Perfect Self-Management in 52 Weeks: Goal Setting

Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and this, in turn, increases your self confidence.

The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions that can, so easily, lead you astray.

You set your goals on a number of levels:

1) First you create your "vision" of what you want to do with your life (or perhaps for the next 5 years), and identify the large-scale goals that you need to achieve to produce this „big picture“.

2) Then, you break these down into the smaller and smaller targets that you must hit to reach your vision.

3) Finally, once you have your plan, you start working on it to achieve these goals.

Step 1:

The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or at least, by a significant and distant period in the future). Setting long-range goals gives you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision-making.

Set goals in some of the following categories (or in other categories of your own, where these are important to you):

Career – What level do you want to reach in your career, or what do you want to achieve?

Financial – How much do you want to earn, by what time in your life? How is this related to your career goals?

Education – Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and skills will you need to have in order to achieve other goals?

Family – Do you want to be a parent? If so, what does it take to be a good parent? How do you want to be seen by a partner or by members of your extended family?

Artistic – Do you want to achieve any artistic goals?

Attitude – Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Is there any part of the way that you behave that upsets you? (If so, set a goal to improve your behavior or find a solution to the problem.)

Physical – Are there any athletic goals that you want to achieve, or do you want good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this?

Pleasure – How do you want to enjoy yourself? (You should ensure that some of your life is for you!)

Public Service – Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?

Spend some time brainstorming these things, and then select one or more goals in each category that best reflect what you want to do. Then consider trimming again so that you have a small number of really significant goals that you can focus on.

As you do this, make sure that the goals that you have set are ones that you genuinely want to achieve, not ones that your parents, family, or employers might want. (If you have a partner, you probably want to consider what he or she wants – however, make sure that you also remain true to yourself!)

Step 2:

Once you have set your lifetime goals, set a five-year plan of smaller goals that you need to complete if you are to reach your lifetime plan.

Step 3:

Then create a one-year plan, six-month plan, and a one-month plan of progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your lifetime goals. Each of these should be based on the previous plan.

Step 4:

Then create a daily To-Do List of things that you should do today to work towards your lifetime goals.

At an early stage, your smaller goals might be to read books and gather information on the achievement of your higher level goals. This will help you to improve the quality and realism of your goal setting.

Finally review your plans, and make sure that they fit the way in which you want to live your life.

Staying on Course

Once you've decided on your first set of goals, keep the process going by reviewing and updating your To-Do List on a daily basis.

Periodically review the longer term plans, and modify them to reflect your changing priorities and experience. (A good way of doing this is to schedule regular, repeating reviews using a computer-based diary.)

SMART Goals

A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the SMART mnemonic. While there are plenty of variants (some of which are included in parenthesis), SMART usually stands for:

S – Specific (or Significant).

M – Measurable (or Meaningful).

A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented).

R – Realistic (or Rewarding).

T – Time-bound (or Trackable).

Every letter in SMART stands for an adjective that describes an effective way to set goals.

• Specific. When setting goals, they should answer the highly specific questions of who, what, where, when, and why. Instead of the general goal, "I want to get into shape," try for a specific goal, "I enjoy some form of exercise each and every day."
• Measurable. In order for us to track our progress, goals should be quantifiable. "I'm going to walk more" is far more difficult to track and measure than "Every day I'm going to walk around the block 10 times."
• Attainable. It is important to evaluate your situation honestly and recognize which goals are realistic, and which are a little far-fetched. Instead of, "I am going to be this nation's Mother Teresa," (while admirable) it might be more realistic to say, "I am going to volunteer three nights a week at my local soup kitchen."
• Relevant. Is this goal relevant to your life and to the "big picture" questions you have already asked yourself? Some good questions to ask yourself when figuring this out are: does it seem worthwhile? Is now the right time for this? Does this match my needs?
• Time-related. Setting a "due date" to meet goals not only keeps you on track, but it prevents pesky daily roadblocks from getting in the way. Instead of saying, "I'm going to get my college degree", you might consider saying, "I'll have my B.A. in 4 years."

Attention! Highly aspirational goals often require us to develop new competencies, some of which may be beyond current capabilities. As we develop these competencies, we are likely to experience failures, which then might become de-motivational. Be aware that stretching yourself out of the comfort zone can be unpleasant. We don’t (yet) have what it takes. Push yourself past the unpleasantness. Work on expanding your resources and capabilities. Never give up. This makes you grow.

Day 1: What categories of goals do you want to work on? Personal Finance? Relationships? Career? Education or Skills? Social Competence or Behavior?

Write down the goals you want to reach. State each goal as a positive statement – Express your goals positively. Set precise goals, putting in dates, times and amounts so that you can measure achievement. If you do this, you'll know exactly when you have achieved the goal, and can take complete satisfaction from having achieved it.

When you have several goals, give each a priority. This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by having too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.

Day 2: Today, break down your goals (or only one goal for now if your time is limited) into short-term goals or stepping-stones. Write everything down. This crystallizes them and gives them more force.

Keep the short-term goals that you're working on small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals, and draw satisfaction from them.

Day 3: Keep track of your progress. Journaling is a great way to keep track of both personal and professional progress. Checking in with yourself and acknowledging the progress made towards a certain goal is key to staying motivated. Keep your goals posted where you can see them.

Try http://www.joesgoals.com/ or http://www.lululemon.com/education/goalsetting to keep track of your goals.

Day 4: Every day, check how far you’ve come and what Stepping-Stone you can take on today. You may not have lots of time so you may choose to achieve “only” a small Stepping-Stone or Short-Term-Goal today. As long as you are moving toward your Vision or Long-Term-Goal, you are doing fine.

Day 5: When you've achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and observe the progress that you've made towards other goals.

If you are working on a Behavior Goal (“I do some form of exercise daily”), it includes turning new behavior into a habit. Sometimes you can build up to the end goal (“Today, I’ll use the stairs instead of the elevator and tomorrow I’ll walk around the block.”). Often, you just have to remember to do the behavior every time until it establishes itself as a routine or ritual.

Achievement Goals can be broken down into Stepping-Stones. Some of these goals can be achieved quickly, some others take time. Often, you must break down a Stepping-Stone into more steps:

Big Goal: Become a real estate manager

Stepping Stone: Get a degree in real estate management

Smaller Steps: 1) find out which schools offer the degree, 2) find out what the requirements for entrance are, 3) apply for entrance, 4) finish course work…

Today, you’ll review the goal work you’ve done this week. Celebrate each small victory. Remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

One step at a time.

 Goal setting and achieving might just be your thing. Give it a try.

And now, your goal is to have a pleasant weekend!

Perfect Self-Management in 52 Weeks – Mental Toughness

What separates people who make it through difficult times and the others who break?

I have been doing research on the Navy SEALS training to learn what the candidates do that successfully complete the course. About 75% of the candidates fail. What do the other 25% do and think differently to move themselves to success?

It seems that the successful candidates make use of the Four Pillar Technique. I figure what’s good for them might be helpful to us.

Pillar 1 -  Goal Setting

It is important to establish short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. A successful candidate focuses on what he is actually doing at any one moment, even turning it into a kind of “event” that must be successfully completed. Rather than focusing on how grueling an event is going to be, it helps to focus on one action or task at a time. Avoid letting thoughts wander, concentrate entirely on the activity/task until it is completed. When that is done, focus completely on the next “mini-goal” until achieved.

The secret is to focus completely on the immediate task at hand and also avoid thinking negative thoughts like “I have so much to do. I’m tired already. There’s no way I’ll be able to make it through another hour of this.”

SEAL trainees have been known to keep themselves motivated by convincing themselves “Hang on until lunch” or “Just make it through this ….”. Following this idea, you can break down your difficult days into dozens of separate events starting from the moment you arrive at work (or even the moment you wake up!). You want to end up with specific tasks for short-term action. You need to know exactly what you need to do in the near-term to gain what you want in the long term. Congratulate yourself upon reaching each “mini-goal” – “YES! That’s the way. You are a winner!” This mental reaffirmation gives the courage and self-esteem to go on to the next mini-goal.

Every mini-goal you reach is a “win”.

Instead of focusing on an exceptionally difficult future, we should take it one step at a time, do the best we can on that, congratulate ourselves and move to the next step.

You can take your work toward a degree, a difficult project, a grueling and psychologically intimidating divorce and break it into thousands of “micro-goals”. When you have successfully completed them, you are left standing with the winners.

Studies have shown that this micro-goal technique is effective for people pursuing almost any goal, whether personal (reaching that ideal weight, gaining admission to your favorite university) or professional (being hired by a special company, being selected for a promotion).

Pillar 2 – Mental Imagery

Another technique found to be common among the successful SEAL candidates was the ability to use mental imagery to imagine successfully completing a specific task or challenge. I’ve been teaching this technique for years but have found most people too lethargic to take advantage of it. The brain doesn’t differentiate between intensely imagined activities or actively experienced. Both “count” as successes and trains the brain to move in that desired direction. The majority of my students and clients are impressed by this fact yet don’t use it to their own advantage.

This technique is especially useful for people experiencing anxiety and apprehension relative to a pending event. Just visualize going through the various actions necessary. Imagine what to do to remedy any and all (emergency) situations and problems that might pop up. Do this repeatedly prior to the actual event. Having mentally rehearsed any and all eventualities, you can focus entirely on solving the problem/task at hand while remaining cool and calm.

Develop a script

To take this technique to the next level, write down exactly the way you want to behave and think while in a anxiety-producing situation. Create the scenario as exactly as you can.  Write it down with as much description and as many senses as you can. Add emotions. Bring in adjectives.

Then read it to yourself while experiencing an “inner movie” of the whole scene. This is a story of your day of triumph. Your belief as to the probable outcome of events influences the actual outcome. Imagine yourself solving all the problems and braving the difficulties. If you anticipate a positive outcome, your mind is more likely to interpret events optimistically. This, in turn, convinces the fear-inducing parts of the brain to relax and back off!

Pillar 3 – Self-Talk

By now, most of us know about how important positive and constructive self-talk can be. It can have incredible positive impact, especially during phases of great stress or anxiety. So lofty as is a highly desired goal, prize, outcome, objective or achievement can be, we can get quite unnerved and unfocused.

Tell yourself “I can do this!”, “If I can’t, who can?!”, “I’ll make this into a piece of cake.”.

Pillar 4 – Arousal Control

Remaining cool-headed when anxiety is thrown at us allows us to maintain focus and control. Arousal regulation, also called emotional control, is a cornerstone of mental toughness.

This skill can be improved by relaxation training. Navy Seals use the 4/4 breathing technique: Breath in and fill your lungs on four counts, then breathe out for four counts. Keep doing this until you feel the anxiety flowing out of your body. This is an easy technique to learn and unbelievably effective.

Things will happen to you that you cannot avoid and that you do not want. What you always control is your reaction to these things.

Day 1: What goal motivates you? What is your plan for the future?

Pick your favorite goal and break it down into Stepping Stones and Milestones. Stepping Stones are the mini-goals you need to reach to achieve a Milestone, Milestones are major sequential achievements leading closer to greater goal or outcome.

For instance, I have an outcome of weighing 125 pounds. Mostly to avoid the diabetes that is so prevalent in my family.

Outcome: weigh 125 pounds
Stepping Stone: eat either a nourishing soup or salad every day.
Stepping Stone: Some form of exercise every day, preferably in the morning.
Stepping Stone: Ban snacks and sweets from the flat.
Stepping Stone: If it is after 6 PM, then I will not eat carbohydrate-heavy foods.
Stepping Stone: If it is Thursday, then I will fast.
Stepping Stone: Only shop when not hungry!

Milestone: break 60 kilo!! (135 pounds)
Milestone: consistent normal blood pressure

Milestone: BMI of 21

Milestone: Be able to consistently walk by all snacks and chocolate without a twinge of desire.

Milestone: fit easily into a size 6 (38 German size) This is not a health milestone but a really-nice-to-have by-product!

Now you try it. Break down your long-range goal (outcome) into Stepping Stones and Milestones. Work on a Stepping Stone today.

Exercise is the paramount mental toughness booster. Go for a quick walk during lunch break.

Day 2: Write out a script where you reach your goal. You might write out episodes where you are enjoying working on the stepping stones.

Read the script out loud. See the outcome as an inner film in action and Technicolor! Feel what you’ll feel when you reach the goal. Describe the actions with verbs, adjectives and adverbs-

Think of a symbol that represents the whole picture. This can be a “snapshot” or an object. It might be a word. Something that stands for your success. Think of this symbol often today. Visualize your script before you fall asleep tonight.

You might decide on some physical reminders of your goal that instantly bring your success image to mind. Integrate them into your routine in an inevitable way.

Exercise is the paramount mental toughness booster. Go for a quick walk up and down some steps during lunch break.

Day 3: Today is your positive self-talk day. If you catch yourself thinking something negative or self-defeating, stop, change your posture, maybe even stand up and walk around quickly. You must break the pattern of negative thinking.

What sentences motivate and empower you? Write them on sticky notes, post them everywhere, say them, sing them! Do this often during the day.

How do you feel at the end of the day?

Exercise is the paramount mental toughness booster. Use the wall for stand-up push-ups during a break. Ten squats on top of that would be wonderful.

Day 4: How can you become an expert in the areas surrounding your goal? Write down as many as you can think of. What skills do you need for the goal (or to reach it)? What strengths do you have that you can hone? Find out the specific skills and strengths you need for your goal. How can you improve them even further?

Exercise is the paramount mental toughness booster. Go for a quick walk during lunch break.

Day 5: A variation of breathing exercise above is the following: Inhale slowly and comfortably until the count of six. Hold for two seconds and then exhale slowly for six counts. Repeat until you feel calm.

Today, practice this exercise for 1-2 minutes at least once every hour. Set a timer or an alarm.

Have I mentioned that exercise is the paramount mental toughness booster? Go for a quick walk during lunch break.

Time goes by so fast when you’re having fun! Didn’t the week just zip by? Have a good weekend and come back Monday. We still have lots to try out.

Eat That Frog!

Eat That Frog!


In “Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time” Brian Tracy recommends that you think continually of ways to save, schedule, and consolidate large chunks of time. Then, use that time to work on your most important tasks. However, if you don’t have a large chunk of time available to work on an important task, such as a report that’s due in a couple of weeks, it’s a mistake to keep postponing the task until you do have a few hours of uninterrupted time.

Instead, you should apply the “Swiss Cheese Approach”. This is a method that was introduced by Alan Lakein in his book, “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life”. Of course, Swiss cheese is easily recognizable because it’s full of holes. According to Lakein, “the underlying assumption of the Swiss cheese approach is that it is indeed possible to get something started in five minutes or less. And once you’ve started, you’ve given yourself the opportunity to keep going.”

In a nutshell, the Swiss Cheese Approach consists of the following:

• Work in small holes of time, such as fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, or half an hour.
• Poke small holes into a large task on a consistent basis.

This approach works for the following reasons:

• Once you get started on a task, it no longer looks as difficult and overwhelming as it did before you got started.
• By poking small holes in a project you’ll be making constant progress at a good pace.
• This approach allows you to create a sense of forward momentum.
• Each time that you get a little bit of the task done, it gives you a feeling of accomplishment.
• You’re making good use of small pockets of time, instead of wasting that time.

When you only have fifteen or twenty minutes to work on your project, instead of telling yourself that you’re better off waiting until you have more time to work on it, ask yourself the following questions:

• “What can I get done in these fifteen minutes?”
• “Is there a small segment of the project that I can get started on?”
• “How can I use this time to poke a small hole into this project?”

Keep poking holes into the project whenever you have a few minutes to spare, and soon you’ll be surprised to discover that you’re practically done with the project.

Perfect Self-Management in 52 Weeks: Don’t Super-Size your Day!

Perfect Self-Management in 52 Weeks: Don’t Super-Size your Day!

Why do we still feel rushed, even though we have more leisure time than workers 100 years ago? We spend less time in food preparation, household chores, laundry and shopping for goods and services than we did in the past.

Watching television eats up almost half the average American’s free time, Robinson and Godbey report. Free time is the time we feel we can choose to spend as we wish.

Don’t try to cram more into each free hour. Stop multi-tasking (watching TV/computer and smart phone at the same time). Allow yourself real down time.

Everybody loves vacation. What about the concept of taking mini-vacations each and every day? You can even „go on vacation“ without even leaving your desk.

The Two-Minute Break

http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/

I got a kick out of this website. I wish it was a video – the movement of the water would be trance-inducing!

Stop the world, I want to get off!

  

Yes, I know. We can’t always whip out a hammock and chill for an hour. You can de-stress in a few minutes if you’d just take the time. Your brain will work better afterwards so you „make up for lost time“ by going into calm mode occasionally during the day.

Use calm.com and you can even stay at your workplace. Plug in your earphones so you don’t disturb your neighbors, though. This site even has an iPhone app! I loved “Love is Surrender" by Kip Mazuy. The video of moving clouds is relaxing and the music calming.

http://weavesilk.com/

Well, I can’t really recommend this as a two-minute break because you COULD get addicted to it! The site invites you to create interactive generative art and probably activates the right side of the brain, the seat of your creativity. I can imagine doing this just before falling asleep! At NIGHT, I mean!!!

http://rainfor.me/

Rain for Me is cool but it made me want to run to the toilet…

Yet, if rain is your thing for cooling down, this is a great site for relaxing. If you are feeling tied up in knots, you might let it run while you are working on other things.

http://www.fallingfalling.com/

Oh, oh. Trance inducing! You might not use this before driving or giving a speech. OMG – turn that OFF! I am fall-ing…

http://thequietplaceproject.com/90seconds

is a nice sight. I wonder if it would be even better if the reassuring affirmation you can read would be spoken by a lovely low voice. Ummm.

http://thequietplaceproject.com/thethoughtsroom/

aww, this is nice.

If you are a travel fan, use this video for a two minute break: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzoiv0_take-a-two-minute-break-to-de-stress-and-relax_lifestyle

Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress

Exercise in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Being active can boost your feel-good endorphins and distract you from daily worries.

A walk to and from the toilet, a quick trot up the steps, a jog around the building take less than ten minutes yet offer important stress relief. Exercise even improves your mood! A gentle walk before bed can improve your sleep, which is often disrupted by stress and anxiety.

Active Meditation

Meditation is an umbrella term for the many ways to a relaxed state of being. There are many active types of meditation and relaxation that have meditation components. All share the same goal of achieving inner peace.

Yoga

Yoga has so many health and stress-reducing benefits. Check out this video. Now, how long would it take to do these exercises during a break at work? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/yoga/MM00650

Tai chi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5hvODK2zW4

Meditation in motion is a lovely description of tai chi. This is a form of gentle Chinese martial arts. In tai chi (TIE-chee), you perform a self-paced series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner while practicing deep breathing.  My brother swears that Tai Chi has gotten him through many stressful times. I’ve often seen him out in the yard in the morning, going through his forms. It seems to be a great training for the body as well as soothing for the mind.

Some people prefer qigong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzD4svzG9js

This practice generally combines meditation, relaxation, physical movement and breathing exercises to restore and maintain balance. Qi gong (CHEE-gung) is part of traditional Chinese medicine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-jSBBwr8Ko

Mindfulness is the act of being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling at every moment — without interpretation or judgment.

Spending too much time planning, problem-solving, daydreaming, or thinking negative or random thoughts can be draining. You lose awareness of what is going on in yourself. Warning signs may not be noticed early enough.

Day 1: Set a timer for one hour. When it rings, get up, stretch, open a window and B-R-E-A-T-H. Set the timer again. This time when it rings, take a toilet break. March there at a good pace, do your thing, march back and take a large drink of pure water.

Use the timer to take a break every hour. You won’t lose time, you’ll gain concentration and energy.

Day 2: Today, try alternating quiet two-minute breaks using one of the websites mentioned above (http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/ ) with active breaks. Listening to your favorite song can be a good energy booster. You can listen to soft music or songs that will make you feel relaxed or listen to motivating, lively music. Close your eyes and be completely immersed in listening to the song.Take a break every hour or hour and a half. Bosses should know how important short breaks are for productivity.

Day 3: Turn off your phone, voice mail, answering machine, e-mail notifier, social media or whatever every 1 ½ hours. Exercise gently in front of an open window, if you can. Leave your office for a short while. Studies have shown that we recuperate in ten minutes so don’t take 30 minute breaks. More short breaks are most effective.

   
If it's not possible to take a walk, you can just get up from your chair and stretch your body. Move your legs and hands a little, rotate your neck in circles, or try to bend and touch your toes.

Day 4: After hours of continuous work without taking a break, our eyes feel dry and sleepy.A few minutes away from the screen will relax your eyes. You might even use moisterizing eye drops.

If you don't meditate, you can still close your eyes for few minutes and just relax on your desk or take a small nap if you must. Especially after lunch. Hold your keys in one hand, let yourself doze off until the hand relaxes and you drop the keys. That wakes you up and you have enjoyed a PowerNap, which can get you through the next few hours.

Day 5: Sometimes, the best ideas come to the mind when you don't think about your work. This is because the problem is always there in our subconscious mind. Just the right circumstances triggers the solution. Sometimes, it's necessary to change the routine in order to have fresh ideas.

Of course, you are taking regular breaks by this time, yes? Is there a way you can take a short walk around the building, once in the morning and once in the afternoon? The fresh air is so good for your brain and your body plus the movement gets rid of kinks.

Go Do It!

Now that you are ready for the weekend, review this last week. Have you noticed a positive difference in your energy level and mood? Take the feeling of inner peace into the weekend. Now you know that a good break makes you more productive and is good for your mental and physical well-being.

Perfect Self-Management in 52 Weeks: Unfinished Business

My mother was always extremely enthusiastic at the beginning of projects but her drive pooped out toward the end. She even had a “funeral box” full of darling, ¾-finished dolls, sewn and knitted crafts and the like. It didn’t seem to bother her that they just sat there but I always took them home, thinking I would finish up these beautiful creations.

I didn’t.

Years ago, I had a piano teacher who would reprimand her students for not finishing up a musical phrase in the best way. “Finish your phrase form” was her mantra for music and for life.

Many people suffer from severe and chronic disorganization. Needed items at work and home get buried in piles of clutter. Bills don't get paid. Projects go unfinished. Tax returns don’t get done. Jobs are lost, careers flounder. Intelligent, creative, and otherwise successful individuals are plagued with chronic feelings of being overwhelmed and exhausted. As many of these folks can tell you, their lives don't simply feel out of control, they are out of control.

Organizational strategies are essential for managing symptoms of disorganization. A healthy and realistic goal is not to become super-organized, but simply to make work and home life more manageable.

Many problems that result in low productivity are due to failures in planning, prioritizing and following through on tasks. Those ever-present feelings of being overwhelmed and exhausted come from a myriad of half-completed projects and laid-aside to-do's.

Two basic strategies that help are to put routine essentials - laundry, washing dishes, general cleaning - on a set schedule, and maintain a prioritized list for comparatively incidental tasks. The one requirement for completing essential routine chores is that they must be done at regular and consistent times.

The lack of consistent follow-through required to complete tasks is caused by symptoms of excessive procrastination and forgetfulness. There is no way to establish any degree of consistency with routine tasks unless those tasks become part of a regular schedule. Draw up a weekly schedule with set times blocked out for basic housekeeping work. Use shorter or longer time slots to fit your level of patience and frustration tolerance, but the one essential requirement is that these times must be kept consistent.

Larger projects or tasks are more manageable when they're "chunked" by breaking them up into smaller pieces and scheduling each piece a realistic amount of time. Writing a paper, completing a project for work, or cleaning out the basement are some tasks that fall in this category. Start by setting a firm deadline for completion. Estimate the total amount of time you'll likely need, then work backward from the deadline and carve out time slots for completing each "chunk." Many people are notoriously poor in judging how much time activities actually take. If this is true for you, after estimating the duration of a project, multiply the number by 1.5.

The strategies and routines discussed here provide ideas for getting started.

Take note of each task you work on during the day and note your excuses for not finishing up. Here are some common ones:

Don’t have time to finish my project. If you run out of time,  add 15 minutes to your morning routine before leaving for work. To stay organized and keep track of time on the job, add on the same 15 minutes to finish up last-minute assignments and to gather items you will need to take home.

Too tired to finish my project. You just want to sit down (or lie down). Figure out ways to get to bed on time. You may be overbooked, so you need to cut back to save energy for more important tasks.

Don’t feel like finishing my project. If you are short on motivation, schedule a task to be done when you have more energy. For example, leaving paper filing to do at the end of the day. The result? A desk that's a mess. By switching the task to the morning, you might be more consistent with your filing, and your office is less messy. 

Breaking the last “step” into tiny micro-steps might help you break the motivation block. Do one of the tiny steps at your more energetic times. Try to get in as many of the micro-steps each day as you can.

Here are 5 ways to dramatically increase your productivity:

FINISH WHAT YOU START – Look at each task that you take on as a circle.  You are not a creator of semi-circles, but rather a creator of beautifully round circles.  When you start a task, follow it through until it is finished (the circle is complete).  Commit to doing this with every task that you start.

PUSH THROUGH THE BORING OR CHALLENGING PARTS – It is either boredom or difficulty that usually causes us to put a task on the shelf and start another task. Every task has its fair share of boring aspects and challenges.  When you find yourself shying away from these, become aware of it and push through to complete the task.

FINISH TODAY’S TASKS, DON’T PUT THEM OFF – It is very important to commit to finishing the tasks that you set for yourself TODAY, today.  Remember that tomorrow is filled with tomorrow’s tasks so if you put off today’s tasks until tomorrow, you will only be delaying tomorrows tasks and this has a serious knock on effect on your whole life, with the ultimate affect being that you are putting off the achievement of your goals.

BE DISCIPLINED WITH WHAT YOU START – You need to become disciplined with what tasks you take on first and then be disciplined to see them through until they are completed.  This takes effort and commitment as it is always tempting to jump around performing less important or more interesting tasks.  Do what is most important first and finish it before moving on.

BANISH DISTRACTIONS – The average person gets 1 interruption every 8 minutes, or approximately 7 an hour, or 50-60 per day. The average interruption takes 5 minutes, totaling about 4 hours or 50% of the average workday. 80% of those interruptions are typically rated as “little value” or “no value” creating approximately 3 hours of wasted time per day. If you are serious about completing tasks and increasing your productivity, you need to become the Gate Keeper for distractions.  You need to set rules about distractions so that they don’t constantly steal your precious time away from you and reduce your productivity – for example – set specific times of the day for checking emails/social media, set specific times of the day for visitors/meetings etc

To dramatically increase your productivity, it is so important to finish what you start.  Don’t be a semi-circlist!

Organizing Things

PICK A SPOT:

Lost keys, bills, documents-these are the bane of life for many people. Odds-and-ends and needed items are buried in piles, causing hours of wasted search time and mounting aggravation. The basic rule for keeping track of possessions is that every item needs a "home." Keys go on the key hook, located just inside the front door, and are never stored in a jacket pocket or on the dresser. Wallets, watches, purses and other frequently used items go on a tray or other open container on the bedroom dresser or a desk. Put the designated objects only in this container, not where the object just happens to be removed.

STORING OR PURGING:

Limit sentimental attachments to a few prized possessions-to protect against an infestation by the "pack-rat syndrome."  When there isn't room to provide an item with its own "home" location, it belongs in one of three places:

* the trash bin

* a give-away bin for materials to be donated

* a long-term storage bin in a long-term storage location. (NO! An empty corner in a bedroom is not a long-term storage location! And I am not a fan of paying for storage facilities anyway.)

IN VIEW IN THE ROOM:

Due to distractibility and forgetfulness, many adults have a huge problem keeping track of what's not in plain sight (also known as “out of sight, out of mind”). Vertical filing systems, such as an open bookcase, work better than closed file cabinets. Use transparent plastic containers in your bedroom closet, garage, or other storage places.

Overcoming The Resistance

Are you one of those people who bristle at adhering to schedules and routines? Do structured activities start to feel like unpleasant obligations, or being boxed up? Fighting through this resistance requires not biting off more than you can chew. Change one behavior at a time, and do it in small enough increments to make it tolerable. You are simply constructing a useful habit.

A helpful technique is to add as much entertainment value as possible to a scheduled activity. Play music while cleaning or doing dishes. Help stick to a workout schedule by exercising with a friend. Seek support from family and friends, or consider working with a professional organizer or personal coach. Reward yourself in some way for a job well done.

Visualize the positive changes and benefits that will come from improved organization, and stick with the plan. It can take months and years to develop routines and build new habits, but the payoffs are more than worth the investment.

Day 1: If distractions keep you from finishing your project, ignore interruptions until a task is completed. When your partner or collegue makes a non-urgent request, say, “I’m in the middle of something right now, I’ll check in with you afterwards.” Lock your door, put up a "Please don't disturb" sign, wear ear plugs.

Today, finish the most important task from your list. At least, finish one micro-task. Find a place to work undisturbed. Or threaten anyone who dares interrupt you!

Day 2: Find a better system to finish your projects. 
If a system doesn’t work, try a new one. If you are late in paying bills, or forget them, designate two nights each month -- the 1st and 15th -- to follow through. Keep everything you need in a basket or container: the unpaid bills, checkbook, pen, envelopes, return-address stickers, and a roll of stamps. Walk the bills to the mailbox. And look, you've finished a project! 

Today, construct an easy and rather (!) attractive system for finishing up one of the tasks in your "funeral box". Now, follow through!


Day 3: Tie the bow
Make “tie the bow” your mantra. You are not finished wrapping a package until you tie the bow, and you aren’t done with a task until you’ve completed it, down to the last step. Mail the check for the bill you just paid, don’t leave it on the kitchen counter. Fold and put away the laundry, don’t leave it in the basket. 

"Tie the bow" at least twice today.

Day 4: THE TOP 3 TASK LIST

This strategy really does help with remembering, planning and prioritizing. To use it most effectively, maintain separate task lists for work and home.

* At the top of each list, write the Top 3 tasks to be worked on first.

* Draw a line under those three.

* Work only on the Top 3 tasks. It's all right to jump around between them, but stay focused only on these priority tasks.

* When a Top 3 task is completed, replace it with another task from the Top 3 list.

* Repeat the process.
 Today, start a Top 3 Task List. Make sure you get the first task done. Don't poop out, don't give up. Train your self-discipline muscles!

Day5: Follow-Through-Friday

You might officially start having “Follow Through Fridays”.  The goal is to get as many of the Top 3 Tasks done as possible before leaving for the weekend. Follow through completely and celebrate exuberantly!












Now you are ready for a great weekend. You have followed through this week so now it is time to chill. Unless your partner has a new project for you...