The Key To Building Structure Into Your Day

This week, how do you build structure into your day so you stay focused on what is important?    Links: Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | Website The FREE Beginners Guide To Building Your Own COD System Carl Pullein Learning Centre Productivity Masterclass | Create Your Own Custom Workflow Carl’s YouTube Channel Carl Pullein Coaching Programmes The Working With… Podcast Previous episodes page Building a 21st Century Time Management System   Script Episode 138 Hello and welcome to episode 138 of the Working With Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein and I am your host for this show. So, you have yourself organised. Your to-do list is set up, your projects are being managed from your notes app and your calendar is serving you (rather than the other way round) but you are still struggling to get your most important work done each day. Why is it going wrong?  Well, that depends and that’s what I’m going to answer this week.  Now before get started, have you joined the time management revolution yet? Are you using the Time Sector System? If not, there a couple of ways you can join. The first, of course, is take the course. For just $49.99 you can learn everything you need to get started with this fantastic system.  If you're not ready to take a course, then don't worry, I have a comprehensive blog post detailing the outline as well as plenty of set up videos on my YouTube channel.  All the details are in the show notes.  Okay, it’s time for me now to hand you over to the Mystery Podcast Voice for this week’s question.  This week’s question comes from Sarah. Sarah asks: Hi Carl, one of the things I’ve always struggled with is getting my planning done each day. When I do plan (which, to be honest, is not often) I end up not following my plan and not getting my work done. Are there any tricks that you use that help you stay focused on your work? Hi Sarah, thank you for your question.  I find this is a common issue for many people when they decide they want to get themselves better organised and become more productive. Setting things up is generally quite easy. The motivation is high and you set aside time to do it. The issues arise once you begin implementing the process.  The problem here is that the process can be boring. And the habits haven't formed yet. So if you have not embedded the habit of planning the day the day before and setting up some structure into your day, your old habits will do their very best to prevent you from following your plan.  So step back for a moment and ask what one new habit would have the biggest impact on your time management?  This could be taking ten minutes at the end of the day and creating a plan of action in your calendar for the next day. Or it could be to focus your attention on collecting items into your to-do list manager—an important first habit to develop.  It’s really about establishing which 20% of your efforts will give you 80% of the results you desire.  If you try to change everything at once, all you need is one slip up and you feel everything has failed. And more importantly, trying to change everything all at once is hard. I would say it’s almost impossible because you are going to be constantly pulled back to your previous habits. Our brains hate change.  Change takes a lot of energy and we will resist it. You have to be determined to change and you have to focus on making that change. So make it easier for yourself and focus on one thing at a time.  So if you have never spent any time planning a day, it is something you are not used to doing, so at the end of a day, you’re tired and just want to crash out in your favourite armchair, you are not going to sit down with your laptop and spend ten minutes planning tomorrow.  That said, one simple way to start is to do two things. The first is to make sure you develop the habit of collecting everything. It does not matte