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Personal Productivity: Principles vs. Procedures

By Jared Dees

Ray Dalio’s book, Principles, is having a big influence on me. I am enjoying the process of writing out my own principles in an Evernote document I have labeled “@Principles.”

Years ago I started doing something similar with procedures. I started documenting the step-by-step checklists I used to accomplish recurring tasks. For example, when I do the accounting for my business each month I open my “TRT Procedure: Accounting” document so I can follow the detailed checklist and make sure I do not miss anything.

For other procedures, I use checklists and templates in Trello. For example, I have Trello cards that repeatedly create themselves at designated times each day for my Morning Preview routine, Daily Review, and Weekly Review. I have Trello templates for webinars and blog posts, too.

Documenting procedures helps you do a job well. A procedure reminds you of the how.

Documenting principles helps you make good decisions about what to do. A principle shows you the what and the why.

Both are important and both make life a lot easier when they are documented and applied to daily tasks and situations.

For a good book on documenting your procedures, check out Sam Carpenter’s Work the System.

January 12, 2018 Filed Under: Meaning and Motivation, Meaningful Work, Productivity

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children.

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Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children. See all of Jared's Books →

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