For two weeks I’ve been writing out a schedule for what I want to accomplish the next day before I go to bed, noting the time at which I intend to do something.
I’d give the technique a +9 so far as it has actually worked incredibly well for me in helping with my motivation problems, in fact in a couple days I felt more motivated to work than I can ever remember being before. I’m trying to change up my schedule and leave time for spontaneity to avoid having the plan become monotonous and it doesn’t feel that way so far. And the results I’m getting are great: I find I get about 95% of what I plan done when I have a specific time written down for when I’m supposed to do it as opposed to what I’d roughly estimate at 60% completion when I just have some general idea in my head of what to work on over the course of the day.
My theory for why this is working is that when I have a specific time to do something I feel as though I have to do it now or I’ve failed some test of willpower. If I just have general work to be done, it’s far too easy for me to defer to later, so that a lot of what was planned for doesn’t get done. I also feel like if I expect to brace my mind for dense technical learning I have a much easier time finishing the material instead of giving up and procrastinating on it halfway through.
I feel like this solution will work mainly for people who have more flexible schedules (as I do at the moment) but could still serve a purpose for anyone with a more rigid schedule who wants to be more productive in their free time.
but could still serve a purpose for anyone with a more rigid schedule who wants to be more productive in their free time.
I had quite a bad experience with this, but I think I’m permanently overcommitted, and often just don’t have time to do everything that I want/feel an obligation to do–and often I can’t tell the difference between “want to do X” and “feel obligated to do X”. Also, I have the lucky trait that I can usually get work done on demand, even if I’m exhausted, but I tend to abuse this and think it means I can get work done nonstop all the time. Which I can’t.
I don’t this this is a knockdown argument that this technique doesn’t work for me. It might well work in a different form. I’m still trying various things for personal free-time productivity.
I understand what you mean, and I’d suggest trying to keep different lists of time frames on which to accomplish your goals for free-time productivity so you know when you’ve done enough for a day. I’m usually able to guess reasonably accurately as to what I can accomplish in a given time frame though, as long as I stay motivated on a daily basis, which may be harder for others than it is for me.
On a daily level I try to think of about how productive I am on what I consider good days and try to equate that with what I’m working on any given day and plan to have a good day. Since I’ve been doing my daily schedule thing I haven’t had a day of poor motivation yet, which is tremendous as my motivation is usually temperamental as hell.
Not sure if that’ll help you at all, but I figured I’d throw it out there.
For two weeks I’ve been writing out a schedule for what I want to accomplish the next day before I go to bed, noting the time at which I intend to do something.
I’d give the technique a +9 so far as it has actually worked incredibly well for me in helping with my motivation problems, in fact in a couple days I felt more motivated to work than I can ever remember being before. I’m trying to change up my schedule and leave time for spontaneity to avoid having the plan become monotonous and it doesn’t feel that way so far. And the results I’m getting are great: I find I get about 95% of what I plan done when I have a specific time written down for when I’m supposed to do it as opposed to what I’d roughly estimate at 60% completion when I just have some general idea in my head of what to work on over the course of the day.
My theory for why this is working is that when I have a specific time to do something I feel as though I have to do it now or I’ve failed some test of willpower. If I just have general work to be done, it’s far too easy for me to defer to later, so that a lot of what was planned for doesn’t get done. I also feel like if I expect to brace my mind for dense technical learning I have a much easier time finishing the material instead of giving up and procrastinating on it halfway through.
I feel like this solution will work mainly for people who have more flexible schedules (as I do at the moment) but could still serve a purpose for anyone with a more rigid schedule who wants to be more productive in their free time.
I had quite a bad experience with this, but I think I’m permanently overcommitted, and often just don’t have time to do everything that I want/feel an obligation to do–and often I can’t tell the difference between “want to do X” and “feel obligated to do X”. Also, I have the lucky trait that I can usually get work done on demand, even if I’m exhausted, but I tend to abuse this and think it means I can get work done nonstop all the time. Which I can’t.
I don’t this this is a knockdown argument that this technique doesn’t work for me. It might well work in a different form. I’m still trying various things for personal free-time productivity.
I understand what you mean, and I’d suggest trying to keep different lists of time frames on which to accomplish your goals for free-time productivity so you know when you’ve done enough for a day. I’m usually able to guess reasonably accurately as to what I can accomplish in a given time frame though, as long as I stay motivated on a daily basis, which may be harder for others than it is for me.
On a daily level I try to think of about how productive I am on what I consider good days and try to equate that with what I’m working on any given day and plan to have a good day. Since I’ve been doing my daily schedule thing I haven’t had a day of poor motivation yet, which is tremendous as my motivation is usually temperamental as hell.
Not sure if that’ll help you at all, but I figured I’d throw it out there.