I believe maximizing your day is the secret to maximizing your life. Who wouldn’t want to get the best out of every single day. I don’t know about you, but that would be pretty cool. A day is just 24 hours, that is 1440 minutes. On initial analysis, it would seem like a lot, but when you realize on the average, you lose a quarter of the time to sleep, an eighth to eating, and another eight to doing things you really can’t account for, you realize you’ve just lost half the day. The question then should be how we spend half a day.
Okay. Let us get past the shock that our 24 hour day just shrunk to 12 hours (as per my earlier analysis). How do we make the most of the hours we are not sleeping, eating or doing stuff?
How To Maximize Your Day
MAKE A TO-DO LIST. This might be the commonest advice you would get on the subject, but it doesn’t take anything away from its effectiveness. There is almost no joy experienced as when you tick off a task from your to-do list. It is advisable to keep the list practical and measurable. Break down the task to achievable steps. Don’t muddle up many tasks into one; break it down to an indivisible minimum.
PACE YOURSELF. The secret here is going at a pace you can sustain. Think of your day like a marathon. No sane person sprints during a marathon; that is a recipe for failure. Attack your task at a pace you can sustain so that you don’t burn out.
DEVELOP A SYSTEM OF APPROACH. This is closely related to pacing yourself, but here you decide what kinds of task you want to undertake during certain times of the day. I usually solicit you do your more creative works during the times of the day when you are your freshest, and your more physical work when you feel the brain needs a break. Discover when your perform your best at certain kinds of tasks.
TAKE BREAKS. Breaks are not signs of laziness, they are the tools of the hardworking. Breaks provide a time to refresh and refuel. Another dimension of taking breaks is discovering how best to break. Taking naps, reading a book, watching a show or listening to some music; you must discover your shortest route to a relaxed and refreshed mind and body.
CELEBRATE YOUR WINS. Take some seconds to celebrate as you tick off every completed task. Celebration, and joy, is known to release endorphins that relieve the feelings of stress, frustration and even pain. Enjoy your victories!
USE REMINDERS. If they work for you, use reminders. I have alarms on any device that I can get it on. I might wake up minutes before the alarm goes off, but it’s a safety measure to have the alarm set for those mornings your bed seems a little too comfortable to get out of.
RE-EVALUATE AT THE END OF THE DAY. I highly recommend you go through your list to see if anything was left undone. Determine why it couldn’t be done, and fashion out a way to work around the roadblock tomorrow. Don’t move anything you can do today to tomorrow. Do all you can today.
KEEP THE BIG PICTURE IN VIEW. Your day is just a small part of a much bigger picture—your life. Make sure everyday moves you closer and closer to your desired future. Make every minute count.
The most important secret to maximizing your day is not getting through all your tasks as much as it is creating a balance between your work and relationships, especially your family. It is not strange if your include spending quality time with your loved ones in your to-do list. It helps engrain it in your being. One day is not just another 24 hours; it is a step in the direction of your purpose. Maximize it.
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