Productivity Wednesday: Schedule Everything

With books like David Allen's 'Getting Things Done' and various articles, videos and sources on productivity, I have become a little obsessed with discipline and productivity.

I am a part of two groups in which we are encouraging one another to be focused on our goals in a relentless way. This coaching happens to be led by musicians and the group involves musicians.

I am cutting out extraneous things in my life that would distract me from pursuing these goals. Being a dean, professor, worship leader, father, husband, pianist and aspiring amateur endurance athlete doesn't leave much time for much, but you may be surprised how much time I sit down to watch Netflix or 24 re-runs on Amazon Prime. Those sessions have to go for now.

The first step to increase productivity is to find out how much time you are spending on any given thing is to record it. You can do this on a google doc. Plan for decent sleep - 7 to 8 hours. With 8 hours you have 16 hours to use in a day.

I schedule an hour a day for exercise - getting the kit on and showering etc is included. Right now I am training for a half-marathon in April. On the weekends that time increases of course for long runs and cross training.

I schedule out at least 2 hours a day for training on the piano. As concerts approach again, that will be increased to 3 hours.

30 to 45 minutes is used for prayer and meditation.

Now I have 12 hours to work with per day on my various responsibilities at home, work and moving things forward in my creative practice.

12 hours is a lot of time. How would you use it?

Not only should you measure how much time you have, but we should constantly seek to be more efficient with the time we have.

Efficiencies will be explored next Wednesday. For now, try to measure out your time and see where you are spending it.