[PUBLISHER] Merge #103

* PUSH NOTE : how-i-get-a-lot-of-work-done-as-a-busy-entrepreneur-and-father.md

* PUSH NOTE : okrs-do-they-work.md

content/posts/how-i-get-a-lot-of-work-done-as-a-busy-entrepreneur-and-father.md

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+---
+title: How I get a lot of work done as a busy entrepreneur and father
+authors:
+  - Patrik Björklund
+share: true
+date: 2024-11-14 19:52:00 +0200
+summary: In this entry I go through how I go all the way from my core values down to what I decide to do day by day. We go through quarterly, weekly and daily planning based on values and how to figure out how to bucket time by mapping out an ideal week.
+tags:
+  - productivity
+  - goals
+series:
+  - How I Work
+---
+To me my setup for deciding how to live my life and decide what to do seems straightforward and makes sense. If you ask my wife you will see how far eyes can roll (and she spent a large part of her early career as a project manager!).
+
+Overall my approach to living life can be summarized with:
+
+> Live a fulfilling life I can be proud of. Do things intentionally, don't let life just happen.
+## Values
+If I can spend a whole day watching reality tv (Below Deck is my guilty pleasure at the moment) without guilt when I'm not feeling well I should be able to track it all the way back to one of my values. In this case of compassion, compassion for myself. Letting myself rest without guilt when I need it and not just push on was something I learnt way to late in life.
+
+If everything is grounded in values it makes it easier to think about things. 
+
+To keep track I have a values document that starts by listing my overall top 3 _currently_ most important values and then what values I strive to live by for every role I currently have in life.
+
+It can look like this:
+
+**Overall top 3 values**
+1. Honesty
+2. Discipline
+3. Patience
+
+**Additional values by role**
+
+| Man        | **Father**    | Leader    | Husband       | Friend        |
+| ---------- | ------------- | --------- | ------------- | ------------- |
+| Compassion | Encouragement | Stability | Compassion    | Humor         |
+| Wisdom     | Love          | Humility  | Love          | Vulnerability |
+| Courage    | Patience      | Clarity   | Encouragement | Curiosity     |
+
+As you can see there is not to much embellishment or explaining, this is fine. They should be fluid and as long as I know what I mean - that's fine. The hard, and valuable, part is reflecting on them.
+
+Since change is the only constant I update this regularly. It's not set in stone in any way, it's just a good tool to reflect on. Some values remain more constant than others.
+
+## Planning
+Now that we know what we value it's time to talk about how we do the things we do to live more along these values. To do this we need to talk about things like goals to achieve, projects & tasks to complete, customers to manage, communication to wrangle.
+
+I have split my planning into 3 levels. Quarterly, Weekly and Daily.
+### Quarterly planning
+Basically we start by looking a quarter into the future and see what we can do that will help us  **live more closely to our values**.
+
+I try to set quarterly OKRs (Objective and Key Results, see [okrs-do-they-work](okrs-do-they-work.md)). These should be grounded in my values, trying to make progress on how well I can live up to them.
+
+#### Tools used
+- Quarterly planning checklist
+- Previous quarterly plan
+- Values document
+### Weekly planning
+Every week I draft a rough plan for how to distribute the open (can't really call it "free", yet) time I have available that week to make progress on things that matter.
+
+I do this by reviewing all my tasks and Kanban boards each Monday (or Sunday if I feel like it) and think about what I need to do to make progress towards my quarterly goals and open projects this week. 
+
+I try not to focus on what is important AND urgent but rather what is most important in the long run. I find that often prioritizing by what is urgent will lead to primarily putting out fires without making real progress on what matters. Putting out fires is good if they risk spreading, but sometimes it's fine just letting a part of the forest burn since the sea will swallow it eventually.
+
+The output for this varies depending on what I have to do. 
+
+Sometimes it's a general "schedule 2 focus periods for client project X" and sometimes it's `- [ ] Finish google ads review for the month` with specific tasks for each day. 
+
+I don't pay to much attention creating the **perfect weekly plan** since it will need adjusting throughout the week anyways.
+
+Tools used:
+- Kanban board for every area of responsbility I have/hat I wear
+- Kanban board for each project I'm working on
+- Overview that shows a collected view of all boards, summary of work in progress, backlog counts etc. etc. at the same time (I'll write up a post on how this works at a later date)
+- My work and private calendar
+- Weekly plan checklist
+### Daily planning
+Now we arrive at the type of planning I do most often. 
+
+A granular plan on exactly what to do today hour by hour to do what I set out to do in the weekly plan as well as things that show up and needs handling during the week. 
+
+I try to keep this at a high level if there are no very timebound tasks that needs to be done.
+
+#### Tools used
+- Daily note in digital journal
+
+### Disciplines & Rutines
+#### Shutdown
+I have clear work shutdowns with a shutdown complete ritual to tie upp all loose ends for the day so my mind can rest when going into family time. 
+#### Full capture
+I practice full capture of tasks, directly stolen from David Allen and Getting Things Done (GTD) of which I was a big fan in the 90s. 
+
+This includes processing captured tasks during shutdowns. Offload everything into 1 trusted system. My obsidian files.
+
+> Never memorize what you can look up in books /Maybe Einstein
+
+Great quote that can be shortened just to "never memorize what you can look up", and I guess expanded in this age of generative AI to "... what you can look up and trust".
+
+#### Ideal week
+
+The Ideal Week concept, by Michael Hyatt, is a time management strategy that involves visualizing and planning your "perfect" week in advance.
+
+Here are the steps involved in this method:
+
+1. **Visualize Your Week**: Start by imagining what your ideal week would look like. This includes work time, leisure time, time with family and friends, exercise, hobbies, personal development, etc.
+
+2. **Categorize Your Activities**: Break down your activities into categories. These might include deep work, administrative tasks, meetings, fitness, recreation, spiritual, family time, etc.
+
+3. **Create a Weekly Template**: Using a calendar (digital or physical), divide your week into blocks of time and assign each block to one of your categories. Michael Hyatt recommends using different colors for each category.
+
+4. **Assign Time Blocks**: Start filling in your week with these categories. Be realistic about how much time activities actually take. Don't forget to include time for breaks and transition times between tasks.
+
+5. **Prioritize Your Tasks**: Use this template to prioritize your tasks. The most important or challenging tasks should be handled during your most productive times of day.
+
+6. **Review and Adjust**: At the end of the week, review how closely your actual week matched your ideal week. Make adjustments as needed for the following week.
+
+I do this for all 24 hours of the day, monday through sunday, and outline how I would distribute my time in the best case scenario between different work areas, sleep, exercise, family time etc. 
+
+##### Tools used
+- I just do it in a excel sheet to keep it simple and review it from time to time.
+
+## Rounding off
+
+So there it is. My theoretical overview of how to do work (and I guess live a life) that is fulfilling and meaningful to me. Next time we will go into how I use [Obsidian](https://www.obsidian.md) alongside Agile principles to actually do the things we talked about in this article.