I remember late December, I kept on telling myself that 2020 will be an amazing year; a year of clear vision; a year of execution. Little did we all know, 2020 would be a significant year in everyone’s life. It has come to a point that we are all cornered into our own personal cages.
Since we can’t go outside, let’s make this lockdown a time of preparation instead. This will be a time of making this setback into a setup. We have to come out of this as better and well-prepared people.
Let’s start with chores
Before we talk about specific things to do, it would be best to list down first all the chores that you have to do like cleaning your room or doing all the laundry. These will be the first things that we should act on since, in the future, these will also be the usual distractors when we’re trying to do something productive.
When we’re usually about to start to do something productive, there’s always a chore that pops up and prevents us from being productive. We end up doing the chore, get tired afterward. We then rest. The productivity task will be pushed back or worse, be forgotten after making rest the next priority.
Create a list
After all the chores are done, get a notebook and a pen. Sit down. Put your headphones on and turn on your Lo-Fi playlist for the background. Start writing down all the things that you think is important for you. It could be work-related or things you want to do for a long time. Don’t forget to set a timer for 5 minutes. Why 5 minutes? With the time pressure, most of the time, the things that we think are important are the ones that we first write. The pressure somehow filters out some of the unimportant and unnecessary things.
One thing that could be done is to follow my refresh plan. It’s easy to remember. Just look at your keyboard and look at the refresh button which is F5. These will be our key areas in creating our lists. The 5 F’s of the refresh plan are Finance, Fitness, Faith, Future, and Family. Within the time limit, write as many as you can in all the key areas.
An example list would be something like:
Finance:
- Create a budget
- Pay bills
- Set up payment automation
Fitness:
- Exercise daily
- Create meal plan
After everything is written, rank the key areas based on priority. If you just added it all in one big list, it’s fine. Re-write it from the most important to the least one. This will be necessary for the next step.
Schedule it all
Since we already have the list, we start creating a schedule for all the tasks. The first thing to the plot is the usual stuff that is non-negotiable like work hours and mealtimes. We then add the priority tasks. We could put those before or after work hours. Also, it is important to really put a timestamp for it so that it is easier to follow.
Since most of the time we will be staying in our homes, we have to make sure that we put our bath and exercise time pre-work. It will be easy for us to get lazy if we do it late in the afternoon. Also, it’s uncomfortable not feeling refreshed. It would be a distraction throughout the day. Doing these tasks early would also give us the drive that we are being productive.
On a side note, after taking a bath, wear something casual or something that is not used as sleeping clothes. This is to put us in a mindset that we are off to work.
Learn or Earn
Some of the tasks would be a one-time thing and the schedule spot is already vacant. This would be the best time to learn something new. Probably a skill that we’ve been wanting to learn. And if you’re reading this, most likely is that you have the means to connect to the internet. The internet will be our teacher. Because of the current crisis, there are a lot of sites that provide free courses in different fields.
Aside from learning, it is also the best time to plan out and set up the businesses that we can do during and after this crisis. One thing that we can look for is business ideas that can be done remotely or services that can be provided regardless of whether there is a lockdown. Set out a plan and if possible execute the business idea. It is also the best time to connect with people who we can consider mentors or people who can guide us with our goals and ambitions.
Some of our friends would be watching shows and sharing their watchlists nowadays. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with that. I even urge you to include a portion of your schedule for this for entertainment. I think it would be better for us to share as well our productivity lists alongside our watchlists. Putting out for everyone also gives us a sense of accountability. Lastly, it may inspire also others to do the same.
The main idea of setting up all of these is that we coming out of this lockdown a better person. Better. Faster. Strong. Knowing also that we’ve put all of these on a schedule, we aim to turn these tasks into habits; not a one-time thing.
To end this thought, I give you this question.
Which would you prefer to be called, watched 200 hours of Netflix Guy or Better Faster Stronger guy?
You decide.
