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One simple trick to get s**t done (Productivity Guru’s hate him 😛)

What?

Whenever I need to get something done I write it down.

Why?

When we write something down we commit to performing that action and our chances of success go up significantly (I tried to quote an exact number but can't find it 😵)

How?

I do this in multiple stages and granularities.

  1. Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, and Life goals: Notion
  2. Weekly planning: Custom SaaS
  3. Daily planning: Bullet Journal with Pen and Paper
  4. In the moment: Post-it notes (only one task at a time)

You don’t have to make it this complicated, I think just writing down a couple of long-term goals + planning your day to make sure it all aligns with your long-term goals, will get you the most out of it.

Thoughts

I think this is what makes “Building in public” so powerful and why you should at least consider it, not because you will build an audience but because it creates a sense of commitment and once you have the first successes rolling in you will benefit from another phenomenon, your self-image will begin to change.

You will become someone that “builds in public” or someone that “shares their learnings” and it becomes something natural that you want to do instead of something that you need to do because it’s popular.

This has helped me keep up with the things I share here every Sunday 🤙

## You

What do you do to “Get S**t Done“?

Further Reading

This concept is a combination of what I do and from the book Influence give it a read if this sounds interesting to you 🤙

  1. 1

    The stat I came across was that chances of successfully achieving something goes up by 25-40% when you write it down! I bet it's even higher when you write it down + share publicly but I don't think I've seen stats on that yet.

    1. 1

      Thanks, I could swear it was in the book I linked but I scanned it before writing this and couldn't find it, maybe I'll follow up with it when I summarize it or it was just a dream 🤔

      1. 1

        Haha yeah I hate it when that happens.

        I just searched some of my notes and found this snippet I had saved:
        "According to Psychology Today, research shows setting a specific goal makes you likelier to achieve the desired outcome. Yet another study by Gail Matthews revealed that participants who wrote down their goals were 33 percent more successful in reaching them."

  2. 1

    Hi Stefan,

    Pen and paper often feels a bit lo-tech but I suspect something happens between my brain and my hand that I don't get if I type something into a Trello board or onto a Notion page. There's just something more "solid" about pen and paper, maybe.

    As for getting things done: a Pomodoro app is my go-to. Here's why:

    If I have a busy day and I'm trying to get through my work, I tend to rush. Maybe it's because I'm thinking about the next thing I need to do and the next thing after that. Overwhelm creeps in and then a mild panic soon follows. However, if I set a task to a 45 minute Pomodoro, I can relax, take a breath, and know that I have 45 minutes to do that thing and only that thing. So, I end up taking my time and doing it properly.

    I've found the Pomodoro technique invaluable, not so much for simply getting things done - more for getting things done thoroughly and calmy.

    Pete.

    1. 1

      Hey Pete,

      yeah, I think you're right, I do like the haptics of pen and paper because I spent all day in front of my computer so it makes it something special but I don't think that you have to do it, different things work for different people and as long as you know what works for you, you're golden.

      Sounds like a good use of Pomodoro and you know yourself well. 🎉

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    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 2

      I also journal twice a day with pen and paper (morning and night) but usually, this is not about goal setting, etc so I didn't include it.

      It's more reflecting about my day what went good, bad, etc. but it really helps to clear the head

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