
The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey was a very interesting read which helps one focus their goal setting. The author prioritizes any ideas or tasks that come from this “brain dump” and it helps him keep on track. This quote states “Your head is not for holding ideas-it’s for having ideas.” This was compelling because it encourages one to write down all the ideas floating in one’s brain. In the section entitled “Emptying the brain”, there is a quote from David Allen, author of the book Getting Things Done. He found the idea helped his productivity considerably. Bailey writes of his experiences working with a VA. You can also seek the help of a virtual assistant (VA) if needed.

By lumping many of these tasks into one day, the reader will be able to reduce the time impact of many small but necessary maintenance tasks.

Bailey suggests “shrinking and removing the unimportant” for these tasks. There are many small tasks that take valuable time throughout the day like doing laundry and running errands. It is important to visualize yourself succeeding at these tasks. Each day you might take three small steps to work on as part of the Rule of Three. Then, one might break the goal into many smaller steps and write each one of these down. An idea might be to write down the goal at the top of a page of paper. I have a favorite picture on my wall that says, “Dream Big.” Difficult goals are worth achieving, but setting these can seem monumentous. These might be to remember to call relatives to check in on them or exercise 2-3 times per week. This may help you stay balanced both with your work and personal life. If you can accomplish 3 goals to further your work everyday and you can also establish three personal goals for the week.

Bailey even suggests setting an alarm in the middle of the day to remind you about the goals and to make sure you are making progress on them. You choose only three things because it’s easy to remember that many without referring to a list or writing it down. These should be three things that are in line with your values or are important to helping you accomplish your goals. The idea is to wake up early enough each day to ponder the daily work and come up with three things you want to make sure to accomplish that day. There are many helpful ideas in the book, but one of the most applicable to goal setting is his Rule of Three. Bailey writes about his experiences becoming an efficiency expert in this book. I came to this realization while reading and discussing The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey.
