THE RULE OF 3

Let me set the scene. It’s winding down to the end of yet another work day, frustration has firmly set in with the lack of progress made on anything you set out to do today which is shocking given the amount of work that you know you spent time doing. It feels like it’s now or never, you sit down to finally focus – and then all of a sudden your attention is required elsewhere and you feel so overwhelmed and annoyed you could just. lose. your. shit.

That’s how I ended up in an argument with a 5 year old from the other side of a bathroom door. Not my finest moment.

You’ve been there too, right? If your kid wasn’t the tipping point, it could just as easily be a spouse/partner, a co-worker, a parent, a friend or roommate. Please tell me we’ve all had a similar breaking point we’ve experienced.

But I’ve found something that’s helping! It’s called the Rule of 3 and while I’m positive the concept is not new, I was introduced to it through a quick 23 minutes SkillShare class I took on productivity. While the class describes it as establishing 3 priorities for the week, 3 priorities for the day, and 3 wins for the week, I’ve been simplifying it. I’ve been focusing on just the 3 priorities for the week while mapping out what smaller tasks I need to accomplish and when to make sure those 3 priorities happen as planned.

Now, if you’re a good goal setter and can easily hold yourself accountable while tuning out distractions then I’m sure you’re good to go. But for me, in a collaborative and service oriented work environment (I’m an academic advisor and lead for a team with myself and 7 other fantastic advisors), it’s been a really great approach to help me feel like I’m contributing in a more pro-active way rather than the reactive approach of only managing the things that are brought to me. Have I gotten everything on the list done every week? No, but I’m getting more done and mentally doing worlds better. And at the end of a work day, and especially the end of a long work week, that feels good.

Some other things that are helping…

– Focusing on a task associated with one of the top 3 priorities for the week first thing in the morning. It’s good to start the day off with a win!

– Using the Pomodoro technique – setting a 25 minute timer and work on the task at hand for that full time – no checking my phone allowed! The timer really does set a sense of urgency and even if something else that needs your attention pops up in the middle, it’s almost always something it’s fine to put on hold until that timer goes off.

– Don’t get overly ambitious. Keep it manageable. Know the cycle of busy seasons and plan accordingly. Our next one is coming up next week and I recognize that more of my time and energy will have to shift to the more day to day work that needs to happen. I’ll just scale back and focus on smaller but still impactful steps toward projects and goals each week.

– Find an app you like to help you track your to list each day. I’ve been using Todoist to enter my 3 priorities, the tasks associated with those with a due date assigned, and then I can toggle back and forth between only seeing the current day’s list (good to avoid feeling overwhelmed) and seeing my entire week at a glance.

And that’s it! Hopefully you’re feeling good enough by the end of the week to close out the work week on a positive note and feel good about enjoying your weekend!