I had a realization about myself as I was planning my week on Sunday afternoon.

When I was putting my tasks for Monday, work wise, in my Trello board of weekly planning, I was picturing myself filling in the circles with dots as I would do the work on Monday afternoon. And that anticipation of filling in those circles with dots of work finished made me happy.

That is when I realized. 

This was the first time I was using Trello this year. I had ignored it for the past many weeks because I was not organized enough and motivated enough to give myself fixed tasks for every day of the week. And not being organized and motivated also meant that I was vague in my head about what I wanted to accomplish each day. And that in turn meant I was not very productive at all. I would either not get to one of my vaguely planned tasks, or do it with the same vagueness without having a fixed end in mind.

The realization was two fold:

• If I am not motivated, then I am not organized.

• And if I am not organized, I am not productive.

I know, you would say “duh!”, but it’s not that simple. There are nuances. 

The motivation is the starting point, but that alone will not get me moving in the direction I want to travel. I still have to dig in to put that motivation to work to figure out what I want to do, and then putting it down on paper, or Trello.

And once it’s written down in a list that my brain can easily navigate on the day that the work is assigned to, without spending brain cells on thinking much about the list itself, my only job is to get on with the job(s).

And ticking things off the list is the reward at the end of finishing the job, that makes me want to keep going.

So here are my equations:

• No Plan=Nothing accomplished

• Vague Plan=Something accomplished + Not sure where I’m going + Not very satisfied at the end

• Solid Written Plan=Mostly accomplished + Moving in the right direction + Happiness at ticking the box

I am not expecting myself to get everything done at the cost of feeling burnt out (aka: My self-worth is not dependent on my list). This danger is contained with the time blocks I have assigned myself during the day. I stop working at 4, which means unfinished business (unless very time sensitive!) would have to be completed the next day. But atleast I have work in progress with an end result in mind.

But I am expecting myself to get cracking.

Having a solid plan along with time block assigned to the plan on the day also means there is very little space for wasting time. No hanging out on social media, or meandering through the house, or finding kitchen work to do (isn’t kitchen work an endless saga?!). 

So with a solid plan along with time block, I am giving myself the best possibility to get stuff done and move towards my planned direction in life. 

And it all starts with just that little spark of motivation, when combined with a little time thinking about where do I want to go. That is a big step forward.

After that, doing the work is mindless. Until the next planning session which would be a good time to assess my progress and direction.

So until next weekend, till I sit down to plan my week again, I just have to show up, do the work, and find my joy in clicking the circles with dots that scream that “I DID IT!”