So I came across this podcast that my friend recommended me, called Not Overthinking. The podcast talks about topics from happiness and creativity to human conditions and also some great books that I myself have read if not, planning to read. He said he thought I would like it. And guess what, he was right.
The first episode I listened to during my morning routine was “Treating your personal life like a business” (I highly recommend it if you’re new to the podcast like me). Some of the things they discussed made so much sense to me even though I don’t know a dime about business.
Let's take a typical business meeting as an example.
Before the meeting, you would write up an agenda on what the meeting will be about. During the meeting, you take notes of the things you discuss and transform it into the meeting minute. After the meeting, you might wrap up with a summary of how the meeting went, what needs improving or what needs to be done.
This method allows you to prepare, to understand, and to review whether the business strategy or whatever was discussed during the meeting is most effective and efficient. It’s a great system. Then why is it that we don’t use it in our personal lives?
“Your system is the collection of daily habits that will get you there.”
— James Clear, Atomic Habits
If we were to turn the business meeting into a part of our daily life, it would look something like this.
- Start your day with a to-do list (Meeting Agenda)
- Write in your journal on how your day went (Meeting Minute)
- Spend some time doing self-reflection at the end of the day (Meeting Summary)
Feel free to check out daybreak planner templates for ideas to make your to-do list more fun and attractive to write in.
To Conclude
Once we apply this system to not just our business life but also our personal life, we’ll learn a lot more about ourselves, what we enjoy doing or what stresses us out, what we’re good at. or needs improving. With all this information, we can figure out more effective and efficient ways to carry on about our day. It might take a little effort to keep the system going and may require regular updating for better results but eventually, it’ll become as natural to you as breathing.