Keeping up with my goals by having daily/weekly goals

I tended to procrastinate a lot, especially when I am unhappy with work, relationships or with the task I am currently working on. This has led me to some serious procrastination issues, where I ended up not doing anything I had to, nor anything I've wanted to do.

By procrastinating, I ended up procrastinating on goals I wished to accomplish, like reading more books, improving my career or anything related to my life goals.

I started using some daily/weekly "templates", which has helped me overcome my procrastination during hours I should not be procrastinating. Although procrastinating isn't necessarily bad, these tips I try to apply during my day/week routine, so I don't slip on hours I should not.

Preparing my week

Every Sunday evening, I set up an hour to establish my 3 weekly goals I want to accomplish during the coming week. There may be smaller goals, meaning they take little effort to accomplish but requires some days, like finishing a book. However, there may be a bigger goal you want to accomplish that might take a month to do so, such as delivering a project you are working on. The latter should be divided into subgoals, such as implementing the payment system in week 1.

For example:

# Jan 27 - 31
* Implement the payment system for project Y
* Finish book XYZ
* Meditate before sleep

That's it. It's simple, straight to the point and doesn't feel or look scary or anything you would want to run away from. Keep in mind that these goals are goals for improving yourself and making you feel better, and not designed for work-related, although you could adapt a version alike.

Preparing my day

Every day in the evening, I take a few minutes to think of 3 things I want to accomplish tomorrow. I think of future goals I would like to accomplish, that I could very well be starting tomorrow. Such as improving my algorithm thinking, or reading some paper related to my field.

# Jan 27
* Read 25 pages of book XYZ
* Swimming classes
* Solve 3-4 work code-related tasks

Keeping it up

Keeping this up is easy to forget, so you have to get write them down, I write down my daily goals in my todo app, which makes it easier for me to keep track and read it during the day. My work uses Google Calendar for meetings and events, so I sync todo list with Google calendar, so I only have to check my goals and todos in one place.

I keep my weekly goals written down in a file. I do that because I might add some notes related to that week so I can check later.

Conclusions

By making sure I had all these goals set during my week, I've been able to confront my goals and accomplish them every day and every week, without feeling the guilt of procrastinating when having goals set or feeling time pressure. Three goals daily and weekly allows me to have time for other things which may not necessarily be a goal.