Until recently, I thought I had a problem that just couldn’t be fixed. I felt demotivated and disappointed as I made lists of tasks for each day but was unable to complete them no matter how hard I tried. I tried to cope with this problem myself. For example, I sorted tasks by priority and I avoided checking my emails or texting my friends, hoping that these strategies would help. No matter what I did I couldn't get all the work done. And I was really angry with myself. The turning point for me was realizing that I didn't even want to start doing anything at all.

I was so upset that I complained about this situation to my colleague. I told him that I had already tried all the time management strategies, but nothing helped. This person gave me a really simple, yet efficient solution to my problem. He advised me to stop making to-do lists because I planned much more than I could do. I saw the list and thought that I had to complete all the tasks on the list. He told me that to-do lists don't work for visual thinkers like me and recommended me to start using a different approach to planning my day. At first, he drew a circular diagram which looked like a clock face. Then he took my long to-do list and asked me to estimate how much time each of the tasks would consume. So he transferred the tasks from my to-do list to this diagram. Every time he shaded a sector for the task. At some point, there were no empty sectors on the first diagram. He drew the second one. And I realised that when I made lists of things to do, it seemed to me I was obliged to do everything on the list by the end of the day. I realised that the problem was not about poor productivity, but my inability to make realistic plans. He taught me to set achievable goals and avoid planning too many things.

I am convinced this was a clever solution because, first of all, it worked for me and helped me solve my problem fast and efficiently. What's more, it didn't require me to put any extra efforts into solving the problem.