Author Dan Pink shares a simple but certainly effective productivity hack here—start by identifying the day’s MIT (Most Important Task), and do that first. No emails, social media, organizing, etc. Just get the Most Important Task done.
But most students (and a lot of adults) don’t have the option of embracing this strategy. You’ve got school, activities, and other commitments that can’t necessarily be rearranged, no matter how much you might like to dive in and complete your MIT before doing anything else.
If that sounds like you, consider author Tim Ferriss’s secret to getting things done (the full description is here on his blog):
- Identify the 3-5 things that are causing you the most stress.
- For each item, ask yourself, “If this were the only thing I got done today, would I be satisfied?”
- Pick one of the yeses, block out the necessary time, and attack it.
While they take slightly different approaches, both techniques share the same overarching strategy–whatever is causing stress, or whatever just plain needs to get done, you’re more likely to complete it if you make a plan of when and how to do it. Don’t just promise to “get to it.”