63. How to Have a Productive Day: My 3-Bucket System for Getting It Done & Staying Balanced
Episode 63
We all know how satisfying it feels to have a good, solid productive day — a day where we accomplish what we intend to accomplish and make progress on our goals.
We feel balanced, rested and … well, productive.
In this episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I share my personal strategy for having a productive day. Nowhere in this episode will you hear me say to work harder or stay up later to check off tasks on your to-do list.
Instead, I teach you my three-bucket approach to intentionally prioritizing your tasks so you close out your day feeling satisfied.
🎙️Other Episodes + Resources Mentioned
Episode 17: Tips for Project Management and Planning Study Sessions
Episode 21: How to Plan Your Ideal Week (Weekly Planning Tips)
Episode 54: The Secret Ingredient Behind Every Accomplishment Ever
✏️Enroll in SchoolHabits University (Curious? Check it out!)
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The following transcript was autogenerated and may contain some interesting and silly errors. But in the name of efficiency and productivity, I am choosing not to spend my time fixing them 😉
63 How to Have a Productive Day: My 3-Bucket System for Getting It Done and Staying Balanced===
[00:00:00] You know the feeling when you crawl into bed at night and it was a really good day. You feel satisfied. You feel productive. You feel like the day had a purpose. You worked just enough to be sufficiently depleted and ready for a good night's sleep, but not so much that your brain is still stimming from the day.
Now, to contrast that feeling, you know those nights when you crawl into bed and your brain is still going a mile a minute, but you still feel exhausted, or you're still wired from unresolved issues from the day, or you feel guilty that you didn't accomplish what you should have accomplished. Not a good feeling at all.
In today's episode, I'm going to share some strategies for achieving that first feeling, the feeling of contentment and satisfaction and pride for a day well spent. In other words, we're going to talk about how to have a productive day. Hello and welcome to episode 63 of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast.
Thank you for joining me. Whether you are listening on a podcast app or watching this on YouTube, I'm [00:01:00] grateful for the next. I don't know, 20 minutes or so, we'll see how long this episode goes, um, that you intend to spend with me.
If there is anything that we talk about on the show today that you want to come back to in the future, you can find a transcript and all of the links that I mentioned at learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/63.
Okay. So to begin, I feel like I need to insert a disclaimer that I'm not making the case for having a 10 out of 10 productive day, seven days a week. That's unreasonable. And it doesn't align with what I teach here on the show. But there is a case to be made for designing any day of the week, whether that's a work day or a weekend day, or even a vacation day in such a way that you feel accomplished and satisfied when you crawl into bed.
And of course there are exceptions and nuances and caveats to everything that I suggest. For example, if you are sick and you need to stay in bed for 48 hours to recover, then that is 100% being [00:02:00] productive. Okay, if you are dealing with some mental health challenges and the absolute best that you can give on any given day is brushing your teeth, then that is productive for you.
Okay, but the strategies that I am sharing today are designed to get you to be a little more intentional about how you spend your time so that you feel good about yourself and what you achieve in the context of school and work. So if that sounds good to you, let's begin.
Okay, so I'm going to cut to the chase and start by sharing with you what I believe are the primary ingredients of a productive day.[00:03:00]
Actually, let's call them buckets. Okay, three primary buckets that I personally try to fill at the end of each day so that I close out my day knowing that I made progress on the important things, met my responsibilities, and made time for joy.
Bucket number one, something we must do. Bucket number two, something we should do.
Bucket number three, something we want to do.
Okay, I'm going to explain each of these.
So by the end of the day, I try to fill each of these three buckets with at least one item. On, on some days, one bucket might be fuller than the other two, but every bucket has something in it. Okay, no bucket is left empty.
I've learned that when we wrap up our day having completed something that we must do, something we should do, and something we want to do, we feel more balanced and productive. I'm going to give you lots of examples in the episode so you can begin to [00:04:00] imagine the types of things in your own life that could fill these three buckets.
Okay. Um, but to start, if you, if you're listening to this and you're thinking, okay, but how do I actually structure my day? So I have time to, you know, address all three buckets or like, I am so busy. How am I supposed to pay attention to like filling all these buckets? I have a full episode on planning your ideal week.
In that episode, I talk about how to create a realistic schedule that ensures you're making time for the things that matter most. So if you want a deeper dive into scheduling and planning out a full week, then check that out. It's episode 21. I've linked it in the show notes and it's a perfect compliment to what we talk about here.
But let's start with bucket number one, which are things we must do.
These are our obligations and our responsibilities in the context of work. This would probably be the main project that we're working on. If you're a student, this might be completing [00:05:00] a major assignment or studying for tomorrow's exam. In your personal life, maybe it's something like preparing your taxes.
If you have multiple roles, so you're a working professional, you, um, maybe run a household and, or maybe you're a professional and you're also a student, okay, maybe, maybe you're all three, you might have to fill your Must-Do bucket with tasks from each of your roles by the end of the day.
Okay, so for example, in my own life, in a single day, I may have to record one of my monthly Q&A episodes for my students inside School Habits University.
I'm actually recording that directly after I record this podcast today. So that's for the work context. I may have to make a doctor's appointment or an orthodontist appointment for one of my kids. That's going to be for my personal life context. And then, I am no longer in school, but when I was in graduate school, I probably had to work on a paper in there somewhere too.
So that would have been, you know, [00:06:00] something for my Must-Do bucket and for my role as a student. Does that make sense?
Essentially to feel productive at the end of the day, we need to complete or make progress toward at least one of our responsibilities or obligations in one or more of our roles. Now, let's say that you're managing, um, or you are a managing director in a company and you're listening to this podcast-
well, hello- well, then you might be thinking, okay, Katie, I have a thousand must do items that I need to complete at the end of the day. And it is ridiculous to suggest that I could just pick one, right?
Now, I am not making the case that you pick just one. I am making the case that you pick at least one and that you're intentional about where you're spending your time.
Now, no chance on earth you can actually complete a thousand tasks in a day, so what are the top three? Okay, where are you wasting your time? What are the top three most significant needle movers that if you achieved nothing else for the workday, if you achieved those three things, you [00:07:00] would technically be labeled really good at your job.
Okay? Anything beyond those three? That's the filler. That's the fluff. Some of that stuff might be pseudo productivity. Some of that stuff might be under the Should-Do bucket. Or the Want-to-Do bucket. We're going to get to those. But the Must-Do bucket, what are you going to prioritize? Okay, so that's what I'm talking about here.
If you're a student and you have to complete assignments for six classes, you might also be thinking, how am I supposed to pick just one important task? Again, that's not what I'm arguing. I'm encouraging you to be intentional about where you're spending your time. So if you have a research paper due for, I don't know, um, a, a biology class, or you have to color in a map for your geography class, some like sort of brainless activity, if you could only pick one, which one is going to make you feel the best about yourself at the end of the day? Obviously the research paper.
Right? Should, should you also cover the, color the map? Yeah, [00:08:00] but you're going to work on the research paper first, because that is a must do.
My point is that at the end of every day, the goal should be to have at least one must do item from your to do list in your must do list. It is so easy to fill up our time with pseudo productive tasks that make us feel busy, but that aren't actually connected to our true obligations and responsibilities.
And it's worth thinking about what your needle movers are and focusing on those first. Okay, there's something called the Pareto principle, which states that 80 percent of our achievement comes from 20 percent of our efforts. So what is your 20%? That's what goes in your Must-Do bucket.
Okay, let's talk about bucket number two, the Should-Do bucket. These are the tasks that are less urgent and less deadline based, but you really should do them. Do them at some point, right? You should do them. Like I'm air quoting because should has like, [00:09:00] like a connotation of like judgment to it, but that's not what I mean by like, should, like someone expects you to. This should, and I'm going to get into the explanation in a minute,
that comes from, from you. Okay, your own goals. Okay, you should do these things because they're connected to your larger goals. They're related to something that you want to achieve in the future for yourself, for school, or for work, or, or pleasure. Okay, nobody's watching. Nobody's counting, nobody's cheering you on for these should do items, which makes them super easy to ignore. But it's my personal opinion that this Should-Do bucket is where the magic is.
in fact, in episode 54 called the secret ingredient behind every accomplishment ever, I'll leave that linked below, I talk about how taking action is the only way we ever achieve anything. Now that might sound simple and basic, but if that were that easy to do, we would just all be at the top, you know?
So in that [00:10:00] episode, when I'm talking about the power of taking action, it's usually in the form of taking baby steps toward a larger goal when no one is looking. That's the should do work. let's look at an example in a work context, a school context, and then a personal context.
If you are a working professional, something that you should probably do is update your LinkedIn profile or resume if you've been considering a career change, it's easy to put this task off, but if you don't make time for it, it's not going to happen. And then neither will the career change. Right, another example of a should do task for a working professional might be cleaning up your digital organization space. Maybe it's the wild, wild west inside Google Drive or inside OneDrive and it's been driving you bananas every time you log in.
Okay, then do that. Can you imagine how good you'd feel at the end of the day as you crawl into bed knowing that you finally checked off one of that, you know, nuisance tasks that's been bugging you [00:11:00] and making you feel guilty?
Students, a classic example of a should do task is studying for a test that's, you know, over a week away.
If you've listened to episode 17, you'll know that this is actually the right time to start studying for a test or even earlier. But many college students ignore this reality and stress themselves out by trying to cram 10 days worth of studying into one single epic all nighter the night before the test.
Your larger goal is to do well on next week's test, okay? And although nobody is checking, or cheering you on, or looking over your shoulder, you should start studying now. Do you have to? No. Okay? Because nobody's making you. But imagine how good you'd feel at the end of the day knowing that you are one step closer toward getting that grade you want.
I'll give you a personal example from a few years ago when I first had the idea to create SchoolHabits University, which is my online study skills course. I know I talk a lot about that [00:12:00] here, but it is, to be honest, the most significant, impactful thing that I have ever done in my career. And it's like the best thing I have ever created.
So it's really hard not to talk about it. And it took years to make. Okay.
Whereas I work for myself, I do not have a boss giving me a deadline. There is no immediate consequence or, you know, meeting with HR if I don't get something done by the end of the day. But I made it my goal a few years ago when I first, um, like had the idea to make the course that every single day I would work for at least 25 minutes on designing my curriculum.
Whether I was outlining a lesson, maybe designing, designing some of the slides, recording a video lesson, creating one of the supplemental templates, building out the course portal, just did it all myself. Right. Whatever it was, no matter how I felt, no matter my level of motivation, which, you know, if you've been listening to the show, we realize is an irrelevant factor for action.
Okay. I would work 25 minutes toward building [00:13:00] my course every single day. If the day got derailed for whatever reason and everything got flipped upside down, I would crawl into bed at night knowing that I still made progress on one of my biggest personal and professional goals. What are your should do tasks?
What are the things that need to get done in the future that you've been putting off? What are your bigger goals for yourself? What's something that you've been thinking about for a long time saying, I should really do that? Then do that. Do it for 25 minutes a day. Heck, do it for 15 minutes a day. That's 15 minutes more than you've been working on it so far.
Again, imagine how good it would feel to crawl into bed at night knowing that you finally made progress towards something that you've been wanting to achieve.
Now a quick recap of our first two buckets before we move on to the third. Bucket number one is Must-Do.
These are the responsibilities and the obligations. These are usually attached to deadlines and consequences. Oftentimes our Must Do items are imposed by [00:14:00] someone else, a teacher, a boss, something like that.
Bucket two is the Should Do. I'm going to speak clearly here. These are the micro-steps of big projects, tasks that move you toward your larger goals, and they're easy to neglect because no one is demanding that they get done.
And a quick, a quick note here before we move on to bucket number three, if we only ever focus on the first bucket, which is just the must do, must do, have to do, and we never make time for the should dos, then we never ever break out of this game of whack a mole where we just feel like we're putting out the fire.
There's just too many metaphors in this. Where we just feel like we're just, you know, holding on by the skin of our teeth. Let's throw in some more figurative language. But, right, it's our progress toward our larger goals that really fills us up. We're going to get into bucket number three, and that's another way to fill ourselves up, but you get stuck.
If you ever feel like you're stuck and you've been spinning your wheels, I am just, I'm going to throw [00:15:00] every metaphor I possibly can at you, but if you feel like unfulfilled and it's just like every day is the same and you're just, you know, completing your tasks and your to-do list is just never-ending.
I ask you, are you doing any of the should do's? Are you making progress towards the things that don't have immediate deadlines on them, but they're still important to you? They may not be urgent as they're connected to your job or to your classes, but they're important to you. If you don't have enough of those, if you're not, if you're not putting at least one of those tasks in your Should-Do bucket most days of the week, it is not a good feeling.
Okay, we are going to move on to our third and final bucket which is our Want-to-Do bucket. This is the joy bucket. There are no rules here other than the thing that you do must bring you joy. [00:16:00] And obviously that varies wildly from person to person. For me, it's a workout. And I know that some people would put that in the Must-Do bucket or the Should-Do bucket.
But exercise brings me pure joy. And it's something that I put in my want to bucket every single day. in fact, I, I probably don't even consider it a want to, like, it's just what I do, like, it's just non negotiable. And then I try to put something else in my want to bucket.
I should probably do a better job prioritizing my want to bucket. And I'm working on that. Um, but the exercise is that is like, um, that is, that is the table that that holds all of my buckets if we're going to just keep going with figurative language. Okay. But for you, maybe a want to thing is, um, taking a nap.
Maybe it's going for a walk. Maybe it's calling a friend, obviously listening to this podcast, right? It may be watching a TV show with someone whose company you [00:17:00] enjoy. It could be playing the guitar or reading. Right, obviously you get my point that it could literally be anything as long as it brings you joy.
It could also be work related if that's what brings you joy. No judgment. I absolutely love my job because I made it up. And anytime I'm editing a video or recording a podcast or designing a graphic I am having a really, really good time. And again, no guilt or shame if the thing that brings you joy also happens to be something that you have to do or something that you should do.
There is definitely an overlap in our tasks here, but the difference is this. This is the important, um, part of the bucket system. I'm going to call it a bucket system. Officially, today, it's called the bucket system. Let me explain. Let me give you an example of something from my own life, which is cleaning.
Okay? Maybe you'll relate. I actually really do enjoy cleaning. I like having a tidy [00:18:00] space that feels fresh and crisp, and sometimes cleaning my house truly brings me joy, and I might consider that an item for my want to bucket on a particular day. Like that might actually fill me up and bring me joy, but it usually does.
But there's also times where cleaning does not bring me joy, where it makes me feel resentment because in most cases I'm not the one who made the mess. Alright. Alright. Sometimes my day has been really chaotic and the last thing I want to do is dust my bookshelves or clean my floors. So on that particular day, cleaning is not a task for my want to bucket.
It's probably a task for my Should-Do bucket. But if my Should-Do bucket is already full, cleaning is going to move to another day. Does that make sense? Because that's the key. That's how the bucket system brings us balance. It makes us intentional with the ratio of the kinds of tasks [00:19:00] we're filling our day with.
If my entire day has already been full of must do and should do tasks, and I haven't yet done something I want to do, and I'm not in the mood for cleaning, then I'm not cleaning. Because there's only so much time in a day and I need to fill that want to bucket before the day ends.
Now let me be real for a moment.
There are plenty of days where it's total chaos and all of my buckets get kicked over and I feel like I'm in survival mode. I am not a robot. There's only so much control we have over what happens to us in a day. But when I have the choice and the space, this is what I'll do, okay? And that balance I'm talking about, that doesn't mean that every bucket is perfectly equal every day.
Some days your Must-Do bucket will be overflowing. And there won't be much room left for your should do or want to bucket. Okay? But you still have to put something in there. Other days, you may have more space for the things you want to do. [00:20:00] The key is to be intentional about making sure that none of the buckets stay empty for too long.
Leaving our Must-Do bucket empty at the end of the day has major work or school consequences. Bad job performance, bad grades, right?
Leaving our Should-Do bucket empty for too long keeps us in a constant state of urgency because we're waiting until the last minute to complete things, and it also, you know, prevents us from ever reaching our long term goals. And then leaving our want to bucket empty for too long directly leads to burnout.
And at the end of the day, the goal is to go to bed with that feeling of satisfaction, the sense that our time was spent in a way that moved us forward, that met our responsibilities and allowed for joy.
You don't have to get everything done, but we do need a balance that feels right for you. So as you plan your day, ask yourself, what is one thing that I must do today? [00:21:00] What is one thing that I should do today? And what is one thing that I want to do today? Even a small effort in each bucket can make a huge difference. And when our bucket balance is off, so are we.
Thank you for joining me today. If you found this episode helpful, I would love it if you shared it with a friend or left a review. You can find all the links and a full transcript at learnandworksmarter.com/podcast/63. And as always, never stop learning.
