What's the best way to create a realistic routine for your workday?

Knowing where your time is currently going is key to creating a future plan that will work. A time audit can be a good method for that. But before you dig into the audit, be aware that on average people spend more than half their day dealing with communications (e-mail, phone calls, slack channel, chats, etc). So make sure you have a lot of room in your audit for that, especially if you are leader. You may have a lot of interruptions from your team, which isn't necessarily a bad thing - unless you are not accounting for them in your plan. After seeing where your time is going, you can make adjustments to better align your time with your goals and values.

Plan your day by prioritising your deliverables. No matter what your role, time management plays an integral role in your work day, if you’re not planning your day or managing your time effectively, it will always feel as if your day/s are not productive.

Assessing your current workday through time tracking or journaling is a great way to pinpoint areas for improvement in your routine. It's an essential first step towards creating a more productive and satisfying daily schedule

Daily preparation sets the foundation for a consistent routine. Do not let any hours on your calendar show as unplanned. This becomes a time vacuum that may cause you to react, disrupting your plans. Prioritize your tasks for that day and tie them back to your calendar. Identify the most important duties and commit yourself to getting those done. Any tasks left should be secondary or lower level priorities that can be shifted to a future date.

Never ever leave your Roots....... We learn, we preach, we practice from our Roots..... No matter life takes you, don't forget where you come from. Be so rooted in your being that nobody's absence or presence can disturb your inner peace......

Knowing what you want to accomplish and what your priorities are is key to creating an effective plan, not just a plan for plan's sake. To do this, you must first prioritize. There are many methods for prioritizing, but what is most critical is knowing that you have captured all your items before you begin. This way you set balls down, you don't drop them. Having a dedicated process for cataloguing all your inputs (emails, chats, texts, phone calls, etc..) is the critical first step to a successful prioritization process. The second key piece is to be honest. What can you get done in a day, what times of day are best for you to do this work. If you are a leader, what needs does your team have that you will have to meet?

é muito importante definirmos o que faremos, a prioridade do que temos que fazer, o esfor?o que cada uma destas coisas consumirá. Porém, mais importante do que tudo isso, é definirmos o que N?O faremos. Boa parte do tempo que gastamos, s?o com coisas que n?o s?o relevantes aos resultados. Outra coisa fundamental é investirmos nosso tempo em aprender a otimizar mais a nossa forma de trabalhar.

Absolutely, setting clear goals and priorities is crucial for a productive workday. Using the SMART criteria and the Eisenhower matrix are excellent strategies to ensure you're focused on what truly matters. It helps you work efficiently and stay motivated throughout the day

I like to chunk goals and priorities into smaller time buckets. Grab a piece of paper and create three columns: For the year For the quarter For the month

One last tip: to create a realistic routine be willing to embrace that life is messy and things don't always go as planned. When your realistic routine hits a hiccup allow yourself to stop, and reassess the plan. Take a look at what *you need to let go of* and what needs to be done next in order for you to salvage what you were working on, and perhaps more importantly, remind you of your worth and ability to continue on your path.

Consistency is earned when you show a commitment to getting into the right system and routine. It does not mean working all the time. Be intentional to plan the most important activities at the time when you are most productive. In addition, plan in formal breaks. You need to give your mind and body a reprieve to help you reset and be more productive.

Block your time! Take the tasks that are most important to you and the repetitive tasks that distract you from deep work and put them in your calendar into hourly or 15 minute chunks. Make sure to be realistic though as you don't want to set yourself up to fail, or if you do make it more optimistic then realise that this is your goal state and don't be too harsh on yourself.

Planning is essential, but having a contingency plan is what makes or breaks you. Knowing how to pivot and not panic when plan A falls apart, will separate you from your peers.

Planning (and adjusting) your routine manually can be time-consuming and feel daunting. Lean into tools that help you stay on top of your workday and relieve some of the hassles of planning. For example, Clockwise is a smart calendar assistant that uses AI to optimize meeting times across team members, creates blocks of uninterrupted Focus Time so you can dive into your to-do list, and helps minimize distractions by integrating with apps that could be breaking your focus and causing you to fall out of routine (yes, I'm talking about those non-urgent but constant Slack pings).

Prior to outlining routine, I like to assess total workforce. What are the cross functional teams working on? What can be delegated to my team? What is standing in the way of progress? Does my manager have alignment to what we are working on?

The ultimate test of a solid workday routine is whether you consistently complete your tasks in the right order and on time. In addition, you feel that you are controlling your calendar and not the other way around. To add a more detailed approach, track your time using any of a variety of free apps and ensure you are really allocating time in the right areas in the buckets you have allotted.

Your systems and processes will dictate your routines. If you feel that you have an unproductive routine, assess the systems and processes your routine is based around. For example, if you have to enter data into a spreadsheet or software daily, check to see if you are doing it in the most efficient way possible. Also, check to see if there are any automation options with your data tasks. By simplifying the process by which I entered data at my job, I was able to turn data entry from an end of the day ordeal to an input as I go habit. This altered my routine and allowed me to dedicate the end of my day to other activities. Routines are as much about the tools as they are the tasks. Master your tools to master your routine.

The best way to be flexible in my schedule is to add in that time in my schedule. Time to drive to/from the networking event. Time to focus, time to meet with clients, time to exercise - it all goes in my calendar. I don’t schedule clients or other meetings on Mondays so I can start my week off making headway on major projects. Then I block off Friday from 11am -4pm to handle any tasks I missed during the week because something unexpected came up. I block that time as GSD ‘get stuff done’. Expect that the unexpected will come up and plan flexible time for it.

80/20 rule is a good way to ensure you are reaching the right balances. Review the prior steps in 30 days time. Has progress been made? If not, need to re-evaluate, ask for more resources or gain alignment on more realistic expectations.

Testing is always a tried and true way to see what works and what doesn't, for you. Remember, some might like to stick to accomplishing tasks through what they read or see others doing, but testing and adjusting is highly individualized. Have 2 or 3 routines - they can each be 3 days long, a week long, or however long you feel you need to gain deep insight. Then, have something you can measure against it: - results of tasks completed - number of tasks completed vs. needed to be done - ability to get tasks done but still focus on other things if needed I found this helps the best - an A/B type test if you will!

Dwight Eisenhower said, “While plans are useless, planning is essential”. A routine is a plan against which you can compare the inevitable interruptions that will come your way. This is especially true of activities in your routine that are there to protect your mental, physical, emotional or spiritual well-being. Your routine is simply an intent - nothing more. You can move it around as much as you want - or need. Just avoid REmoving any part of your routine. There’s a reason you planned those activities - and if there isn’t a reason, remove them from your routine altogether.

The key is consistency. When you set a routine, give it time. Resist the urge to constantly change it because you don’t see immediate results. Combat impatience by setting mini-milestones within your routine. In today's fast-paced world, impatience can be our downfall. By sticking to a routine, you allow yourself the opportunity to see its true benefits unfold. Good things often take time.

Time control can often be a stumbling block to getting to the optimum routine. As you continue to prepare and then execute against any routine plans, you must also be able to assert control over your actions to continue to execute or go back and adjust your preparations.

As a group, there should be tollgates or check ins to keep everyone moving in the same direction towards the same result. Independent and group goals should be considered.

There will always be a perpetual to-do list that blends both personal and work duties. If possible, create recurring wind-up and wind-down tasks. Wind-up tasks get your mind energized and focused on the workday ahead and warm-down tasks wrap up the day's list that soothes your mind enough to turn work off for the day. BONUS: Set a calendar alert for clear working hours so that you can stay present with those you love or try a new hobby that’s not tied to work.

I have been using a very simple method for the last few months and it is working for me. At the end of the day,review your list for tomorrow and identify the top 3 tasks that need to get done. The following day I would start with those. If you have specific goals in mind to achieve, breaking them down to daily tasks is the best way.

If anyone is familiar with the idea of The Four Tendencies, I'm an upholder (which is the least common) of the type. Upholders are good about meeting both inner and outer expectations, and once given a task tend to finish early. They want to get things done, avoid mistakes, and be reliable. We like calendars, deadlines, and tracking apps. I think because of all this for the majority of my career, I've been one of the few people at any organization not running around like a chicken with its head cut off, or one that is always sighing in relief when the weekend comes as for the most part it takes a lot to overwhelm me.

Enter the importance of your core values, of knowing what is really, truly, deeply, important to you because this becomes the foundation of your goals, the plan, and your relationship with time through creating and maintaining boundaries which is absolutely key. However what’s really important is knowing and understanding how you work best, and then using this insight to create a routine that supports you. A 5am morning routine is only good if you’re a 5am morning routine person! Establish the routine that works for you, with values, with intention, with you at the heart of it.

Job requirements are ever changing and creating new work flows, building a rhythm to your day is key to both success and enjoyment. I like to set small goals for myself to feel accomplished.