Pay attention to how you put things on your calendar.
Why were we so good at writing college essays on time but we can’t start our blog? We had a strict deadline and a clearly defined result we were working towards when we were in college. Most likely, we had an essay to write on a specific topic. That essay had to have a certain number of words in it and a certain number of references.
The most important concept I’ve learned from SCRUM that I have adopted in my personal and professional life is the definition of done. In SCRUM, the team should have a clearly described definition of done before committing to spend any time on the task. How do we know that it’s done?
Since SCRUM is mostly used in tech industry, it often involves particular features that a final product should have. If it checks all the boxes, it is done no matter what other stakeholders think.
If we are to transfer this concept to personal productivity, you should plan for the result, not the activity.
Don’t put “work on my business” in your calendar. Write down the results that you will produce by the end of the hour.
For example, right now I have a block in my schedule called “Schedule a blogpost for Episode #2”. It is a block that lasts 60 minutes. In the notes I wrote “Definiton of done (in short DOD) – blogpost is scheduled to go live on Jan 14th”.
Definition of done is created to avoid any subjectivity. It is something that you and I can agree upon. Something that is a fact.
If I give you an access to my blog, we will both agree that I’ve accomplished the task. You will be able to go to my scheduled posts and see this blogpost scheduled. This is the result I have planned. I didn’t put “work on the blogpost” in my calendar. I have planned for the result, not the activity.