomplish today?
• What do I need to do?
• How much time do I have?
• Where should I be?

Your objective in the planning of the day - a steady performance.

Lists will prompt you what to do, calendars - when. To all of this work together, combine similar tasks and buckshot. It is much easier to close one easy question than to develop a part of the larger project.

Now, when you watch them and know when your energy level is high, who you are - a night owl or an early bird, You are ready to correct the distribution of tasks. In addition, it is necessary to control interruptions and spend time physical activities and socializing with friends.

Protect your day

By investing time and concentration in planning, protect yourself from the temptation to return to bad habits. Removing unnecessary tasks, you won the minutes and hours that are easy to waste on other things. Chaos in the world as a whole may be too great to ignore.

Nobody works in a vacuum. Situations change, and your plan should be flexible enough to evolve with them. Here are a few guidelines that can help you save your schedule.

• Prevent the possibility of escape. In his book "Think slowly resolved quickly ..."Psychologist Daniel Kahneman says that the best way to give yourself to switch attention - is to stop the chain of events as soon as possible.
  If you have something to ask when you are busy, say so and offer to transfer the call. To ignore the noise in the office, you can use headphones or have a job in a cafe, conference hall, recreation room.
  Turn off notifications, applications and programs that are not needed for the task. Look at all posts, download the files you need before you get started. If you are not waiting for an urgent call or letter, select the phone airplane.
• Manage meetings. Any team they help keep in touch, share ideas and plans. However, if the meeting does not coordinate, they are tightened, disorganized, distracted from the business, rather than supporting it.
• Work with e-mail. Allow time for checks your mailbox and do not be tempted to do it every few minutes.
  Everyone has to find what works for him. But quicksort morning urgent messages and reply with the suppression of the desire to respond to non-urgent and subsequent targeted cleaning mailer - that's the recommended approach.
• Declare e-mail bankruptcy. If your mail 10,000 unread messages, the concept of "Inbox" becomes rather pointless. I must admit that, probably, you have lost control over your e-mail. Possible solution - remove everything and start over.
• Achieve zero outside. David Allen believes that the mailboxes are not surrogate task lists or file storage. Working with the letters should be constructed as follows: Reply, Forward, delegated, received information deleted or retained for later reading. When you have a 0 inbound messages will never be forgotten.

On what principles you can rely on, when the world is falling apart

• Check the target. You should make sure that the project of the day is your task. To what you want to achieve in your work.
• Improve prototypes. Every day is a prototype, and you learn from mistakes and failures, and not to faint.
• Prioritize. When things change, and you are not sure in the future, go back and revise them.