8 Productivity Experts on the Tricks They Use to Hold Themselves Accountable
Specific strategies for making sure you get things done
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When Laura Vanderkam is dreading something on her to-do list, she uses it to kick off the workweek.
“If there’s something I really need to do and I’m not terribly excited about it — for example, organizing information so my accountant can do my taxes — I’ll assign it to myself on a Monday morning, when I tend to have more energy,” says Vanderkam, author of several books on productivity.
It’s a small scheduling trick, but little things like this can make all the difference when it comes to accomplishing everything you need to do. On any given day, there’s no shortage of items competing for your attention: You have multiple projects to juggle at work, errands to run, personal relationships to pay attention to, your own health and wellness to take care of, a home to keep (at least somewhat) clean. When you add up all the everyday tasks that go into running your life, in and out of the office, the prospect of getting through them all can feel a little overwhelming.
Below, productivity experts share the strategies they use to make sure they get things done.
Incentivize yourself with downtime
When I’m done [with an unpleasant task], I let myself do whatever. I once assigned myself to make a cold call I was dreading at 9 a.m. on a Monday, and when I was done at 9:10, I went for a nice long walk and then read. Obviously, this wouldn’t work for everyone, but the idea of rewarding yourself with time off, even if it’s just a quick reading break, might work.
—Laura Vanderkam, author, host of the podcasts Best of Both Worlds and Before Breakfast; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Do an end-of-day recap
I have an exercise that I do at the end of each day. There are five steps, and each one takes only a minute. First, I write down what I accomplished throughout the day — I find that we often underestimate the work we’ve done, but by taking one minute to think through my day, I’m usually pleasantly surprised. Taking time to celebrate is key for keeping up momentum.
