One of the challenges we face daily is identifying the activities that matter to us. Often we are late in acknowledging that we got engrossed in ‘the wrong’ or more precisely, the unplanned activities. How often does it happen that late in the evening we realize that we were certainly busy the whole day and something just happened to pop up? Can there be a simple way to be more conscious of the activities we do and not end up regretting the choices we made? Let’s find out cogently!
To begin with, let’s run through a typical week. On the weekdays when we are busy with our work or schedule, we plan a lot of things to do on weekends. Many of these plans include our hobbies or the new activity/skill that we intend to begin. Comes the weekend and we typically start late.
And then scrolling through the feeds while making the coffee gets a little too long. By the time we are done with coffee, we spot that the kitchen and the bathroom need a little bit of cleaning. And so we, the weekend warriors, bring in the cleansing brigade. Even before we are done, the mobile phone rings and it’s our best friend.
Of course, we attend the phone and without a doubt, it lasts for an hour at least. Hola! Now it’s time to go out, after all, if we don’t go out on weekends, then when would we? Only after we return in the evening comes along with us, our old friend, Mr Regret, claiming, “You didn’t do what you planned to do…”
Does that sound similar? Well, you are not alone. The very first thing to realize here is that activities themselves aren’t the problem here. Clean your house, talking with a friend or going out are certainly very healthy activities. The problem here is their sequencing and your choice to not prioritize any. As harsh and ridiculous as it may sound, making no choice is a choice.
Let’s say you were planning to start with an hour of learning a new language on your weekend. Now you have an idea of what should be on your to-do list. But does that alone change the result? Unfortunately, no.
One of the biggest misunderstandings we have is that knowing is enough to make things happen. “Oh, I know that…” doesn’t magically translate to “…so I did that.” Knowing what to do is certainly the first step but not the only step to getting the activity done. What follows next is where you prioritize this activity. This is where a small trick can help you stay aligned with your plans.
Before beginning with any activity other than breathing, go through an importance-prioritizing checklist:
- Is this activity also important tomorrow and the week after?
- Did you plan on doing it beforehand?
Only when could answer ‘Yes’ to both questions, can you truly say that you are consciously involved in the activity you are about to perform? As you’d notice, a simple 2 question checklist can eliminate a lot of tasks right there and the rest could fit into the priority sequence. This in turn would make you get more things done and more importantly get ‘the real’ things done.
Having said that, there will be emergencies and they never come up planned. In these situations the checklist becomes irrelevant. But then emergencies are also one-offs, they don’t show up regularly. On general normal days or weekends, you’d rather love to find yourself seated on the same sofa, rather satisfied having done what you had planned to.
So whenever Mr Regret shows up at your door, you can tell him that you didn’t miss him and would be very happy to drop him off at the main door! Remember, if something is only important for today, it’s not important at all!
