Maybe you are Type A personality. Maybe you are Type B. Whichever way you prefer to define yourself, we all have fallen into the trap of procrastination. We have also all found ourselves in situations where we are “busy” all day, yet we have not really achieved or accomplished anything at all. It can be frustrating, overwhelming, and anxiety inducing. I've been there, I get it. We've all been there, but let's not STAY there. With years of practice, my mission is to help you develop the skills to move forward.
Let’s get into some tips that I believe will limit the amount of times you find yourself in these situations.
Tip #1 - Eat The Frog
Do the hard thing first. This tip came from a book I read by Brian Tracy & I always recommend it. By "hard", I don’t mean the most time consuming or the most difficult. I mean the thing you don’t want to do. It’s probably the task that has been on your todo list for months because you simply don’t want to do it. It could be something as “simple” as renewing your passport. Yes, it requires a lot of steps:
Take the passport photo.
Fill out the application.
Print it out, sign and date it.
Staple your passport photo to it.
Get a money order if you do not have a check.
Take it to the post office and get it signed.
When you think about all these steps, you immediately think “nope! I’ll do it later." Then later becomes when you absolutely HAVE to do it because there is a trip you want to take next month. When you finally do it these steps took you no more than 2 hours, yet you put it off for 2 months. So, just do that daunting task first. Because once its done you’ll feel better about the rest of the things you have to do that day and it reduces your mental clutter.
Not many people WANT to eat a frog. If eating a frog is the hardest thing you have to do today, then do it first and get it over with.
Tip #2 - Make A Plan
We spend so much of our time trying to figure out WHAT to do, that we end up not doing anything at all. Use a planner, calendar, to-do list, or even sticky notes. The key here is to know how you are going to spend your time.
"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." – Benjamin Franklin
Tip #3 - Diversify Your To-Do List
Sometimes it’s not how MUCH we have to do, its WHAT we have to do. Completing that project for work? That may require a lot of time and energy. Vacuuming your living floor? Not so much. When you have small, mindless tasks in between the big tasks, you are less likely to feel overwhelmed. Choose something for a future goal and something needed in the moment. For example, let's take a look at what my to-do list looked like today.
Record YouTube Video for next week (btw, join my community and subscribe!)
Call Mom
Update Budget Sheet
Draft Blog (the one you are reading right now!)
Reschedule Oil Change
Post Content To Instagram and TikTok
Shovel Snow
Friend Hangout At The Movies
You see that my list consists of a few time consuming projects, a couple short & mindless tasks, and some social interactions. There are things that assist with a future goal and there are things that were needed in the moment. Avoid overwhelming yourself and mix it up!
Tip #4 - Prioritize
To-do lists are NEVER ENDING. There is always something to do. Organize your list by urgent and not urgent. Important and not so important. Your moms 50th birthday that is in October? Important. But its April, so is it Urgent? Maybe. If you are planning a trip, you may need to get on it. However, if you are going to make her dinner you probably don’t need to be thinking about that now. It’s not procrastinating if you decide “this is not a top priority right now”. Just be careful with this because your will? Not important until you die… but who knows when that will be. You don’t wanna say I’ll make it later in life, but later in life never came. Here is a chart you can use.
Tip #5 - Give Yourself A Time Cap
Often enough the reason we do not start is because we don’t have the time to finish. Could I create a whole website in an entire day? Probably not. But if I THINK I can, I’ll wait until I have an entire day to work on it. Let’s be real. How often would that happen? But if I give myself 2 hours a day to work on it, I’m more likely to make progress. Think about reading a book. Maybe you can’t read a book in a day, but if you tell yourself I will read for 15 mins each day, you could get through it. This also prevents you from burning out. After an hour of reading, maybe your eyes begin to hurt or you get uncomfortable. Your todo list doesn’t have to say “read 3 chapters today.” It can just say “read for 30 mins”. This way you work ON something without feeling pressure to complete it that same day.
Tip #6 - Know When You Are Most Energetic
Most people, and I say this because of the circadian rhythm, are most productive between the hours of 10am-2pm. This would be a great time to plan your most tedious/involved tasks. If I know I experience brain fog and lethargy around 5pm maybe I shouldn’t plan to study my course around that time. Know yourself and know your schedule.
Tip #7 - Manage Distractions
I get it. You’re doing something. You pick up your phone for a second. Now you’ve been scrolling on Twitter for 45 minutes and you’re wondering how you managed to spend so much time on that. I have two tips for this.
Use DO NOT DISTURB. I’ve been around SO many people that as soon as they get a notification they MUST see what it is. If you can't help yourself, just make it so you receive no notifications. Phones are smart. This is why we call them smartphones. You can custom your DND settings to still receive calendar alerts, calls from important family members, etc. This helps you ease your mind from “missing important things”. Though, in the words of my papa “if its an emergency, they ought to be calling 9-1-1, not me.” But if you’re one of those people who feel that if you disappeared from your phone for 1 hour you’ll miss something important, do this. Diminishing the alerts will diminish your distractions. And if you STILL can’t help but open your phone and check things, then put it in another room. However, at some point you gotta develop self-discipline.
IF you are tempted by distractions, tell yourself “Ill work on this task for 5 more minutes, and then if I am still tempted, I’ll check watever it is." After the 5 minute period, you would have lost interest in whatever it was. If you DIDN’T lose interest, at least you can spend a little time with the distraction so it is off your mind and you can focus back on the task at hand. There have been times I’ve gone 4 days without checking my emails, and I promise you, there was nothing in there that truly required my immediate attention.
Tip #7 - Reward Yourself
You may not think getting things done is worth celebrating, but it is. That doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy things (all the time), but maybe you lie on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and your favorite TV show. Maybe you cuddle up in the bed with a good book and hot chocolate. Whatever makes you feel like “wow, what a great way to unwind after a productive day”, do that. With a reward system in place, you will feel more motivated to get things done!
Go Out And Kick Some Productive A**!
It takes more to read about something. One must apply it. I challenge you to utilize at least 4 of the 8 tips next week. Return back to this blog and comment how it went for you.
I'd also love it if you commented (right now) which tip you think would help you the most.
Don’t be shy :)
Comments