I went to school for 17 years, nearly all of my life. You’d think that by now I would have figured out how to keep myself organized, on task, and motivated. Nope.
Everyone has those days at work where hardly anything gets done. Either from a lack of energy, passion, or a genuine desire for a nap can stop anyone from focusing on the task at hand. Most are strong and push themselves to get through it, but I generally don’t. Because of this, I started to feel lost at work and at home. I would stare at a long list of things I needed to get done (eventually), or think about all of my “life stuff” that I had to do after work during my morning commute, forgetting my list by the end of the day.
Finally, I became frustrated enough to do something about it. You might be expecting something mind-blowing; like a talking cat that juggles all my responsibilities and whichever he drops is the first I get done.
While that would be awesome, I can’t afford a talking cat.
All it took was a little twist on my usual technique. Usually, I keep a long running “to-do” list, occasionally include deadlines (due today means do today), and check it off as I get things done. The length of the list rarely changes, as one thing is marked off another is added. Stressful? A little.
Each day, I look at my long, overwhelming, impossible to-do list and piece it into a smaller one. One that can not change. It can not be added to or edited. Now it becomes my goals list instead of my to-do list. The key is to be realistic about my goals list, something that my to-do list isn’t. Naturally, there are a very small number of instances that require my list to be edited, but if I am firm in my goals list, I find myself to be more productive that day.
So, no mind blowing cat-juggling techniques to make me get things done, but a small twist instead!