I don’t know about you, but my week last week was far from ideal. From finalizing every detail of a four-day event I’ll be at this week, to constantly refreshing social media to see what people were talking about; I was all over the place. It was taking me twice as long to do things I normally knock-out quickly and I couldn’t keep my eyes on one thing long enough to complete it without interruption. Not to mention I’ve basically looked up and we’re halfway through the year. In all honesty, I can’t afford to not focus on the things I have to do. While I want to continue to keep the momentum going on the recent relevant conversation, I simply can’t allow it to intrude on the things I’d promise myself that I’d do this week, month, or year. Here’s how I plan to get back on a very necessary track this week –
Lists on lists on lists
Or just one long list. I wrote mine last night so I could hit the ground running this morning. I consider lists to be a mental Container Store. They really do help you compartmentalize mental clutter and allow you tackle to-do’s, instead of looking up every five minutes thinking “what was I just working on?”. When you have everything listed in one place, you can strategically prioritize the order in which things need to be done regardless of the length of the list.
Revisit what you said you’d do
When was the last time you looked back in January and February of your planner to remind yourself what your plans were earlier this year? Life moves quickly, and as time goes on, tasks pile up. There’s no better way to remind yourself of the bigger picture than to revisit the beginning of your plans. If you haven’t done them, great – you’ve just reminded yourself to get going. If you have? Congratulations! You’re keeping the promises you made to yourself.
Track your progress
How much leg work have you done towards what you told yourself you’d do? Have you started and slowly came to a halt? Have you failed to start at all? It happens. I don’t know a single person who hits their goals the first time, every time. We get off track, we get distracted, we get lazy. Reviewing what you’ve already done is vital to taking care of what still remains. In hind site, you may actually impress yourself with how far you’ve gotten.
What do I need to do right now?
We all have larger goals, and we all know there are 100 steps to get there prior to achieving them. We naturally put off things that we know are time consuming. We will do anything to avoid mentally intensive tasks and conserve our brain energy. So what quick things can we get out of the way now? Send a few emails and reply to those who’ve been waiting. Knock out a phone call you’ve been avoiding. Fill out that paperwork you’ve been needing to send to the IRS. Yes, that last reminder was for me.
Narrow in
Why is it taking me 45 minutes to send an email? And why am I revising the same line on this spreadsheet 18 times? Because I’m not focused. Sometimes it takes you clicking the X on your Internet browser, logging out of Instagram and not touching your phone for an hour to complete things without distraction. Multi-tasking is great, but in some cases it’s working against your productivity. Don’t waste your own time.
Have a productive week y’all! And don’t forget to focus, xx.
