Hey so I stumbled onto something that I think might have changed my life. I say, "might", only because I just discovered it this week and time will tell how effective it is in the long term.
Time management has always been an area of opportunity in my life and now that I have the freedom to decide what I do, when and how long... I can get lost and accomplish far less than when I had a boss standing over me. It's just like time disappears.
Well this week I tried something so basic and so simple that anyone can do it. No excuses.
You know the little clock app on your phone or on your computer... the thing everyone has and overlooks... It has been a game changer. What I do is I set a timer for each task before I start it and what I found is that just setting the timer... gets me moving on things that I would procrastinate doing for weeks. Not only does the timer get me moving, but I use it to schedule my day.
You see, a full 8 hour day, if you do not have a boss, can run away from you. But if you're wise... segment your day into 1 hour blocks. Decide what you're going to do in that hour, set the timer and then go. When the timer goes off... look at your progress. It's a dopamine hit of accomplishment and achievement each time!
Its a game that really becomes so fun, but more importantly, productive.
I even use Ai as a quick place to take notes on my day. Tell it what im planning to do for that hour and then come back and share what happened. By the end of the day I have a list of everything that I did and whats next for tomorrow.
Let me know if you're going to try this or if you have other hacks that work for you.