Pace yourself to make meaningful progress

Instructions

Set a clear upper bound to avoid burning yourself out.
Establish an upper limit for how much work you’ll do every day. For example, if you’re a writer, decide that you’ll write no more than 1000 words a day. If you’re an employee, decide that you’ll leave work at 5:30 pm and not a minute later. Even if you have the time and energy to keep going, stop when you hit your upper limit.
Set a lower bound to keep you motivated even on difficult days.
For example, if you want to hit your sales target for the month, decide that you’ll never make less than five sales calls a day. Set a lower limit that’s high enough to keep you motivated but low enough to achieve even when there are interruptions to your schedule.
Create a “Done for the Day” list.
Write down a list of all the tasks that would constitute meaningful progress if you accomplished them by the end of the day. To identify these tasks, ask yourself: “If I complete task X by the end of the day, will it leave me feeling satisfied? Is there another important task that I will regret not doing if I don’t get it done by today?”