Why is it so difficult to take charge of the day? The number one complaint I hear is, “I don’t have enough time to.... (you can fill in the blank).” Somehow the “to-do” list seems to grow exponentially, even after we are making progress crossing items off. Here are a few tips to help battle the “not enough time in the day” phenomena.
1. Identify your procrastination issues. The most common barriers are:
- You consider it low priority task (when it is not one)
- You don’t have enough information to finish the project or make a decision
- You did not set enough or a specific time aside to do it
- It seems overwhelming (if it does not break down into mini tasks)
- Something has kept you from achieving it (perfectionist personality)
- You don’t know what steps it will take to complete the task
2. Take a few moments to identify where your time is spent and discover where or who is sucking time away.
3. For one week, make a detailed calendar of exactly what you did and the times you did it. It is amazing how much wasted time ends up on this list. I know what you are thinking, “I don’t have time to do this!!!” Trust me; taking a few moments to make this list will really help you be more productive in the long run.
4. When making a to-do list, prioritize in order of importance. Try group activities that make sense to get done around the same time (such as errands that are close to each other). Always do the highest priority first. Even if it is the most painstaking item, it is the one you are most likely to put off. Once you get that big one over with, it’s much easier to fly through your day.
5. Finally, don’t be so hard on yourself if you don’t get it all done. We are only human and sometimes you actually do need to sit back and read that trashy magazine just to gain some peace and sanity. At the risk of sounding too much like Scarlett O’Hara, tomorrow really is another day.
I know for me, I plan to have a much more productive February, and hope you can do the same!
