It’s easy to fall into a routine of doing the same thing day in, day out without being conscious of making progress either personally or professionally.
I combat this by having a list of tasks that I aim to do every day, my dailies. Some of these tasks I have to do, some are reminders to focus, and others are there to help me form habits. Here’s my list:
- Check-in on Product People
- Take a multi-vitamin
- Track weight and BMI
- Help someone
- Be a good friend
- Be present
- Meditate for 10 minutes
- Write in journal
I first got the idea for dailies from watching a talk Jack Dorsey gave at startup school. Jack stores his list in the Notes app on his iPhone. It doesn’t matter where you put your list, as long as it’s somewhere you’ll see it everyday.
I use the Reminders app on my iPhone to prompt me to certain tasks throughout the day. This is especially useful for items like Be present, which is more about focussing the mind than accomplishing a tangible task.
My list has evolved over time, adding and removing items as habits form and I find new ones I want to develop.
If you ever feel like you’re just treading water in life, then maybe writing a list of dailies will help you to progress as it has me.