When setting your goals for the day, consider adding “anti-goals” to boost your productivity a little. The idea may be inherently negative, but the results can be positive and you may end up getting more done.
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Anti-goals are an idea from Andrew Wilkinson and are similar to a “to-don’t” list: When you make a list of goals related to what you don’t want to do, you’re creating avoidance goals, which have been shown to make people more driven and excited to take immediate action. According to Wilkinson, who oversees investment firm Tiny, you start by mapping out your worst possible day at work, noting what such a day would entail, from too many meetings to too many emails to no time for lunch to a lack of resources to get it all done.
Then, come up with strategies to avoid those pitfalls. For example, try to schedule all your meetings in one day (if you can), use an email management strategy to spend less time combing through your inbox, or plan your day down to the minute so you never miss lunch.
Your list of anti-goals will be direct and detailed: “Don't waste time in meetings,” “Don't get distracted by emails,” “Don't get distracted by coworkers,” etc.
