The Perfect Day

Some good ideas on prioritizing and scheduling in How to Have the Perfect Day by Bruce Harpham at Life Hack

How can we make our work days more effective? The specific details will like vary depending on your industry and responsibilities, but there are still universal hacks we can all apply.

The infographic below suggests a number of excellent ways to perfect your work day. Let’s explore a few of the important ideas. Sleep sets the foundation, so make sure that you get 7-9 hours per night. When you cut sleep time, everything in life and work becomes more difficult.

Next, exercise before work because daily exercise improves your performance at work. Take small breaks throughout the day – no matter what work you do, breaks are important (for more tips like this, read: 21 Counter-Intuitive Break Ideas to Boost Your Productivity at Work).

Early in the day, choose one difficult task to get done – completing the hardest work done early makes the rest of the day will be easier to handle. And to finish the day on a strong note, record daily wins.

After all, the perfect work day has at least one win – an accomplishment that you are proud of. Take a few minutes to write down your wins in a journal at the end of the day (or in Evernote).

What if you want to improve your work day even more? Simply add two more habits to your routine: generate ideas and adopt a robust problem solving strategy. Developing new ideas at work makes you stand out from others who simply go through the motions, so take the time to generate new ideas on a regular basis.

Next, solve problems effectively by applying a problem solving strategy to all those surprise requests you keep receiving from your boss and other people.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the all the suggestions. Do yourself a favor and start small – pick just one idea and put that into action.