The days when I come in early and set my daily goals make all the difference. Setting daily goals to me is similar to lifting weights. As you do the last few reps on the bench press it is painful and it takes all your strength to push through. However, after a good workout you feel great for the rest of the day because you set the tone.
So here are my quick recommendations on setting goals.
1. Start your day at least half an hour early.
2. On a blank sheet of paper do a brain dump of what is on your mind. If need be write in sentences not bullets. After a few minutes you will see tasks and goals come out that are important but are buried in the back of your mind.
3. Depending on if you wrote in paragraph form or bullets you may need a new sheet of paper to write your goals/tasks for the day. The key here is to draw a line in the center of the paper and put goals on the left site and time 8am to 6pm doubled spaced on the right side.
4. Then you draw a line between the goals and the timing and check them off as you complete them throughout the day.