UXL Blog

If you’ve found yourself working from home all of sudden, you might be feeling disoriented or downright unproductive. This isn’t your typical workspace. This isn’t your daily routine. Now, you’re free to wake up later, work in your pajamas, and browse social media or watch TV without fear of someone catching you. Even the most disciplined of people may be having difficulties making the adjustment. How can you possibly put in a solid day’s work when you’re distracted by bad news and feelings of dread?

One of the most powerful ways to anchor yourself and increase your productivity is to establish your Goals + Routine.

This is a trick that work-from-home folks are quite familiar with. Set your goals (both your macro and micro-level goals) and fit them into a set routine. Just don’t forget to build some flexibility into your goals and routine because life happens. Maybe your son or daughter drops a stack of dishes. Or your boss requests an extra Zoom meeting. Or you hit some kind of snag in your current project.

Building flexibility into your Goals + Routine helps you navigate through the bumps in the road, rework your plan, and keep on moving.

How do you begin planning your Goals + Routine? Start with these steps:

1. Outline your big-picture goals

What things would you like to accomplish by the end of the year, or even further out? Which objectives will occupy a good chunk of your headspace and time over the next several months?

These objectives could be professional (finish a major project, earn a promotion, etc.) or personal (get in shape, read 25 books this year, learn a new language)

2. Break down your big-picture goals into smaller steps

What are a few steps you’ll need to take to reach your big-picture objectives? Think of these are your milestones.

3. Outline your quarterly goals

What smaller goals would you like to achieve? (This step is optional if it overlaps too much with Step #2).

4. Outline your weekly goals

This is HUGELY important. When people make a to-do list, they are often thinking of THAT day, and not the week as a whole. By laying out what you’d like to accomplish this week, you allow some room for flexibility.

5. Outline your weekly STRETCH goals

If you are highly productive and everything goes according to plan this week, what could you accomplish? If you don’t hit your stretch goals, don’t beat yourself up; if you do reach them, celebrate!

6. Outline your daily goals

Start your day by creating a to-do list. Include both personal and professional goals you’d like to achieve today. If you have any time-sensitive commitments, be sure to include those first, and then work around them with other tasks. It can be helpful to add a timeframe for these tasks (i.e. work on a proposal for one hour, go jogging for 45 minutes, etc.)

7. Establish your routine

Once you’ve finished your goal-setting (keep in mind that the daily and weekly goals will be continuous), write up a daily routine for yourself. Your mornings are particularly important for setting yourself up for a good day.

PRO TIP: Include both the things you DO want to do and the things you do NOT want to do. Here’s an example:

DAILY ROUTINE:

• 6:30 a.m: Wake up
• 6:45-7:15 a.m. Do yoga/stretching
• Get dressed, make coffee, and eat a healthy breakfast
• 7:30 a.m: Check and reply to emails
• 8:30 a.m: Write out daily task list
• 12:30 p.m: Break for lunch
• 3:00 p.m: Take the dog for a walk
• 5:30 p.m: Start wrapping up work
• 6:30 p.m: Make dinner
• 8:30 p.m: If the day did not go according to plan, use an hour or two at night to do work I meant to do earlier.

DO NOT:

• Stay in pajamas
• Snack throughout the day
• Forget to write my daily to-do’s
• Neglect to move around
• Get frustrated by distractions
• Neglect to connect with others

To help you prepare your Goals + Routine, I’ve created the following printable handout. Enjoy!

Tags: achieve goals, goal setting, margaret smith career coach, Margaret Smith life coach, productivity and COVID-19, quarantine routine, self-improvement during quarantine