task:
Posted by Amy Hale on October 24, 2011 at 6:54 am
Have you been putting off larger tasks because they seem so big? Or getting smaller tasks out of the way in order to immerse yourself into the larger task, except the little things keep cropping up and you don’t make much headway? That used to be what I experienced and those larger tasks or projects were the money making portions of my business. So what did I do?
I made the larger projects my first priority and created focus days. Now I take one or two days per week to focus entirely on the larger projects.
The smaller stuff doesn’t tend to generate income, so it can be organized into other times around my projects or an assistant can do the smaller things for me.
Focus Days are spent exclusively on high-income projects. This means no interruptions, email, phone calls (unless these are your high income activities). These days could be spent making proprietary systems or fine tuning the ones you have.
For a salesperson, Focus Days might include following-up with customers to see if their needs are met and contacting leads for future business.
Now if you don’t have someone to help you with the smaller tasks, you can create Support Days. These are the days you commit to tasks that help maintain your business. These are days you return phone calls, clear your inbox, file all of your papers, and set up more Focus Days.
With all of this, you must schedule at least one free day per week. If you don’t, you will suffer. Whenever I push myself further without a free day, my immunity goes down. So I’m a stickler for the free day. It relieves stress, lets you focus on non-business priorities, and allows you a day of fun.
A lot of people wince at taking breaks or time off, however, you will be more productive and more focused if you do so.
This Week’s Experiment:
First, figure out what your high income projects/tasks are and begin scheduling your Focus Days for later this week.
Second, use the days before as Support Days and plow through as much maintenance as you can.
Third, schedule your Free Day. Make a list of things you like to do. Go to a movie, take the kids out for a play day, or go for a hike. You will look forward to these days every week.
Remember why you are in business – to make money. So make sure you prioritize your high income projects into their own day. By organizing by the day, you’ll accomplish more and stress less.
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Posted by Amy Hale on August 26, 2010 at 6:00 am
Here’s my favorite time management trick:
Put on a piece of paper all the things you’d like to do in tomorrow. These are things that you know that you would like to do. Then you choose, among all these things, the one thing that’s the most challenging and important.
Now look at your list. What is that one thing that you’re most likely to put off? What’s your most important thing to do, the thing that really needs to be done; not necessarily the most urgent thing, but the most important?
Most people respond to whatever feels most urgent. Not even thinking about it. Go with the feelings. All day they wonder, “What do I FEEL has to be addressed right now?” And a lot of time the urgent things that come up as an answer to that question are really small. They’re nitpicky things: they’re just hassles.
So this is why you want to create the category of Worst First: You want to pick that one thing that’s hardest to do, that you would love to have finished and have it behind you. You want to make this your first priority. Nothing gets done until that gets done. Do the worst first. And watch the surge in energy and self-esteem that happens!
Please share your thoughts and successes. I enjoying sharing with you.
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Posted by Amy Hale on April 5, 2010 at 6:00 am
Rarely do people walk down a simple, straight path to our goals. To help myself keep to the straight and easy, I’ve been using a version the G.R.I.N. model. This model helps overcome procrastination and keeps my feet moving along the detours to my vision.
G is for Goal - What do you want? Stop. What do you REALLY want? What would be even better than that? Imagine that you’ve already got it – what are you seeing, hearing, and feeling? Bring as many senses into it as you can.
R is for Reality – Where are you in relation to your goal? What resources do you have? Who can you ask for help? What have you accomplished or tried so far? What have the results been?
I.N. is for Identify Next Steps – What’s the very next action you can take NOW (not next week or next month). What can you do NOW to bridge the gap from where you are to where you want to be?
A nice thing about the G.R.I.N. method is that you can drive your success with any goal and at anytime. Your state of mind doesn’t matter, nor do your circumstances. Why is this?
a. You can always have a goal
b. There will always be a current reality
c. There is always a next step
This Week’s Experiment:
Pick 3 goals and run them through the G.R.I.N model then ask yourself:
- What do I want?
- Where am I in relation to that?
- What’s the very next action(s) I can take NOW in the direction of my goal?
Take those actions, notice what results you’re producing, and keep shaping your success.
Let us know how you do.
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Posted by Amy Hale on January 21, 2010 at 10:35 am
I was thinking this morning how beneficial setting goals and visions for our lives can be. It’s great, we know where we’re going, we can make better plans and the Universe knows where to meet us. But what about those people with procrastination challenges? People who procrastinate have a tendency to not make it to their goals and they sit around frustrated or doing something to escape the reality of self-imposed failure.
Earlier last year, I wrote about using a “have done” list, rather than using a “to do” list. There are many benefits to using this method to achieve short and long term goals. (You’ll need to subscribe to my ezine for the archived newsletter if you want to know the other great benefits of a “have don” list can bring.)
I’ve been thinking about subconscious goals vs. conscious goals lately. Subconscious goals usually override conscious goals. They are at the backbone of sabotaging the conscious agenda. If you have a subconscious goal or belief that doesn’t coincide with something that you consciously want to accomplish, you find it extremely hard or impossible to achieve what you want to achieve.
How many of us have ever made a list of goals or even just a “to do” list of the day. We get going and then stall out, never reaching the goal or it takes years longer to get to. If you’ve been a procrastinator and/or have had this experience over and over, you’ve trained your subconscious mind to react to goal setting as a goal failure. The subconscious habit/belief system sets in that when you write down the goal, you won’t achieve it.
So, for procrastination clients, I’m beginning to ask them what they want to accomplish but don’t write it down. Pick one or two goals, get a good picture or movie going in your head about how life will look when the goal is accomplished. It’s easy to remember what one or two goals are without writing them down. Then before going to bed, play the movie again and again until you fall asleep.
When you tell your subconscious mind what you want, during sleep it will figure out how to get it. Often you’ll wake up with what you can do first. But don’t write it down if you’re a procrastinator or if you often fail at achieving steps toward your goals.
Make the mental decision that you are going to take at step toward your goal that day. Then as you go about your day, write down what you’ve accomplished. You’ll also be including things that don’t appear to be related to the goal set in mind.
My clients have been finding this powerfully motivating. When they see everything that they accomplished, their confidence builds and their procrastination dissolves. Plus the subconscious begins to work with your conscious desires.
It’s been pretty cool. Coming from the standpoint of previously being a procrastinator, I get so much more done and it feels empowering.
I’d love to know if you experiment with this and the results or just leave a comment. Maybe you’ve used this or other methods. Please share. I look forward to commenting with you.
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