This is my personal gun-toting super successful way of keeping myself motivated. Granted, this is no guarantee for anyone else’s route to personal nirvana, but what the hey?

I start every work day with a pen and a blank sheet of paper. I write the day and date at the top of the page and on the left side of the page I list what I’d like to do today. If I think of things to do that won’t get done today I write it on the right side of the page.

Next thing I do is decide how long it’ll take me to accomplish each item on today’s to do list. I write the total on the far left of the page, so when I’m done I have a column of times, in minutes (like 30, 7, 90) alongside the to do list.

I add up all of the minutes so I know how long my work day will be if I accomplish all of my to do items. If it’s a reasonable amount of time (like 6 hours) I’ll write down my start time and the finish time in the top right corner of my page so I know what my target time is for ending my work day (i.e. 9:15 start- 3:15 finish).

I make sure my to do list includes down-time items like lunch because I try hard to keep to my schedule. That way any interruptions I have force me to amend my schedule and account for my time. So if I get a business call that takes 20 minutes and it’s not on my to do list, I either make my finish time 20 minutes later or I have to subtract 20 minutes from the items on my to do list.

Sometimes I use a stopwatch to time my activity, but as I use my system I become more familiar with my work habits and how long it takes me to accomplish things.

I’ve got two to-do’s that re-occur daily: meditation and Big Picture Thinking. I start each day with 8 minutes of meditation– I set a timer so I don’t have to look at the clock. It’s the most amazing way to motivate myself– I try to imagine what my ideal work situation would be– what I’d like to be doing and what I’d like to accomplish, and then I use what I’ve visualized to gear myself up for the day’s work. Recently I’ve been picturing a big loft studio space with empty tables and jewelry-making supplies. I keep opening the windows to see the gorgeous view and the bright sunny day. Seriously, I probably open the windows like 5 times in those 8 minutes. But it’s such a great feeling, so why not?

I try to keep the meditation really abstract so that I don’t get bogged down thinking about work I have to get done. So I also spend 8 minutes of Big Picture Thinking, when I imagine what I’d like to accomplish. You know, fame, fortune (just scale that down 100-fold and that’s about where you’ll find me). I use this time to generate ideas about marketing and new product ideas. I may not use all 8 minutes each day but I like to know they’re available to me. Sometimes 3 or 4 minutes is all I use– then I’ve got bonus minutes in my day, yipee!

Any to-do items that aren’t for today or tomorrow go in a program called Things.
I like how Things can organize them in a useful and not very fussy way.

That’s that.