Today Matters! 5 Proven Tips For An Effective Daily Plan.

The way you spend your day will determine the kind of life that you will have. We have to learn to work today for what we want to see tomorrow. Your today is a result of the actions you took yesterday. If today has such a big impact on our life, we have to learn to manage today. We have to learn to make the best out of today. Everything we do compounds ( the compound effect). Unless you win the lottery, you don’t just wake up a millionaire. A relationship does not just come to an end, small little things compounded lead to the outcome. “You don’t win the Olympic gold medal with a few weeks of intense training”, says Seth Godin. It’s the compounded effort over the years that counts. Today matters for you and me.

“Today Matters People create success in their lives by focusing on today. It may sound trite, but today is the only time you have. It’s too late for yesterday. And you can’t depend on tomorrow. That’s why today matters.”
John C. Maxwell, today Matters

One way you can make sure you get the best out of today is by planning ahead. When you know what you have to do it makes it easier for you to do it. I don’t know about you but the hardest part of making dinner for me is deciding on what to make. I find having a meal plan before I need to make my meals makes it easy for me to prepare them. The same applies to your day, It’s easy to have a productive day when you know what you need to accomplish that day. There is a famous quote by Winston Churchill that states that ” He who fails to plan is planning to fail”.

Table of Contents

5 Tips On How To Plan Your Day

Write it down

Writing helps with clarifying your agenda for that day. It also helps you analyze your tasks from the top priority to the least. When you write down your plans you will have a clear tracker of what you have archived and are still yet to archive. Don’t fall into the trap of planning in your mind and not writing down because the tasks are likely to slip through your mind during the course of the day. Set aside time, preferably the same time each day to write down your plan.

Plan The night before

Having something to work up to gives you the motivation to wake up the next day. Just like when you are looking forward to a trip, you wake up early and excited. Planning your day the night before will give you something to look forward to the next day and help win the battle of the bed.

Be flexible

Discipline is crucial, but do not be rigid with your plan. Make room for changes. Things may not always go as planned but the key is to be flexible and adjust your plans. Don’t hold on to your plan too tight that when it does not go your way, it sours your day. Stay at peace and be productive!

Use the time blocking method

The time blocking method is a way to manage your time effectively. It uses the technique of blocking off a period of time to complete a task. Instead of checking your emails every time you hear a ping on phone, you set aside time each day where you check your emails and social media. Time blocking will allow you to focus on one task at a time. So instead of having a list of the to-do list, you know the exact time block (eg 8-10 am) you want to perform the task.

Reflect

Reflecting at the end of each day will help you see where you need to improve, what you should to keep doing, and see how you can be more productive. Reflection helps you to realign your days with your bigger goals when you are going off-track.

I hope these tips will help your days become more productive. Remember today matters!