hey guys ~
welcome back
this video is on getting things done
how I plan and organize my life
so earlier today I was super stressed
because I had no idea what today's video was gonna be on
and I did what any sensible person would have done
I distracted myself and I procrastinated
and I did it in the form of planning and organizing my life
because that's just what I do to distract myself
but while I was doing that I realized the act of taking what's in here
so any ideas, any thoughts..
any tasks you have to do, any errands you have to run..
by taking this.. and putting it down on paper
and then seeing it for what it is
all the things.. doesn't matter.. it can be picking up your cat
it can be the projects that you have to do
it can be petting yourself.. giving yourself an ego pat
telling you.. yourself you did well
taking these tasks and prioritizing what's the most important
and then putting these tasks where they belong
so for example in your calendar, in your to-do list for the day..
in your to-do list for some day, in your journal, in your planner.. whatever
the act of doing something like this..
...is so cathartic
I felt like 20 pounds were lifted off of my shoulders
and I felt so much lighter
that I was like why not make this into a video
so...
this is what this video is going to be about
thank you Blinkist for sponsoring this video
Blinkist is a super cool app that transforms key insights
of over 200 best-selling non-fiction books
into powerful packs you can read ~ or blink ~ and listen to in just 15 minutes
in a nutshell the good people at Blinkist read a lot of books..
pull key insights, and explain them in easy to digest summaries
might I add this is a much better form of distraction
compared to aimlessly scrolling through social media
while I was distracting myself
I blinked a book called 'Getting Things Done' (hence the title)
the art of stress-free productivity
so I was stressed.. I wanted to be more productive
so I was like great.. I'll read this
and that was what inspired me to start planning and start organizing
and what inspired me to make this video
and all the books that I'm gonna reference you can also blink
so without further ado, this is the longest intro of the century
but I hope it all.. it all came together somehow
so the first thing I do like I mentioned earlier is to transfer what's in here onto paper
brain dump all the bullet points, all the things, all the thoughts, all the feelings..
maybe not feelings because you can't really turn feelings into actionable items
but brain dump everything in here onto paper
and it can be in any form
it could be thought bubbles
it can be a bullet point list
it can be whatever you want.. just so that it's on a piece of paper
and you can see all the things you have to do and all the thoughts that you have
and then you prioritize
what I used to do in the past is..
I would either pick the most time-consuming thing and do it first
or I would pick the couple of easiest things
or I'll pick like the simplest things and I'll do it first
or I'll just kind of go down in the order that I had the to-do list written out
but what I learned is that this isn't the most effective and/or efficient use of my time
because not all tasks are created equal
this I got from 'The One Thing'
this is a book by Gary Keller I believe
the main takeaway is when you are about to start your day..
ask yourself this question:
"What is the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary"
so this makes you really ask yourself if I can only do one thing today
what would that one thing be
this question of course can be applied on a more macro scale
which is what is the one thing I can do in my life that'll make me the happiest
or it can be applied on a micro
~ micro ~
micro scale of within the list of to-do's that I have to do today
what can I do today to help me get to where I want to be
to help me be more productive, to help me be happy, to help me be healthier
so that is the first way to look at how to prioritize
and then a second way to look at how to prioritize is the 80/20 rule
it's the Pareto Principle
so this dude named Pareto
this dude.. he's an economist
I think Italian economist
does it matter? do you guys care?
yes, he was an Italian economist
and he discovered one day while he was browsing through his gardens
that 20% of his peapods produce 80% of the peas
~ peas peas peas peas ~
so with this he realized 20% of your input will usually produce 80% of your output
so again it's like knowing what that 20% is
knowing what these most important things are
do them so that you can achieve 80% of the results
so now that you've taken everything in here (mind)..
put it on a piece of paper, had time to look over it
know what's most important, know what you have to tackle for the day
when you first do this it may be kind of overwhelming
because you have things from your work life: projects you have to do, deadlines you have to meet..
and you have things from your personal life: picking up laundry, calling your mom..
something from your social life: dinner with a friend, picking out a restaurant
so now the third thing to do is to organize this
I use three things religiously
there is iCal..
there is a web browser called TuexDuex
that I use that I've been using and that I've been loving
and my Gmail is also always opened because Gmail is life
so for iCal I mostly use it for appointments, reminders, and blocking out my schedule
I love the monthly view because you can see everything at a glance very quickly
you know what you're getting yourself into for the month
and just by glancing over you have a really good idea of what to expect
I also love how everything is color-coded
so there's work, my spiritual stuff..
play which is social, gym, working out, appointments and travel
appointment is red by design because
these are like the most important things that I do not want to miss
there's also the weekly view which I love using every once in a while
to block out every single moment of my day to schedule my day
to make sure I maximize everything
I don't always adhere to it but it's nice to do the night before
so I kind of have a mental visualization of where my day is gonna go
the next thing that I use is TuexDeux
to me it's like a to-do list on crack
I love how I can easily drag and drop everything around
at the very bottom you can also customize what you want these different lists to be
so I have one for YouTube, people I want to connect with, projects..
what projects mean is basically things that require multiple tasks within it
so what I put on the top are all actionable items that like..
I need to film this, I need to edit this, I need to do this specifically
so what goes in here is the one or two tasks that I have to do today
like the one or two tasks.. my one thing..
my one or two tasks that have to do today
that can make everything else easier and unnecessary... it'll go in here
and then the "Someday" bucket is things that I have to do eventually
that doesn't have an imminent deadline.. I'll just put it there
and another thing is Gmail
everything is labeled, everything has a place that belongs..
if there's no place that belongs.. I'll create a place for it to belong or I'll delete it
for my inbox I also section it in a way where the very top shows a label 'To Do"
so any email that gets labeled 'To Do' means
there's an open task that still needs to be done
I need to respond to a question
I need to send them something or they're waiting for something from me
usually it's just things that require immediate attention
or things that I want to be reminded of that I still need to do
and once I do do one of those things.. let's say I still need to follow up
I'll choose a label from "To Do' to follow up
which will go into the second section
and this section means that although I've already taken action..
the task is still open because I'm either waiting for something from someone
I need to follow up with someone, I need to make sure it gets done
then it's 'Unread' and then it's 'Everything Else'
and so how you section everything is you go to 'Settings' and then 'Inbox'
and then 'Inbox Section' you can choose this yourself
you can choose within all of these things.. more options
you can choose a label
you can show how many emails show per item
and you can move these around
and then labeling is right next to it
you can create however many labels you want
you can remove it, you can edit it
so the fourth thing you do is after you put everything in here onto paper
prioritize it, know what's important, organized it..
look at everything comprehensively
no matter what system you create for yourself
no matter what process you create for yourself
if you don't constantly review it and revamp it and recalibrate it and improve it
it's not going to help you
it's gonna make you less productive if you forget where you put things
so it's important to review everything to know what's most important to you
and to continually revise your system so that it is pumping on all cylinders
and it's helping you be your best self and be as productive as you can
so the fifth and final thing to do is to just do it
now that you put everything where they belong..
now that you know what's most important..
now that you know the one thing that you have to do
the 20% of what you need to do to produce 80% of your results
it's time to just rubber to road and go
planning and organizing helps
buying all the tools, all the things, all the gadgets..
it helps.. it definitely does..
but at the end of the day, if you don't actually do it
none of it matters if you actually don't do the task at hand
it doesn't matter how well organized and how well planned you are
because nothing is getting done
so with that..
thank you guys so much for joining me for this video
if you want to blink the book I referenced for this video..
'Getting Things Done'
you can in the link.. in the description..
~ ling lalalalingg ~
you can in the link in the description
they're currently offering 20% off to you beautiful humans if you want to use it
they have a yearly subscription which turns out to be about $5.00 a month
or they also have monthly or a free trial
so there's 3 options that you can do, 3 options that you can try
if this is something that you're interested in..
I honestly think it's super cool
I've already blinked over like a dozen books
and I love how I can read or skim through these books
before actually commit to a book
I love how user-friendly the app is
it's super intuitive, it's super easy to use
and there's also an audio option for if you're on the go
a thing that I like to remind myself is time spent on yourself..
money spent on yourself is never time or money wasted
I hope you guys have a beautiful rest of your day
have a beautiful rest of your weekend day, weekday, any day whenever you watch this
here is a hug *virtual hug*
~ oh here's a hug ~
~ uhyyee ~
this video was so difficult to film
I don't know why
honestly I think it's one of those days
buttuhh.. here it is
hope you guys liked it and you enjoyed
share with me what your guys' process are
if you guys have any, if you guys have any hacks
if you guys have any tips on how to plan and organize better
I would love to hear it
and I'll see you guys in next week's video
baiiii ~