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Abstract

hat my first time around would be like today, I relied on my experience of similar days in the past.What would I change if I could live through the same day twice?<ul><li>Meditate more</li><li>When I get distracted, taking a break, getting up, and going for a short walk around the home</li><li>Stand more (I have a standing desk so why not?)</li><li>Read more</li><li>Spend less time on my smartphone</li><li>Spend more quality time with my partner and my family</li></ul>And similarly, I asked myself the related question:What would I do today if I did not want to have any regrets?<ul><li>Journal</li><li>Exercise</li><li>Write and publish an article</li><li>Think of 10 ideas (challenge my idea muscle a la James Altucher)</li><li>Note one interesting idea I learned</li></ul><h2 id="728c">What I did with my answers</h2>After writing out my answers, I had a better idea of what I wanted to focus on, both in terms of the systems I use to do work, and the routines I wanted to do every single day.Routine: Every day, I know that if I read, journal, exercise, write, spend time with my partner, and take notes of interesting ideas, I will set myself up for long-term success (each of those activities is like an investment — they will compound and grow).Systems: Systems is an interesting subject I’ll have to explore more in future articles. But essentially, my system, no matter how much work I have, or what meetings/commitments I have scheduled is to:<ul><li>Take out my planner</li><li>Get my morning mindset primed for productivity and work (I use Brendon Burchard’s High-Performance Planner, but all you really need is a n

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otebook).</li><li>Review my schedule (I will transfer everything in my digital calendar into the planner)</li><li>Think about, with a view to the meetings that day, and things happening later in the week or month, what I need to get done today</li><li>Write 2–3 tasks I need to do today. These are the tasks that, if I get nothing else done, I’d be happy to complete. If I write over three tasks, I’ll likely have to copy those tasks over to the next day.</li><li>Block out time in my calendar for those 2–3 tasks. I write when I want to work on those tasks, and how much time I think it will take.</li><li>In the evening, I go back and check off what I completed, but I also note down how accurate my estimates for my tasks were.</li></ul>Considering my system, and the answers I gave for what I would do differently if it was my second time living through the day, I realized a few things:<ul><li>Schedule time for meditations (the busier I feel, the more I need to block time off for meditation)</li><li>To eliminate distractions, I leave my smartphone away from my desk (and out of the office) if I can.</li><li>Working from home means my schedule is more flexible — if I have free blocks of time, then I like to take a break by spending time with my partner.</li></ul><h2 id="af8c">Final thoughts</h2>Your answers to the question will certainly differ from what I said — it will depend on your work (whether you are self-employed, working as an employee, contractor, etc.), your family, where you work, and many other factors. But it’s interesting to consider how you would change your day if you lived through it a second time. And especially interesting when you haven’t lived through the day the first time.</article></body>

One Powerful Question to Ask Yourself at the Beginning of the Day

An interesting koan-like question to help you have a more productive day

Have you ever got to the end of the day and wonder where your time went? Or realize that you didn’t get as much done as you had wanted to at the beginning of the day? If I was being honest with myself, I have had many of those days.

But lately, I have had more productive days. And it all came from a simple question I learned from Donald Miller’s book Business Made Simple. In case you haven’t read the book, you can get access to his videos for free without purchasing the book.

The question is koan-like. It’s a question that, on the surface, feels like one you can’t immediately answer. It’s a question you have to ponder about for a long time. That question:

“What would I do today if it was my second time living through this day?”

My initial reaction

I remember the first time I got to my work desk in the morning and asked myself this question. I haven’t lived through this day, so how would I know what I would do the second time around? But another way to ask the same question is, “what would I do today if I did not want to have any regrets?”

With no experience of what my first time around would be like today, I relied on my experience of similar days in the past.

What would I change if I could live through the same day twice?

Meditate more
When I get distracted, taking a break, getting up, and going for a short walk around the home
Stand more (I have a standing desk so why not?)
Read more
Spend less time on my smartphone
Spend more quality time with my partner and my family

And similarly, I asked myself the related question:

What would I do today if I did not want to have any regrets?

Journal
Exercise
Write and publish an article
Think of 10 ideas (challenge my idea muscle a la James Altucher)
Note one interesting idea I learned

What I did with my answers

After writing out my answers, I had a better idea of what I wanted to focus on, both in terms of the systems I use to do work, and the routines I wanted to do every single day.

Routine: Every day, I know that if I read, journal, exercise, write, spend time with my partner, and take notes of interesting ideas, I will set myself up for long-term success (each of those activities is like an investment — they will compound and grow).

Systems: Systems is an interesting subject I’ll have to explore more in future articles. But essentially, my system, no matter how much work I have, or what meetings/commitments I have scheduled is to:

Take out my planner
Get my morning mindset primed for productivity and work (I use Brendon Burchard’s High-Performance Planner, but all you really need is a notebook).
Review my schedule (I will transfer everything in my digital calendar into the planner)
Think about, with a view to the meetings that day, and things happening later in the week or month, what I need to get done today
Write 2–3 tasks I need to do today. These are the tasks that, if I get nothing else done, I’d be happy to complete. If I write over three tasks, I’ll likely have to copy those tasks over to the next day.
Block out time in my calendar for those 2–3 tasks. I write when I want to work on those tasks, and how much time I think it will take.
In the evening, I go back and check off what I completed, but I also note down how accurate my estimates for my tasks were.

Considering my system, and the answers I gave for what I would do differently if it was my second time living through the day, I realized a few things:

Schedule time for meditations (the busier I feel, the more I need to block time off for meditation)
To eliminate distractions, I leave my smartphone away from my desk (and out of the office) if I can.
Working from home means my schedule is more flexible — if I have free blocks of time, then I like to take a break by spending time with my partner.

Final thoughts

Your answers to the question will certainly differ from what I said — it will depend on your work (whether you are self-employed, working as an employee, contractor, etc.), your family, where you work, and many other factors. But it’s interesting to consider how you would change your day if you lived through it a second time. And especially interesting when you haven’t lived through the day the first time.