Going through the motions without burning yourself out
Time is a weird and limited aspect of our lives that we should always account for and it can be easy to lose track of it when trying to make long-term plans. It’s important to have a rough idea of what’s to come alongside your plan of approach for it but having some short-term plans and goals can help you reach whatever it is you’re looking forward to without much strife.
The future is unpredictable but you can circumvent that unpredictability by doing a little bit of planning for the following day or week and approaching work as it comes to you. You don’t need a highly detailed planner that breaks down your actions by the hour but writing down what needs to be done can help ease the burden of trying to remember everything. That would free up space in your mind to focus on the task at hand and tackle things efficiently. If nothing on your list has a set deadline then you can approach things by what’s most important to you and work your way down from there.
A planner (digital or physical) also brings the benefit of having a tangible checklist so you can get that wonderful sense of progress by checking it every so often. Having your week planned out on the weekend before it begins can make getting through each day easier.
Taking the time to write down everything you have to do once a week is also going to be less time consuming than if you set aside time at the end of each day to create a new list. This level of planning also brings the added benefit of being prepared since you’re less likely to forget about something if you have it written down and look at it consistently. It can also be an easily modifiable style in case something sudden comes up that needs your immediate attention.
Writing your day-to-day will see you noting errands or work that needs to be done but be sure to write down some space for your hobbies and interests as well. They may not be essential to what you’re doing daily but those tasks can be seen as ways to reward yourself for knocking a few things off your to do list. If not as a reward, then they can serve as breaks in an attempt to destress from the daily grind.
Seeing so many tasks checked off daily may also help improve your overall motivation which will carry into the other work that you’ll complete on the list. It creates a good feedback loop for getting work done without worrying heavily about what’s coming in the long run since that will eventually get pulled in the loop with everything else.
