Chapter 15
SAL Daily Task Trackers
Unlike your vision, mission, and long-term goals, your daily tasks are likely to change frequently. However, some vital tasks need to be repeated daily and then developed into long-term habits. You can develop these essential daily habits by using a SAL Daily Task Tracker, which serves as both a reminder of vital recurring tasks and as a tangible record of ongoing completion/accomplishment thereof.
Plus, it is no secret that checking things off a list is immensely satisfying!
While the tracker is meant to challenge yourself, stretch your effort, and develop focus, persistence, and self-discipline, it can easily become overwhelming if you are trying to do too many different tasks each day. The right number of tasks will vary from person-to-person and from time-to-time in your life. Remember that it is okay to make changes to your list by either adding or subtracting tasks as needs be along the way.
Dr. JJ's Use of Daily Task Trackers
I have used SAL Daily Task Trackers several times throughout my life's journey as a self-action leader. Perhaps the most memorable and significant use of them came during graduate school.
Back in 2010, I began full-time work on my doctorate. In theory, I was excited about the opportunity I had to independently pursue an academic sabbatical on a far-away island (Newfoundland, Canada, where my wife's job was located at the time) where I could focus on my studies full-time and dive head-first into my doctoral research and writing.
In actual practice, however, making a robust daily commitment to my coursework proved difficult at times, especially at first, and it took me a while to develop a consistent and productive daily routine. This difficulty arose largely from my decision to engage a distance-oriented distributed learning program far away from live classes, in-person teaching, and other elements of traditional, brick-and-mortar educational structures.
In other words, there was no one in my program present with me to cajole, encourage, or nudge me forward in my work.
I was on my own!
This was ultimately the right pathway for me to pursue as I have always been a very self-reliant and independent-minded person who prefers to ride solo as a student and professional—as opposed to working in a group environment.
As the "SAL Guy" I was well suited to this kind of educational arrangement.
But that didn't make it easy!
Indeed, it required the very best of my self-action leadership capabilities to plan, organize, and execute the demanding coursework in my doctoral program—and the SAL Daily Task Tracker came in handy to help me get a solid start at this unique period of my life and career when focus, self-discipline, and time management were keys to my success.
Thus, I used these trackers to help me keep pace with my educational goals and degree progression timeline, reaping a variety of benefits from so doing.
I also found the trackers to be satisfying—even fun—to use. Quantitatively tracking task completion and percentages can be enormously enlightening and useful. Moreover, like qualitative tracking (aka Journaling), quantitative tracking can aid in self-awareness and be fulfilling.
For me, SAL Daily Task Trackers served two basic purposes during my doctoral work. First, I used them to achieve my academic goals in a timely manner. Second, they helped me balance the time I spent on my studies with the time I spent on other aspects of my life (i.e. family, friends, personal fitness, spirituality, service, and religious worship). Thus, they not only empowered me with a productive daily routine, but they also enabled me to stay consistent and motivated in my work while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
When using the tracker, I usually summed up my short- and mid-range academic goals with ONE daily task to spend x-number of hours on my studies. This focused my mind and attention on the huge time commitment that my doctoral program demanded. More importantly, it strengthened my resolve to "put in the time" each day, creating an essential habit for completing my coursework.
The rest of my daily tasks concentrated on other life priorities, such as family life (time spent with my wife each day), spirituality (time spent in prayer, scripture study, and other religious worship), physical exercise, and personal development.
It was especially important to me to spend quality time with my wife each day. During graduate school orientation, I heard statistics repeated about the correlation between doctoral studies and divorce, and I was determined to prevent my marriage from becoming a statistic in this regard!
During my quest to achieve my goal of becoming a Doctor of Education, I used SAL Daily Task Trackers to avoid neglecting Lina and the precious relationship I shared with her, which, according to the values laid out in my SAL Constitution, was far more important than my doctoral degree.
In all, I used SIX (6) different SAL Daily Task Trackers from 2010-2012 while I was working on my doctoral degree. One of theses trackers—from November and December of 2010—can be viewed below.
I never achieved perfection in the pursuit of my daily task goals, but I did far better than I would have without the tracker; and that's really the point. The main objective in using a tracker is usually not perfection. Rather, the primary goal is progress and consistency.
EXERCISE #15
Design a SAL Daily Task Tracker with a minimum of five (5) and a maximum of eight (8) daily tasks (desired habits) you would like to practice and develop over the next 30 days. Then, aim for a 75-percent completion rate.
Note: Don't be overly ambitious in the daily task goals you set. You want to stretch yourself, but you also want to be realistic and avoid feeling overwhelmed.
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 447th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 247th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
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