| Focus – Get Things Done! |
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| Lenny Balston | |||
| Monday, 27 July 2009 | |||
  This may seem like the most obvious thing, but the only way to get things done is to just do them.“I’m usually completely exhausted by the end of the day and week. I find that I just don’t have enough time to get everything done. My to-do list is constantly growing – and I’m afraid to even look at it. The smallest task just eats away at my time. What work life balance?” Who said this? Well me actually and I’m guessing that I’m not alone. The no.1 thing preventing us from “Getting Things Done” is focus. Let me expand; we’re not fully concentrating on the task in front of us. This used to be me, but I’m glad to say that I’m slowly changing and shrinking my to-do lists. In fact I now get a whole lot more done in a day than I sometimes did in a week. What’s the miracle cure? There is none. I have not generated more time or cut down my responsibilities. I simply complete the things I’ve set out to do – that’s it – easy-peasy. Step 1: Define Your Task Before you start any task you need to know what the end goal of the task is. So maybe your goal is to ‘iron all the clothes’ or ‘write thank you notes for your wedding presents’ or ‘write an article on getting things done’. It doesn’t matter as long as you know what you want to achieve. So your task is not to be super-woman and multi-task or think about what you’re preparing for dinner or when you’ll find time to buy shoes for that wedding - your task is only to achieve your goal and nothing else. I repeat - absolutely nothing else. Step 2: Remove All Distractions If you do not need to be in-front of a computer to complete your task then don’t - this will remove most of our modern day distractions. Unfortunately this is probably not the case so unless you need to use the internet for this task, close your internet browser. If you have to use the internet then only open relevant web pages. If a website is not useful in getting your task done then you don’t need it to be open. Facebook, Twitter, Skype and other social networking sites and tools are distractions. You do not need to be logged into them permanently. They leech into your time without you even realising, next thing you know – it’s the end of the day. Set specific times of the day for your social networking so that it does not prevent you from getting things done. Email is probably the next biggest time thief. Do you need to a have it open all day and do you need to read all your emails as they come in? Unless you’re working in a support type environment you probably don’t. If you can’t bear to close your email then at least deactivate the message alerts. If you’re using Microsoft Outlook then you can do this by following the menu path Tools>Options. On the ‘Preferences’ tab select ‘Email Options’. Then select ‘Advanced Email Options’. Under the heading ‘When new items arrive in my inbox’ de-select ‘Display a New Mail Desktop Alert’. Click ‘OK’ until you’re done. Doing this one thing has been the biggest contributor to increasing my productivity. Set fixed times every day for handling your emails so they do not start piling up. Step 3: Do it in the Allocated Time Now that you’ve removed all distractions you’re ready to tackle your task. Set a fixed amount of time to complete your task. 30 minutes is usually a good amount of time for most tasks, 1 hour for anything more challenging. When you’ve finished with your task take a short break to stretch your logs and maybe get a glass of water or fresh air. Tip! Allocate less time than you think you can do the task in – you might surprise yourself and pull it off, but in all likelihood you’ll go a little bit over. Chances are though that you’ll be quicker that you’d expected. That’s it. That’s all there is to getting things done. If you do this regularly you’ll be able to do a lot more and feel more focussed because you’re actually making progress. You’ll probably also feel a lot lighter because you can now tackle some of those big projects you’ve been putting off because you thought you just didn’t have the time. Good luck and just do it. I think you’ll surprise yourself.
Disclaimer: Harmonious Living is written for and read by a community of individuals with strong and independent opinions. While the publishers of Harmonious Living are dedicated to providing a forum in which views can be openly expressed, those views do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.
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