UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

READY? SET? GO!A SIMPLE GUIDE TO FOSTERING

THOUGHTFUL PRODUCTIVITY

Presented by Katherine MacGregor

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

A little about me

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Session Outline & Learning Objectives

Also, why journaling?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

What do we think about when we think about productivity?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

What is “thoughtful productivity”?

Aka, self-care & productivity can be friends!

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

How does this relate to my role in residence life?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

READY?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

PREPARING TO TAKE ACTION

- What holds us back?- How can we overcome this?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Barriers to Action:

- Anything that is holding you back from completing a task

- Can be external & internal

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

External Barriers

- Things we can’t control- We can only control our preparation for

them & reaction to them - E.g. personal life stresses, concerns on-call

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Internal Barriers

- Things we can control with positive self talk

- Come from within us- Voices of fear, doubt, worthlessness

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Focus on the ‘Why’

- A tool of motivation is defined purpose- Recalling why we do what we do can help

us overcome our internal barriers and help us prepare for facing external barriers

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

EXERCISE 1: Define your purpose

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Answer the following:

- What do you do?- Who do you do it for?- What do the people you do it for want and

need?- How does what you do impact the people

you do it for?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

WE ARE NOW PREPARE TO TAKE ACTION

- We’ve thought about what holds us back - We’ve defined our purpose to keep us

motivated

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

SET?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

DETERMINING WHAT ACTIONS TO PURSUE

- What are our big dreams?- How can we work to achieve those

dreams?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Capture Everything

- Write it down to free up your brain space

- Build a trusted system for capturing your thoughts

- Stick to that system and adapt when necessary

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Make it up & Make it happen

- Imagine ‘wild success’

- Brainstorm how to get there (list actionable tasks)

- Determine order of actionable tasks

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Build the Ideal To-Do List

- Everyday, create a short (4-10 tasks) to-do list

- Generate tasks from captured thoughts & steps that need to be taken to achieve wild success

- Tasks must be relevant & achievable (think SMARTer goals)

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

EXERCISE 2: Imagine ‘wild success’

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Make it up

- What does wild success in your role look like?

- Next step is to make it happen (brainstorming tasks necessary to achieve this success)

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

WE NOW KNOW HOW TO DETERMINE WHICH ACTIONS TO PURSUE

- We’ve thought about our big dreams- We’ve learned how to define tasks from

big dreams to start working towards achieving them

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

GO!

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GETTING STARTED & TAKING ACTION

- How can we start getting things done?- What can we do to be productive when

we’re working?

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

The Two-Minute Rule

- If you can complete a task in less than two minutes, you should complete it right now

- Capture the thought only if the task is impossible to complete right now

- This is how to maintain a manageable To-Do list

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

The Five-Minute Start

- If you’re having trouble getting going on a task, commit to only working on it for five minutes

- In this time, you’ll overcome internal barriers

- Doesn’t work? Take no more than ten minutes to clear your head then come back to the task

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

The Pomodoro Technique

- Commit to 25 minutes of focused work (aka no multi-tasking) then take a 5 minute break

- Repeat this cycle 4 times, then take a 30 minute break

- Keep a notepad near you to capture thoughts

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

EXERCISE 3: Write a ‘To-Done’ list

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

The To-Done List

- We’re using this exercise to practice completing a task in a focused way

- List out everything you’ve done today to celebrate your accomplishments, big and small

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

WE KNOW HOW TO GET THINGS DONE

- We’ve learned tools to start tasks & maintain productivity

- We’ve practiced completing a task using some of the tools presented today

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Wrap-up & Review

Step 1: Ready? Preparing to take actionStep 2: Set? Determining which actions to

pursueStep 3: Go! Getting started & taking action

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

Resources you might enjoy

Getting Things Done by David Allen

The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo

How to know your life purpose in 5 mins(TEDxMalibu talk by Adam Leipzig)

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGH1265 Military Trail, Toronto, Ontario  M1C 1A4

THANK YOU!

Questions?