How to improve quality of life by having the right daily habits - First Step

Many years ago when I was promoted to managing 10 people at work and at the same time to run many projects and also need to take care of things at my own house, I panicked as I was overworking and quality of life suffered. As people around me know me, I take pride in executing my projects/tasks perfectly and being the productivity geek. But at one point I didn’t feel I am productive or efficient as there are so many tasks or items on my mind and I feel stressed and overwhelmed. 

Knowing I need to tackle this problem from the source, I spent a lot time doing research and tried different methods recommended by different productive guru - including David Allen's Getting Things Done; Tony Buzzan’s Mind Map, Tony Robbin’s Rapid Planning Method, Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Nick Cernis’ Todoodlist, and Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro technique. Why? Because if you want to succeed in one field, you find the best in that field and start modeling them. Don’t feel overwhelmed, as you don’t need to try all of them to find what are best for you, you can stand on what people have tried and modify based on what is the best for you. 

I often shared my collection of best practices that build daily habits to improve the quality of life with my mentees, teammates and it is well received so I hope by documenting them here, it would help you to improve your daily routine and quality of life too. 

1. The first habit is to clear your mind by having a collection system. 

It easy to say than do, right? There are so many projects, tasks, items, ideas, random thoughts, reminders we have in daily life and our brain just can’t remember them all. So no matter you are using GTD, RPM, Mind Map, find a system that is comfortable for you to write down all things. If you prefer pen and paper, bullet journal style will work for you too. All that matter is that you carry that system with you all day long and it is easily accessible to you so when a random thought comes up - for example, when writing this article, I somehow had a thought of I need to order a baby gift for one of my girl friend in Los Angeles as I will miss her baby shower. I just pop up my system and write it down (10 seconds) and come back to this article. 

If it is the first time you do this, you will spend a bit more time to write down everything. Give yourself a break after one hour. It could take 2-4 hours depending on your work/life so take it easy at the beginning. It will get better and better in the future. 

The most debated item regarding this step is what tool to use? Some people prefer pen and paper so they carry a notebook with them all the time. I wouldn’t recommend sticky notes as those are too easy to be scattered and you will forget them easily. 

I have tried notebook but it didn’t work for me as female outfit sometimes don’t have pockets or some of my purses are too small to fit them. In the end, if I can’t guarantee I am with the notebook 24/7 together, I can’t use it as my collection tool. I am 24/7 with my phone so I opt for digitally collect my thoughts. There are many options, Todoist, Evernote, Notes (if you use iPhone), Google Keep (if you use android), Reminders. The options are endless here. The tip here is to just stick to one app. Don’t put them into different ones!!! You would just make your life harder if you use more. Simplicity is the key.  I personally use Todoist (http://todoist.com) as it is also my tool for the second step. 

Any questions about this first step? Please comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can. :) 

Now that you have the collection tool set up. It is time to implement the second step!