I just wanted to take this time to ask you one simple question.
Photo by David Kadavy (flickr)
What did you do today?
Right now it’s about 3:30pm in the afternoon. In California, it’s 12:30pm. Depending on where you live, it might be sooner or later in the day.
But, wherever you are, pause for a minute to ask yourself this question – because it might shed some light as to how productive (or not very productive) your day was so far. Did you get anything done yet today? If so, what did you do? If not, what held you back?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Because think about this: Depending on whether or not you wasted the precious hours that lead up to this point, what do you plan to do tomorrow? Will it be another repeat of today?
Just something to consider. 
I’m glad you posted this today, as it’s been the best day in weeks for me! I fixed my [other] blog layout, got in touch with the members of my team to coordinate our tasks, finished mapping my soon-to-be-updated blog layout. Also got in touch with a friend in Europe who I’m traveling with for 2 weeks. And there’s still time left!
I think the trick was focusing on what were the most important tasks, not the most urgent things that may not have mattered. I can only hope tomorrow is as good as today has been.
Hey AJ,
I’m glad your day went well! Now, you just need to make tomorrow just as good, if not better.
And that’s exactly right – focusing on important tasks, rather than urgent ones can make all the difference in how effective you are throughout the day.
Thanks for sharing!
Christina
Thought I should follow this one up. I’m on a hot streak right now! This is probably the most organized I’ve been in years. I know exactly what to do for my blog, InfoBarrel, and the 5Currencies site for the next week at a bare minimum. Momentum can be a wonderful thing.
Hehe, that’s awesome AJ! Keep that momentum going.
Christina
Today was a day of ups and downs. I accomplished less in terms of up-front article writing, but got a lot more done than I planned on my own blog and revenue share projects. I suppose it all evens out in the long run, but I need to flip it around tomorrow to get this week’s pay in line with next year’s income potential. I’m glad you posted this question. I’m beginning to realize that I need a definite schedule, with hours set aside for each task in my day. Thanks for getting me thinking!
Hey Ann!
Now that you know what you were doing wrong (you didn’t have a schedule), now you can start getting all of those tasks done and articles written tomorrow.
I’m glad this article helped make you think.
Best of luck on your work routine!
Christina
I did nothing new, same routine work. Sometime I think to do something extraordinary but this all comes to an end by thinking what I should do??
Hey Shailender,
Heh, well, I’ve found that keeping all of my ideas in a mind map (try Mind Meister) has done wonders for my online business. I never run out of things to write about and I can always stay on task.
You should definitely try it whenever you get stuck. Just write your main idea or goal in the middle of the mind map. Then, branch off with tasks or other ideas that connect to your main goal. In this case, you can branch off by thinking about what tasks to do that will lead you to your main goal of the year.
Christina
Hey Christina,
Not all days are as productive as you might expect them as usually things popup and you can continually find yourself weaving in and out of projects, the whole challenge is keeping organized and focused.
Have a great day!
Hey Dan,
You’re right; not all days are productive. But they can be if you can stay focused on one project at a time and ignore distractions. In fact, you shouldn’t be weaving in and out of projects. Every time you start a project, it takes you some time to get focused on what needs to be done and get “in the zone.” If you’re constantly starting new projects or switching between projects, that can eat up quite a lot of initial time.
This is why I wanted to ask everyone what they did today. It would get them thinking about whether they were being productive with their time and, if not, how they can be productive tomorrow. So, if you found that you weren’t productive, ask yourself why and then think of ways you can instead be productive tomorrow.
Christina
Well let’s see, at the moment it’s 2:30pm over here in England. I’m posting my daily round of blog comments. And here’s what I’ve done:
- Exercised for 45 minutes
- Seen 2 guest posts get published
- Sorted my clothes out for tonight
- Been for a walk
- Had a shave
- Planned my next post for unlockthedoor
Not bad so far. But it’ll get better tonight, when I’m onstage performing for charity
Hope you’re good Christina!
Awesome Stuart!
Man – I definitely envy you. I’ve always wanted to visit England! I absolutely love the accents there. England and Scotland (I happen to be part Scottish!)
And it sounds like your morning went well so far – Definitely better than mine! I ended up waking up late. It’s now 10:14am and I’m drinking my morning coffee. :/
Good luck with tonight!
Christina
You’re part Scottish! Cool stuff, how much so?
I’ve been told I have a heavy regional accent, so good luck understanding me if we ever talk face-to-face!
Thanks for the kind words, the performances went really well. I sang “Pick A Pocket Or Two” from Oliver, good receptions on both nights.
Hope you’re good
Haha, that’s awesome Stuart! I’m glad the receptions went well.
I actually have a “mild Boston accent,” or so my boyfriend says. I didn’t even realize it until several years ago, heh. But I grew up around the Boston area, so I guess it makes sense.
As for my nationality, I’m actually a Mutt. On my father’s side, I’m Scottish, French, British, Native American, and Irish. On my mother’s side, I’m African American and Native American – so I’m part of two Indian tribes (though I can never remember which). My little brother is fascinated with Indians though, so he’s sure to know.
So, I guess I’m 17% Scottish? Never understood how that works. >_<
Christina
I would say about 15-20% Scottish, which is more than me; I’m 100%, pure grade English! My grandparents were all English, so I don’t have any long-distance family members to visit
Well, I don’t either.
All of my relatives live in the states. Anyone else who might have lived outside the US are long gone.
Christina
i am in Egypt but any where i will be always in my blog
it is all the life for me
nice post
Thanks!
I’m glad you’re passionate about your blog.
Christina
Hi Christina
Went to work and got tons done today.
Am now planning what to do this weekend.
Post to finish and publish and a small static site for a client to finish and FTP to server.
Never still… lots to do.
Must dash! LOL
Hey Keith,
Sounds like you have a lot on your plate. Glad you were able to stay productive at work.
But don’t work yourself too hard! That’s never good.
Christina
Well it’s Friday afternoon when I write this Christina, but here is where I am since the clock struck midnight last night:
-12:30am Finished an Inbound Marketing article on one of my blogs
-1am: Added a few new forms to enhance to site redesign of The Sales Lion
-6am: My guest post on Men w Pens was published while I was sleeping. This is my first GP on a blog of this caliber
-1:30am-8am: Slept
-8:30am: Sent some emails out to my network and base to bring attention to my guest post in hopes they’ll give it some love
-9:30am: Got a call from a blogging friend, JK ‘The Hustler’ Allen congratulating me on my Guest Post. That was cool
-10am: Went on sales appt for my swimming pool company
-1pm: Returned home to commence blog commenting and networking (after I hugged and kissed on my wife and kids for a few minutes)
-1:30 pm Writing a comment on Cash Campfire
-Rest of day: Will write at least 2 blog posts. One for the Sales Lion, one for a guest post….and then a date with my wife and workout tonight around 10pm.
I’m pumped……
Whoa, Marcus – very detailed!
Sounds like you have A LOT going on. Don’t forget to get some rest as well.
I checked out your Men with Pens guest post by the way, and it was seriously good. I especially loved the video – it almost brought me to tears even! You should be very proud of yourself.
Hope tomorrow is just as productive!
Christina
Today was one buuuuusy day Christina…I mean busy. Here’s a snapshop of my morning:
4:45 AM: rise for my workout. 60 minutes.
5:45 AM: read
6:15: get the kids up for breakfast and dressed for school
7:40: took kids to school
7:45: called Marcus Sheridan “The Sales Lion” to congratulate him on his awesome guest post on men with pens.
8:45: attended my kids awards ceremony (both got awards)
9:05: headed to the office…work.
Have a great weekend!
Awesome, Jk! Looks like you’ve been busy.
And congratulations to your kids for their awards! That must have been exciting.
Don’t stress yourself too much over the weekends! You work hard as it is.
Enjoy your weekend!
Christina
Great article. People complain about not being productive enough but they have to look back and reflect what they did that day. They were probably distracted and didnt have much focus at all in what they were suppose to be doing.
Hey Edwin,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts; I agree. Instead of worrying about what you should be doing or what you didn’t do, you should take action and get whatever you need done.
Christina
Lovely idea.. Here’s my usual day..
4:30 wake up, shower, drink my tea, meditate/reflect
5:30 start my writing work with break for breakfast.
7:30 wake up my toddler and off to mommy-land
I again, spend 2 hours or so writing in the afternoon when she takes a nap.
Evenings are usually spent hanging around with my husband and daughter, baking, organizing, tidying up and stuff.
Hey Prerna,
Thanks for sharing!
I also tend to work in the early morning, take a break for lunch or whathaveyou, and then work again in the afternoon. This routine has been working well for me so far. I also like getting my morning exercise in.
Christina
Hey Christina,
Thanks for asking haha!
Well, it’s not the same day you posted this article, but where I live in Houston, Texas is roughly 2pm. I have been writing and replying to emails all morning. Now I finally have some time to read some blogs so I’m loving that. Reading is one of the most important things you can do!
Wish you the best!
God bless,
William Veasley
Hey William,
Thanks for sharing!
Reading is all well and good, but don’t forget to take action! You can’t progress without action, so utilize what you read. Every time you read a blog post, article, or book, think of ways you can use that information in your day-to-day life.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend,
Christina
Hey Christina,
Thanks for the response!
You are very right! We must take action you can’t read for days and not apply what your reading to your everyday life. Then there would be no point in reading now would there be? There are many things you read that are bull or just not good advice, so we must be the ones to decide what will help us develop for the better and want won’t.
Would you agree?
Thanks again!
God bless,
William Veasley
Christina
I definitely got to this post somewhat late but as I was reading this I started thinking everything that I got done today. In all honesty, I did get a lot done but as I started going through my day I did realize that I could have gotten things done somewhat quicker.
A few distractions, literally, held me back from completing my daily tasks for about 3 hours. This just goes to show the importance of maintaining focus.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Hector,
Well, distractions happen to the best of us. They’re just obstacles that we need to overcome.
Now that you know what’s distracting you, you know how to stay focused so that you can have a more productive day tomorrow!
Christina
Christina – It’s funny you asked this question because today has been a very different day for me. I have been up all morning taking care of my little nephew while he’s been throwing up and crying.
Hopefully, I can start getting more productive later on in the evening. Thanks for asking and all the best to you.
Hey John,
I’m sorry to hear about your nephew! I hope he feels better soon.
Some things can’t be helped, and you just have to make the best of your situation. I’m sure everything will settle down in the end, but, for now, your nephew is your first priority.
I hope you have a good week ahead!
Christina
Hi Christina,
I hopped over here from Tristan Higbee’s blog and I’m glad I did! Writing is my thing, although my online endeavors are different than yours. I’ll be reading your past posts as soon as I can!
As far as today goes, it’s just about 12 noon and so far I have:
- exercised
- answered blog comments
- played Spider Solitaire (break time!)
- emailed a request for material for a product
- wrote a blog post
- wrote an email to my list
- read and commented on blogs x3
This afternoon will be spent working on a product and maybe contacting affiliates.
Thanks for asking,
Peggy
Hey Peggy,
Not a bad way to start off the day! Sounds like you were able to get pretty productive, but don’t forget about taking breaks as well! You don’t want to work yourself raw.
Glad to have you here – thanks for sharing!
Christina
Today I’m doing what I’ve done yesterday: to work on my goals to the best of my abilities. It is what I’ve been doing at every moment, because I know that it is the only way to really achieve the things we aspire in life.
Hey Walter,
Right on! You should continuously work to achieve your goals, for it’s the only way you’ll be able to make progress.
Hope you have a wonderful rest of the day!
Christina
Let me see…
I wrote my blog post for tomorrow and scheduled it to be published in the morning.
I read some blog posts.
I played with my puppy.
Listened to some music.
Listened to my hubby play Black Ops all day
Nope, I actually haven’t done anything “smart” today, lol, but I love this question.
BTW, I love this counter in your sidebar, you gotta tell me how did you make it (not really sure I would publish mine, cause I am so ADD that I would just fail in all the tasks).
Hey Brankica,
Sorry if this response is a bit late. I’ve been behind comments lately while on vacation. I’m back now though, so time to catch up!
While your morning may not have been as productive as you’d like, you still were enjoying yourself, so that counts for something.
I also noticed that you plan ahead (you prescheduled your blog post for example) – which is a wonderful habit to get into. Heck, I need to do more prescheduling myself.
The counter is actually a WordPress plugin called Pretty Simple Progress Meter (click the link to go to the plugin page). I like it because it’s pretty customizable.
On a side note, I heard the game Black Ops is good. I’ve always been a gamer at heart – so I’m looking into buying it for the Wii.
Take care!
Christina
Yesterday its Done good,but today its don’t it better my boss like my online performance and with my job also and like to more increase my job.
You are choose really very good topic.
Prakash
Hey there!
That’s great! I’m happy everything is going well with you and your job.
Thanks for reading!
Christina
It was quite the productive day! This year is getting off to a great start with each day bringing me one step closer to my goals. Enough time was squandered last year so I’m making every moment count in 2011.
Today I wrote 2 articles, shot a screencast how-to video, brainstormed with a potential JV partner about an upcoming endeavor and I’m going to do some link building before heading to bed.
My comment finds your post late but I hope your day today (the 24th) was productive!
That’s great Jon! Glad you’re starting January on the right foot.
Sounds like you were busy. You’ll be seeing progress in no time if you keep this up! Hopefully February proves to be even better.
Thanks for dropping by!
Christina
A very interesting idea, we should do this once in a while to get back in touch with our readers. I used to believe that getting thing on my to do list was productive enough until a recent follower proved me wrong. So I make sure I do one thing, at least, a day that is related to my core belief!
I am done with focusing only on the small things, get the small things done with the big thing in mind! Thanks for letting me vent!