Short version:
- Make a list on a sheet of paper with clear, simple, manageable steps to your goal
- Have it on your desk next to you at all times
- Watch the magic happen
I also tried different tools and software-based approaches (reminders, checklists, etc) but I found that they were mostly distracting.
The simpler the solution, the better -- therefore, plain sheet of paper.
Key thing here was to always have it in front of me, next to any other todo list I may have for the day. As long as I did that, I never had to worry about updating my daily todos, or aligning them with my goal, or anything like that.
1. Pay attention to what you eat. In my case, eliminating potatoes from my lunch had a massive impact on how productive I was afterwards.
2. Pay attention to how much you eat. I noticed that the usual approach of eating until full doesn't serve me well in terms of focus and ability to concentrate afterwards. When I ate slightly less (until I felt about 70-80% full), I had more energy and a more focused mind for the rest of the day.
Of course, these are not hard rules (if they worked for me, they may not work for you). But take them as a rough guide and experiment on your own.
It's funny because technically, none of these three things are part of an engineer's job.
But once you do them, you start noticing how you eventually get to:
- save yourself time
- save your customer money
- avoid unnecessary complications down the road
- offer useful comments / feedback / critiques / alternatives, when need be
(because you better understand the decisions made around you)
- help your customer or team better understand what they really want
- find yourself in a better position to transition to other roles, if you choose to
Just wrote a post about the approach that worked for me -- http://claudiu.dragulin.com/2017/03/14/how-to-align-your-dai...
Short version: - Make a list on a sheet of paper with clear, simple, manageable steps to your goal - Have it on your desk next to you at all times - Watch the magic happen
I also tried different tools and software-based approaches (reminders, checklists, etc) but I found that they were mostly distracting.
The simpler the solution, the better -- therefore, plain sheet of paper.
Key thing here was to always have it in front of me, next to any other todo list I may have for the day. As long as I did that, I never had to worry about updating my daily todos, or aligning them with my goal, or anything like that.