They need a compelling reason!
Making to do lists might make you feel better in the short term, but very frustrated in the long term. And that’s because to do lists without a compelling reason to complete them, are little more than an organisation system – and often a way to keep track of other people’s agendas and demands rather than your own.
If you have no clarity or clear picture about why you’re working all the hours under the sun, and gradually getting no where fast, the likelihood is you’re not clear on the bigger picture, what you’re working towards, aiming at in your life. And without clarity, it’s very hard to maintain any sort of commitment or focus.
Instead of writing yet another list today, and kidding yourself that it feels good to cross off things in the name of false productivity for just keeping busy, take a step back and try out the following ways to create a different system – one that will not only re energise and focus you, but will have you feeling great about attacking your day, rather than that feeling of dread and overwhelm.
1 Get crystal clear on how you’d like your life to be and why
How would you love your life to be in your work, your personal life, health and all areas, which are important to you? And I’m not talking about your day to day stuff, an urgent work task or chore, I’m talking about a big picture vision of things in your life you’d like to achieve, do, resolve, make happen in the next 12 months. Ask yourself, if this next year was your last, what would you love to have created by the end of it? And then ask yourself why these things are specifically important to you.
2 Create a different routine – especially your morning one.
How you start off your day can be a big factor in determining how much you achieve, and how good you feel as you go through your day. Creating routines and habits to help support you can make all the difference!
In these days of ‘real time’ communication and never ending demands, it’s more important than ever to protect your time. Something you can introduce immediately is a ‘no technology rule’ for the first hour and that means ZERO checking of email.
I can feel the resistance already! If that sounds excruciatingly hard to you, then ask yourself a question: “who is going to die today as a result of me not responding to them immediately?” Fact is the answer will be no one. Instead, use that time to go for a walk, get your head clear for the day, get a dose of inspiration – whatever that means for you. Could be reading a chapter of a book you’re enjoying, planning out a recipe for later, checking out a YouTube video of someone you admire or new learning/training that motivates you. Could be just sitting quietly and writing in a journal, or doing some meditation – point is it’s quiet time for you, and you will be amazed at the results.
3 Get strategic about your day
In order to reclaim your time it’s important to get really strategic about your agenda in your day. Start off by thinking about all the important projects you’ve got on the boil, and areas in your life you want to attend to, based on your life priorities that you are now crystal clear about. Break this down into key areas, such as your work life and different projects you’re working on; personal life, including things you want to achieve, your relationships, your ‘you’ time. Then list the actions to be taken under each one, the steps you want to/need to take.
4 Set deadlines
Now, taking each of your key areas and priorities in turn, set some deadlines around when you would like to have these completed. Again, start off with applying a top level deadline to each of your key areas, and then work backwards from there setting specific dates/times against each of the actions you’ve listed.
5 Get laser focused
In order to get laser focused, it’s important to minimise all distractions, including:
- turning off email alerts, social media notifications, mobile etc.
- allocating set times to check your email maximum 2-3 times a day, unless you’re in a customer care role – and even then consider setting up an automatic message to say when this email is checked in an 8 hour period, giving an alternative means of contacting you for urgent messages.
- checking all emails in against your important priorities, not other people’s demands or requests that they feel are important. Then make a list of who you need to reach out to today, and the actions you need to complete – not what can wait until tomorrow, or later in your week or even month, but the people or tasks you must complete today.
- setting a timer and allocating dedicated time to your important actions – 25 minute slots and blitz that one thing. This is not about completing everything in a day, in fact the exact opposite. It’s about being strategic about breaking down your projects and tasks into manageable chunks, and then maintaining your focus on the steps each day, week, month towards completing them.
6 Re-engineer your day
A great way to reclaim your time and agenda, is to review how you are currently spending your time in a given day. Make a note of all the things you are doing and how long they take, starting off first thing in the morning until last thing at night. This can be quite an eye-opening process, and is likely to give you an immediate wake up call as to how and where your time is currently slipping away from you!
These steps are a process in themselves. Getting clear on your ‘bigger picture’ and what’s important for you in your life first, will help sustain your motivation and drive when the inevitable demands of others start to pull you off track in your day to day. And of course, will go a long way towards helping you to have a better conversation with yourself because you’ll know you’re now working towards the priorities that are important to you.
Mindset is also a big factor – but that’s for another conversation!