time is like sand.
if you're not careful, it can slip through your hands leaving you wondering where it went.
and years if not decades can fly by without you having made meaningful progress on anything.
it's so easy to look back at a day, wondering what you have actually finished that was meaningful.
this is because distractions are all around us.
emails.
friends.
co-workers.
work that seems important but isn't. which, ironically is likely 90% of work for most people.
your average day is a good predictor of the quality of the work you do and the outcomes you achieve.
it's not enough to have an outstanding day once very few weeks.
just like james clear advocates:
we fall to the level of our system, not rise to the level of our ambition.
so if you're serious about your work and making real progress, you need to fix your time first.
there's no one-size-fits-all solution to this. but a few tactics that may help you.
starting your day with a morning ritual and spending a few minutes planning out your day consciously.
using a calendar to time box the 2-3 most important things which are non negotiable for that day.
not using your phone or any other social distraction for the first 2 hours of your day to do the most important thing first.
no matter what works for you, you need to figure out a solution to this problem.
because if you don't, you will never do anything great in your life.
essentially, there's 2 things you need to become good at.
1) identifying what is truly important.
2) arranging your day so the important thing gets done no matter what.
and don't make the mistake of confusing efficiency with effectiveness.
it's not about getting more things done.
it's about getting the right things done.
and to do this on >90% of your days.
you need to be in control of your time to become great at what you do.
