HOW TO UPLIFT YOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN 7 DAYS

Table of Contents
About the author .............................................................................. 3
Introduction ...................................................................................... 4
Step 1: Plan your day ....................................................................... 7
Step 2: Analyze your mistakes and achievements ....................... 10
Step 3: Turn on Do Not Disturb Mode ........................................... 13
Step 4: Be aware of the Parkinson’s Law ..................................... 16
Step 5: Pomodoro Technique ........................................................ 19
Step 6: Spend time thinking .......................................................... 22
Step 7: Implement time blocking ................................................... 26
Conclusion ..................................................................................... 29

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About the author

Maxim Dsouza a self-improvement,

productivity, and time management
enthusiast. He spends every day of his
life trying to find better ways to do things.
Many of my experiments fail and some of
them succeed.

He loves to share what works for him and

what hasn’t on his blog, Productive Club.
His resources are practical and actionable. You can access them for free
here.

On this blog, he shares his thoughts, ideas and tips on:

• Goal Clarity
• Productivity
• Time Management
• Decision Making
He is the author of the book, the Magic of 2 Seconds. Your mind can do
amazing things in 2 seconds. This book is all about learning how to
become self aware by improving your decisions and avoiding mistakes
in less than a couple of seconds.

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Introduction

There you are.

First things first. Most people know that they have to work on
overcoming laziness and improving productivity, but never do. So, you’re
already a step ahead of the rest.

Over the next few days, you’ll have to challenge yourself to implement
certain productivity methods. While you won’t turn into an Elon Musk
within a week, you’ll be able to notch up your skills if you follow the
activity from each day effectively.

Who is this book for:

This book is for people who are starting their journey with productivity
and time management. Some of the steps suggested are well known
tactics that yield results. The book does not try to offer sophisticated
techniques but focuses on keeping the activities simple enough for a
beginner.

What’s the mission:

The purpose of the book is to help you organize your schedule such that
every day of your life helps you make meaningful progress towards your
goals.

Important pointers before you begin:

You must target to finish executing these methods in 7 days. But that’s
not a rule etched in stone. Feel free to take a few additional days. You
can skip weekends, enjoy an interfering holiday, or practice one
technique for 2 days if you believe that’s the right approach for you.

But, do not try out one method on some random day when you find time
only to move on to the next step a few days after. You must skip the flow
only when you have a valid reason. By the way, “I am jam packed with

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work today” is only an excuse. If you let the daily chores and
responsibilities interfere with your improvement, you’ll notice that
happening every day. You think that your busy schedule prevents you
from taking the time to better yourself, but you’re the one choosing how
you spend your time.

Also, these 7 steps are not meant to be done once and forgotten about.
What you learn on each day must persist for the rest of the days and for
years ahead. So, you’ll implement your learnings from day 1, on day 2,
day 3, day 4, and so on. The lesson from day 2 should be carried
through day 3, day 4, ...

You get the point. You must get habituated to these 7 steps and make
them a part of your regular routine. That’s when they work because
they’re not miraculous changes to yield results on the day you try it.

A common mistake people make is read through the methods with a

future plan to implement them. “This looks interesting and useful. I will
start working on this after X”.

X is one of various so-called valid reasons your mind comes with to

resist effort and justify procrastination. For example:
• I will start working on this next month(most common)
• I will start working on this after 2 weeks
• I will start working on this after I finish ...

I had many such reasons myself back in the day. But taking the time to
improve my time management skills was one of the best decisions I’ve
ever made. Over time, the difference it will make to your professional
and personal life is unfathomable. You’ll have to get to the other side to
experience it.

These 7 steps have been carefully crafted to make a difference and the
effectiveness of some of them lies in their simplicity.

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While you go through these productivity methods, some of them might

seem too easy, inconvenient, or unsuitable for you. When that happens,
you’ll feel a strong urge to skip the method altogether. Don’t do that.

I understand that not every technique yields result for every single
person. But, you must make that decision only after you try it, not before.
Do not assume something won’t work for you based on your gut feeling.
That inner voice asking you to skip the action is nothing but
procrastination. Do not let it misguide you and make you lazy.

So without any further delay, let’s get started. Are you all geared up? I
bet you are.

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Step 1: Plan your day

When is the last time you went through your day or the week with a plan?
Is it a common occurrence that your days go by working on one task after
another without a concrete plan? Most people go through their day without
a plan jumping from one task to another.

“But everything I do needs to be done,” you remark. Are you sure about
that? Have you given that enough thought? I doubt it.

I had a habit of working long hours for years doing tasks after tasks. I
believed that all of what I was doing was necessary, but in hindsight, I
have realized how most of my work did nothing to my long term goals.

A simple fix to make your day more streamlined towards the goals that
matter to you is to make a plan. You don’t need anything sophisticated,
lengthy, or detailed. All you need is the top 5 tasks you need to work on
that day. That’s it, period.

You might assume your to-do list does this job for you. Unfortunately, a
to-do list turns into an enemy when unmanaged. When your to-do list
grows in size over time, you do not know which tasks are important, which
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tasks need action today, or which tasks should you work on if you have
an hour to spare.

No doubt a to-do list is necessary to keep a tab on things to do. But it is

by no means a plan for the day. You need a plan which is more deliberate
than that. If you spend 15 minutes a day, you can structure your day for
maximum effectiveness.
Preferably, you should plan for 15 minutes first thing each morning or very
early in your day. During these 15 minutes, plan your day on 2 aspects:
What can you do today to make progress towards your long term goals
and dreams? Write down 2-3 tasks based on the time you have at your
disposal to spend on long term goals.
What are the urgent tasks you have to work on today? These include tasks
that involve deadlines, your full-time job, and those where people are
waiting for you.

Your mission for the day:

To focus on the right tasks by adding order and deliberateness into your
day

Homework:
Pull out a notepad and spend 15 minute writing down the 5 tasks you will
complete today. You can use a computer instead of paper too. A notepad
works better because you can leave it open around you all the time. That
serves as a reminder every time you lose focus from the tasks at hand.

Things to watch out for:

• Don’t aim for a long list of tasks. The more you target, the less you’ll
accomplish.
• Don’t make a list based on memory. Write it down.
• Make sure some of the tasks you list help you move closer to your
long term goals. Don’t let the important tasks from the present ruin
your plans.

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• Take it easy when you begin and ensure you complete the entire
list. If that requires listing fewer tasks, so be it.
• Measurement of success: Completing all the tasks you listed for the
day
Useful resources for this activity:
• How to plan your day for high productivity

Today is day 1, so we take it easy. If you complete all the tasks you listed,
pat yourself on the back. If not, give it a shot again tomorrow.

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Step 2: Analyze your mistakes and achievements

How would the world look like if your strengths became stronger and your
weakness reduced day by day? Over a course of time, your expertise in
your area would be comparable to the basketball skills of Michael Jordan.

In this step, you will learn how to improve your strengths and fix your
weaknesses. You will need less than 10 minutes to complete it in a day.
Using a simple mechanism of tracking your achievements and mistakes
every day, you will notice progress in less than a week.

You might be thinking “Wait, don’t tell me I have to start journaling. I hate
it.”

Do not worry. I will not ask you to. If you are already writing a journal,
that’s wonderful. If not, you’ll start with a far simpler activity.

At the end of the day, instead of writing how your day went by, you’ll list
out what you believe were your mistakes and achievements for the day.

Do not look for massive victories or major bloopers. What’s more

important is to write down your little wins and misses.

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Here are some examples from my achievements and mistakes

Things done well today:

• Time well spent in completing all the tasks planned for the day
• Appreciated 2 people in the team and made them feel better for a
job well done
• Complemented my wife on the good food she cooked today
• Found a breakthrough for the javascript problem that I was facing
yesterday
• Thought of one additional way to increase income for my next
business idea
• Read about the current content marketing trends

Mistakes done today:

• Reacted without enough thought when John mentioned that the
solution I proposed will most likely fail
• Procrastinated buying the domain name for my next business idea
• Did not greet my team member before asking him for more
information on a task assigned to me

As you can see, none of these carry a significant weight by themselves.

But when you focus on little improvements every day, you’ll reap the
rewards in the long run.

In school, taking notes and writing information helped you remember

better, didn’t it? Similarly, writing your achievement/mistakes every day
will help you do more of the good things and reduce the chances of
repeating mistakes.

The reason why this works is straight forward. Writing your achievements
and mistakes helps in registering them in your memory better. It does not
matter if you never read your writing again. Writing once etches the

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content in your memory and you hear your inner voice saying “Hey, you
made the same mistake the other day, do you want to repeat it again?”

Also, just a reminder of how these steps work. Not only are you supposed
to complete the task for today, but also persist with the activity from Step
1.

Mission for the day:

To write down your achievements and mistakes by the end of the day

Homework:
Pull out a notepad and spend 5-10 minutse writing down all your
achievements. You can use a computer instead of paper too.

Things to watch out for:

• You do not necessarily have to analyze the reasons behind your
achievements or mistakes. But, if you have the time, that makes it
even better
• Don’t look for big triumphs and losses. The little ones matter more.
• No achievement or mistake is too small. If you recall it, note it down.

Measurement of success:
Reminding yourself about the positives and negatives from the day

Useful resources for this activity:

How to be Successful by Writing Your Achievements and Mistakes

That’s all for the day folks.

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Step 3: Turn on Do Not Disturb Mode

Distractions do to your productivity what a bad apple does to the whole

basket. Unfortunately, we live in a world of distractions and a bad apple
lies within our arms reach all the time.

With the advent of smartphones, tablets, and computers, the attention

span of people has reduced day by day. You must be taken aback to
know most people spend less than 3 hours a day working.

We socialize with people when we get to work, browse social media feed,
watch YouTube/Netflix videos, answer our texts, glance group messages,
read emails, respond to work messages on the messenger, and so on.

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Keep your smartphone away while you need to work on a task. By away I
mean, your phone should not beep, vibrate or make any noise. You
cannot place it face down on the table either.

The more you separate yourself from the smartphone world, the better
your productivity will be. Similarly, look for other ways to eliminate
distractions.

Everyone has different distractions so identify your own. For example, I

had a habit of browsing random articles. Today, I only open one tab in the
browser when I am working to avoid looking at an open tab like Quora and
wasting time on it.

You can also cut distractions by wearing earphones, closing doors, putting
up a DND sign, and anything else that floats your boat. Working without
distractions is like working out with a healthy diet. Only the people who
follow it regularly know the difference it makes to the results.

So the target for today is to aim for 1 hour of focused work without any
distractions. No phones, no emails, no chat messengers.

Your mission for the day:

To spend 1 hour on your core area distraction free

Homework:
Do whatever it takes to keep your distance from all distractions for an
hour. If that duration is too short for you, stretch your limit to more than
the usual for today.

Things to watch out for:

• Peeking into your phone once or twice is cheating and
unacceptable.

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• If your job does not allow you to disconnect completely, turn on DND
on your phone but allow calls. If all hell has broken loose, people
will call you.
• Checking an email, reading news, opening Wikipedia, watching a
quick funny video in between isn’t acceptable. Instead, you can take
a short break and do nothing but relax.

Measurement of success:
Completing 1 hour of interrupted work

Useful resources for this activity:

How to Avoid Distractions
How to Improve Focus

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Step 4: Be aware of the Parkinson’s Law

When you have a month to complete a project, how do you go about it?
Do you spend the first 3 weeks doing nothing and spend the last few days
working extra hours to meet the deadline?

I am a culprit of such behavior myself. When I have plenty of time to

complete a task, I sometimes try to postpone work to the edge. When I
finally am running out of time to get started, I spring into action with full
gear.

Why do you and I exhibit such behavior? Life would be more peaceful if
we started work little by little in advance. But we don’t because of
Parkinson’s Law.

Parkinson’s Law is the effect where your effort expands to fill the time
available to complete the task at hand. In other words, the meaning of

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Parkinson’s Law is, the more time you have, the longer you will take to
complete the task. If you have ample time at your disposal, you’re more
likely to relax, laze around, spend time on social media, or chit chat.
But when the deadline appears close, you streamline all your attention to
complete the task.

Parkinson’s Law works in interesting ways without your knowledge.

When you have a task to complete, your brain automatically calculates

the time needed to complete it. If you have to email a report in the next 2
hours, you use up the entire 2 hours preparing the report. For the first 30
minutes, you browse through Instagram, chat with your friends, and watch
a Youtube video.

For the next 30 minutes, you still do not focus all your attention on the
task, but you do not waste as much time as you did for the first 30 minutes.
For the final remaining hour, you try to pay more attention to the task and
get it finished right on time.

What’s important to understand here is that such behavior isn’t always

conscious. Your brain tricks you into believing that the job requires 2 hours
when you can pull it off in 45 minutes if you want to.

So today, you’ll challenge yourself to complete a task faster than you

usually do. Here are some examples:
• A routine job at work
• Cooking
• Reading a book
• Work meeting
• Taking a bath

The step works best when you choose the task from your core area of
expertise. If you’re a software programmer, aim to write a piece of code
faster instead of targeting to cook chicken curry sooner. If you’re a chef,

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challenge yourself to get a dish on the plate faster instead of aiming to

finish your bath faster. You get the point.

By the way, you have to make sure the quality of your work isn’t
compromised. You have to deliver what you always do. What’s the point
of going faster only to end up with a half-cooked meatloaf or reading page
of a book without understanding the message.

Your mission for the day:

To prove to yourself that you can do tasks faster than you think.

Homework:
Attempt to finish one of your regular jobs faster than you usually do

Things to watch out for:

• You cannot compromise on the quality of the job
• Don’t make the time duration too drastic. For example, if you
complete the job in 60 minutes on a normal, aim for 45 minutes, not
20 minutes rightaway. You can cut the time short eventually.
• Don’t pick an activity which you know you can complete in lesser
time for sure. Choose something which challenges yourself

Measurement of success:
Completing a job faster without any compromise in quality.

Useful resources for this activity:

Parkinson’s Law – Why You Waste Time and 5 Ways to Avoid it

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Step 5: Pomodoro Technique

Today, we have more work to do than time on our hands. People often
spend long hours and complete the work just before the deadline.
In today’s busy world, the Pomodoro technique is one of the well known
time management methods for productivity.

The Pomodoro technique involves working on a task for 25 minutes,

followed by a short 5-minute break before picking up the next task to
repeat the cycle. In theory, the method follows a straightforward
approach.
If you break the whole process stepwise, here is how the flow looks like:

To begin with, you must choose what you have to work on. You must pick
a single task because it helps avoid distractions and multitasking. Feel
free to pick a long term goal you’ve been postponing or an urgent task
waiting for your action.

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You need a timer to tell you when the slot is over. You can use an online
stopwatch, your phone alarm, or a physical timer to notify you. Don’t worry
if the task you’re targeting needs more time. You do not have to complete
the entire job in a single slot.

You must put all your energy and attention on the task at hand for those
25 minutes. While you’re on it, you must stay away from distractions like
answering calls, responding to text messages, or striking a conversation
with people around.

When the timer beeps, you’ve completed one Pomodoro. Take a short
break of 3-5 minutes to relax by taking a walk, drinking water, checking
your phone, etc.

Follow the same pattern of 25 minutes of work followed by a short break.

Once you finish 4 such cycles, you can take a longer break of 15-30
minutes. And of course, do not forget to pump your fist for the job well
done.

The biggest advantage of using this time management technique is

the improvement in focus. When you’re surrounded by distractions,
different jobs can pull your attention in all directions. By targeting one task
at a time, you make progress towards the goals that matter.

Also, if you spend 15 seconds at the end of each Pomodoro to note down
the task you worked on, you’ll have an activity log of your day. You’ll know
exactly where your time is going.

Your mission for the day:

Achieving focus in short cycles followed by a short break

Homework:
Attempt to complete 4 Pomodoro cycles of 25 minutes each. If completing
them in a sequence is too hard for you, spread them across your day.

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Things to watch out for:

• The technique suggests you take a short break after each focused
session. While you might want to continue working, resist the urge
to do so. Taking a timeout helps your brain relax, assimilate
information, and prepare for the next slot.
• If you target 3 different tasks within one slot, you’ll lose time
switching attention from one place to another. As much as possible,
pick one target for the entire slot.
• Not everyone has the discipline to relax for a few minutes and focus
on the next task to do right after. The interruption can turn into an
extended period of wasted time.
• During your initial attempts, you’ll have a hard time avoiding
distractions and maintaining focus. Don’t give up assuming you’re
not cut for this.

Measurement of success:
Completing 4 Pomodoro Cycles without interruptions

Useful resources for this activity:

Pomodoro Technique – A Detailed Beginner’s Guide

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Step 6: Spend time thinking

Your brain contains 85 billion neurons. Heck, it can process information

faster than the best-known supercomputer today. Are you making the
most of it?

How would Wolverine look if he never used his claws? Ordinary, right?
That’s how you will end up if you do not use your ability to think.


When was the last time you intentionally sat down to think? I am not
talking about using your brain to solve a problem or study for a test. I am
referring to setting aside time to do nothing other than thinking.

Deliberate thinking differs from your usual thinking because you’re forcing
yourself to think unlike your brain trying to find an answer on its own.

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I started the practice of deliberate thinking only a few years back. Though
the idea seems way too simple, it has made all the difference to different
aspects of my life such as:
• Prioritization
• Goal Clarity
• Productivity
• Self Awareness
• Problem Solving

The human mind can comprehend sound, touch, taste, and vision all at
the same time and make a decision. Any computer requires a ton of time
to accomplish the same task.

So, today, you’re going to tap into your ability to think irrespective of what
your IQ is.

Though a blueprint for successful thinking does not exist, here are a few
ways to make the best use of the time.

1. Think of an improvement
Take any major area of your life you’re focusing on at the moment. You
might want to skyrocket your career growth at work, improve the
relationship with your partner, grow your business, or start a healthy
lifestyle.
Take the time to think of an improvement that will take you one step closer
to your goal. Do not focus only on massive game-changing ideas. Minor
improvements tally up to exponential returns in the long run.

2. Consider the pros and cons

Not every decision is straightforward. At times, you’re confused if you’re
making the right choice or not. In such cases, list out all the pros and cons
of each option that you can think of.

3. Use mindmaps

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One of my favorite activities during my thinking time is creating

mindmaps. They’re best suited when you’re in an early stage of an idea.
By using mindmaps, you can expand from a central theme and let your
thoughts run wild. Do not worry about following the traditional rules used
to create them. Mindmaps work best when you apply commonsense and
capture ideas in a format that makes sense to you.
If you have never created a mindmap before, here is the process to create
one.

4. Think of new ideas

Thinking of new ideas is one of the most interesting ways to stimulate your
brain. Besides, it is also another way to sharpen your problem solving
skills along with your critical thinking.
If you have no clue where to begin, start with the goal you’re trying to
achieve.
Ask yourself what are the different ways to reach your target without
worrying about implementation. Map your skills with the methods to find
suitable tactics to accomplish your goals.

Your mission for the day:

To stimulate your mind to think better

Homework:
Set aside 15-30 minutes explicitly to think. No multitasking.

Things to watch out for:

• No matter how busy you are, you have to make time for deliberate
thinking. If you only think on the days you have time, you will come
up with an excuse every day.
• You must note down all the ideas and improvements you came up
with during your thinking time. I prefer to use pen and paper, but you
can use an application or a simple text document.
• Try to stick to the same time slot every day if your schedule permits

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Measurement of success:
Completing 15 minutes of interrupted thinking

Useful resources for this activity:

Thinking Is Your Superpower. Are You Using It?
How To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills - 7 Techniques

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Step 7: Implement time blocking

Time blocking is the process of going by your day by scheduling tasks and
activities hour by hour. You set up a start time and duration for a meeting,
don’t you? Likewise, you set timelines for each task in a day in advance.
Simple.
Voila. You learned the time blocking technique in a sentence.

While your to-do list tells you what’s pending, the time blocking schedule
tells you when to do it. Because you assign blocks out of your time to a
task, we call the technique time “blocking”.

Every hour of the day has a clear purpose. You set a plan of getting things
done on a day and then go ahead and execute it. Boom!

At least, that’s how it works in theory. But, implementing such a schedule

is not feasible for most people for reasons like:
Scheduling your day to the level of tasks by hour requires careful planning,
time and effort. Not everyone can plan to run their whole day on a
premeditated schedule.

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Some task takes longer to complete than expected throwing the whole
plan off course.
People misinterpret the time available in a day to get work done. As a
result, one task takes longer and eats into the time of the next.
Unexpected events are bound to occur and when they do, you have to go
against your schedule.

Complete time blocking yields fantastic results, no doubt. But it is not

everyone’s cup of tea to plan the day in advance by blocks. It definitely
wasn’t mine.

Over time I realized I could keep the parts of the technique which I could
plan and execute while skipping the rest. So I plan my day today in blocks,
but I do not go the extent of breaking my whole day into time chunks. I
have certain blocks of time dedicated to certain activities, leaving the rest
to ad-hoc responsibilities.

I use a simple thought process to determine if a task needs a time block

or not. I ask myself, “Will the task help me achieve my long term goal?” If
the answer is yes, I assign a time slot for it. If not, I will complete the task
during the ad-hoc blocks I have.

For example, I have many long term plans for my blog. I believe improving
the quality of my writing and learning more about blogging as two
important aspects of the goal. So I make sure I set a 30-minute slot each
day to improve in those areas.
Writing articles is the core of growing a blog, so I have slots for writing
content. I have multiple of them at different times in the day.

Many other tasks constitute as shallow work, which as per Cal Newport is
work without intense focus. Tasks such as emails and meetings have their
prominence, but they do not impact your long term goals. At least not
directly. But I cannot stay away from meetings or emails altogether. So, I

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set aside enough time as a block to perform tasks that do not influence
my long term goals but are necessary.

So, today, you’ll try to find 2 time blocks of 30 minutes each which will help
you make progress towards your long term goals. You can pick learning
a new skill, solving a problem, executing pending work or anything under
the sun.

When you combine your time blocks with the Pomodoro technique from
Step 5, you’ll inch closer to your goals, one step at a time.

Mission for the day:

To cultivate a habit of working in time blocks

Homework:
Set aside 2 time blocks of 30 minutes each to work on your long term
goals and use Pomodoro for each slot.

Things to watch out for:

• You’ll find it hard to accommodate 2 slots into your schedule, but
you’ll have to find a way
• As much as possible assign time blocks such that you can stick to
the same slots every day for the same purpose
• Do not try to overdo the slots and aim for too many when you begin.
The technique sounds simple but needs practice to master.

Measurement of success:
Completing 2 time blocks and making progress towards your long term
goals.

Useful resources for this activity:

Time Blocking: The Ultimate Guide To Do It Right

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Conclusion

So there you are. You have learned how to structure your day better to
get more done. It wasn’t so difficult now, was it?

The truth about productivity is that the simpler tips yield better results than
the sophisticated techniques.

I would also advise you to tweak these tips to your needs. These 7 steps
are only a direction and not a blueprint for success. Each person faces
through different circumstances and carries a unique style. So experiment
and improvise until you find a schedule that you can stick to.

As a final word, these 7 steps must form a part of your daily routine. If you
have succesffuly applied them for the last few days, that’s only a start.
The results show up only when you persist with these methods in the long
run.

I would love to know your thoughts on how these productivity methods

worked for you. If they made a difference in your routine, I would be thrilled
to hear about it. If you believe these tips were useless or need
improvement, I would be all ears to your feedback because I am eager to
find ways to improve. I will listen to negative comments with an open mind
and make an effort to fix your concern.

Drop me an email on maxim@[email protected]. I look

forward to hearing from you.

MAXIM DSOUZA 29