How I gave myself the energy and time to do so much in a day. I would say that I took Ali Abdaal’s Feel-good productivity book inspiration and many time management books, mixed them, and created my own system that works for me.
It goes something like this:
Every day, I do routine work—like audits, replying to emails, or something from my to-do list. Then I do something for work that is exciting and new. I do the same for home projects: routine tasks, like loading the dishes, plus something new. Sometimes it’s a very small thing, but I need that mental reassurance that I’ve moved slightly in that direction.
The same applies to blogging: routine plus something new.
And separately, I also have a daily “side quest”—one unexpected but urgent thing that could be mildly infuriating, but if you’re a gamer and call it a side quest, it becomes interesting.
For example, yesterday (photos in my instagram):
At work, I started a new audit with routine, boring document review, but I needed to spend some time on it; otherwise, it would become an indigestible piece. The new thing was looking at a new partnership proposal, and even though I didn’t sign it, it was something about future possibilities—a new, shiny, exciting thing to think about.
For home projects: routine—fill up fresh water for everyone. New and exciting—move the goats to a new pasture. And that’s where I got an unexpected side quest: a deer tick, which I sent for testing (we did it all the time in Siberia, and now I’m just curious about the local process—and because I love tests and data, it made that side quest really exciting for me 🤣).
Blogging: routine—drafting posts (80% of those posts will never be published). New and exciting—being at the Power of Possibilities conference during the Artemis program launch and experiencing that childlike excitement while watching the countdown together with a crowd.
Oh, I forgot to mention: my home routine task is watering all my poor houseplants, and the exciting task is mounting mezzanine climbing steps and installing two huge SUP board wall mounts—you can clearly see what is exciting and what is not for me 🤣
