This one trick can help you reenergise, plan and set priorities

This one trick can help you reenergise, plan and set priorities

via Fast Company by Thomas Peng-Zapier

It is very, very easy to get lost in the day-to-day. There’s always some fire to put out, or some recurring task that needs doing, which makes it hard to focus on big-picture stuff.

This is what a Quarterly Think Day is all about. The idea is to take time and space to reflect, learn, and prioritize for the next three to six months. I learned about this concept from Jessie Link, VP of Engineering at Twitter, at a LeadDev Together conference session on personal development.

I decided to try it out. I found it a good way to prioritize, think strategically, and re-energize. I’m going to talk about what I learned, but first, let’s talk about how to plan your own Quarterly Think Day.

WHAT TO DO ON A QUARTERLY THINK DAY

The name kind of explains it: once a quarter, you take an entire day to think. What about? This time is for asking yourself some critical questions.

  • What’s important to me?
  • What are all the things I need to get done?
  • Where do I want to be six months from now?
  • What must I do?
  • What should I do?
  • What can I delegate?
  • What do I want to do?

Don’t do anything other than think about these questions, and make sure you do that completely offline. Yes: computers are nice. You will have plenty of time to use them later. Today is about thinking, and computers have a tendency to distract you from that.

So use Post-its, Sharpies, and index cards. Draw on your window, if it helps. Just take the time to be alone with your thoughts.

A FEW STEPS FOR PLANNING AHEAD

You probably can’t just disappear from work without any planning, and you need to make sure this day is productive. Here are a few things you should do before your Quarterly Think Day so that everything goes smoothly…

… keep reading the full & original article HERE