Archive Monthly Archives: November 2011

This is how I get more done in half the time

Is Procrastination getting in the way of your success

According to James Clear, an expert on self-improvement tips based on proven scientific research, Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing a task or set of tasks. So, whether you refer to it as procrastination or akrasia or something else, it is the force that prevents you from following through on what you set out to do.

Why Do We Procrastinate?

Ok, definitions are great and all, but why do we procrastinate? What is going on in the brain that causes us to avoid the things we know we should be doing?

This is a good time to bring some science into our discussion. Behavioural psychology research has revealed a phenomenon called “time inconsistency,” which helps explain why procrastination seems to pull us in despite our good intentions. Time inconsistency refers to the tendency of the human brain to value immediate rewards more highly than future rewards.

The best way to understand this is by imagining that you have two selves: your Present Self and your Future Self. When you set goals for yourself — like losing weight or writing a book or learning a language — you are actually making plans for your Future Self. You are envisioning what you want your life to be like in the future. Researchers have found that when you think about your Future Self, it is quite easy for your brain to see the value in taking actions with long-term benefits. The Future Self values long-term rewards.

Now unlike James, I am not an authority in any way and I struggled and still do struggle at times with procrastination in my own life, I seem to have so much to do at any one time I sometimes don’t know where to start and that can be incredibly demotivating, stressful and downright annoying!

You can find a few schools of thought about the best way to tackle Procrastination and I suppose there is no right and wrong way to deal with it but here is what I do, and it works for me

Putting a system of some sort in place is key

So first up, getting the mindset right is key to working successfully online, you can waste so much time checking your emails, Facebook, Twitter etc that days can come and go with no real results achieved so allocate a period each day to check the essential platforms like email, Facebook, or any website that you can promote using a digital marketing agency you can find online. and the turn everything off, especially the phone ping

I like to spend 5 minutes at the end of each day and set out my work for the following day, it’s a great way to start a new day with a clear concise work plan that you know can be completed in the time you have allocated

I used to sit down each day and compile a “to do” list that would finish up including everything I could think of that I needed to do and of course this never ever got completed

Now, I make sure I list only what I can achieve realistically in the time I have available the following day, this is not an overall to do list, it’s the tasks for the next day only that are important

Next allocate importance to the tasks you have listed

The most important task and the thing you do first is something that can produce a sale or generate revenue and then list in order or importance, so writing a blog post would not come before writing a broadcast email to your list that can make sales

Next allocate a time slot per task, if you are working all day you can allocate in terms of hours, if you only have a couple of hours spare adjust the time accordingly. I for example, work for Home Care Assistance Cincinnati, so I have to do all sorts of chores around the house for the people in my care. If I didn’t allocate time correctly, then tasks would begin to pile up on me, eventually getting out of hand.

Get a timer or alarm clock and set it to the time slots you have allocated per task

Work with no distraction for the duration of the time allocated and when the alarm rings finish

You can take it further to really regiment your day, allocate time to eat, relax, workout, whatever you want to achieve simply needs to be in the daily plan

As an example, I had put off going to the gym because of my workload but once I had applied this routine, I found I could allocate 90 minutes each morning and still manage to do more work than I had ever done previously so whilst a simple plan, it can have a massive positive affect

You will be amazed at the amount of work you can get done and once you see the results its very easy to adopt this mindset

You can find other systems or daily steps to follow and the most well know are the Ivy system

The Ivy system was developed by a man called Ivy Lee who was a highly-respected productivity consultant

Here is the system he developed in the 1920s

At the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six tasks.

Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance.

When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.

Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.

Repeat this process every working day.

You can also get more information on this system here

Finally, the master entrepreneur Warren Buffet also has a plan that clearly works for him, if you want to check out his system click this link

Let me know your thoughts and if you use any other system to get more things done let me know

Its always great to get feedback so leave a comment below, also remember that is very important to get enough rest, make sure you sleep with the mongolian fur pillow amazon for a few hours every day