Something about new beginnings makes you want to step back and evaluate your life. I love new beginnings, new months, new years, birthdays…
I love them because they are new leases on LIFE. New chances to make up for lost time, new tries on the missed goals, a chance to move unaccomplished tasks to the new to-do lists.
To me, it’s a grace to try again! Time to go back to setting and measuring goals for your business /career and personal life!
Which will help with setting your weekly action tasks and keeping you on track throughout the month and also get you closer to your goals!
The brain is a funny thing, I don’t know about you but my brain rejoices over small accomplishments.
Nothing gives me such a kick than when I finish a task. Finishing a task makes my brain happy, so my brain release endorphins that gives me a boost to tackle new one
At the beginning of January I joined a writing challenge to write and publish a book in two weeks.
I was single focused on that one task, I got to work and got it done.
What are some ways you can get in the habit of finishing what you started?
I am a serial project starter. I love new projects, new projects excites me. I love getting great ideas, I love dreaming about my great ideas, I love planning the execution of my great ideas. The only thing I struggle with is actually finishing my projects.
I was so proud of myself when I actually finished this challenge! I worked and created a whole book from start to finish! I get to hold my ideas and dreams in my hands in the physical form of a book! There is no greater rush at that moment!
You have to be single minded
In the period of time you are focusing on the tasks you have to be single minded. You have to focus on that one project and set a block of time to work on said project. For example, I didn’t work on any other projects for the two weeks I was working on the book. I spent an hour writing and that was that. I didn’t try to get anything else done. That’s what you’re going to have to do!
Make the decision to finish
You need to make a decision to finish no matter what. If you start dreaming and the project is getting too big, scale back! Divide the task into realistic chunks that you can actually finish in the allotted time. In software development, we work in an Agile environment and what that means is, we work in sprints. A sprint lasts about 2 weeks, for those two weeks we focused our efforts on a number of tasks. At the end of the two weeks there is a deployment, anything that got too big or too unrealistic to finish get pushed to the next sprint and get divided into more tasks.
Whether you’re a mom trying to get things done in the house or a business owner trying to accomplish a project, this method will help.
Don’t overextend yourself
Give yourself grace and be okay with breaking big tasks into smaller ones. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! It doesn’t make any sense for you to keep trying to shove a whole elephant don’t your mouth, it won’t fit and if it does, you will choke. Take your time and cut down your elephant of a project into bite size you can actually accomplish. Remember what I said about the brain? Your brain will be happy to finish something, it will start releasing those happy hormones to give you a boost to do more!
Make time for self care
What does that have to do with getting things done you ask? Well, you’re no good to anyone if you’re too tired, and run down to the ground!
You need to eat!
Yes, make time for lunch, step away from work and have a bite. Believe me you will be in a better frame of mind to continue working and have a better chance at increasing your productivity.
You need to sleep!
The whole I’ll sleep when I’m dead mantra is dumb and need to be retired. You need your sleep, your brain is not going to be able to focus if it’s tired. I know we are trying to increase productivity and sometimes working late feels like you gaining a few more hours of work? Nope you’re not!
You need to step away from work!
Step away from it, do something fun, or nothing at all, just step away.
I know it’s hard to move away from tasks you’re trying to finish but trust me on this, stepping away can give you new perspective, new ideas, help you be more energized and help you come up with better more efficient ideas.
What will you accomplish this month?
For more productivity tips and tricks check out these other posts
25 WAYS TO HELP YOU CREATE THE LIFE YOU WANT
LIFE HACKS FOR THE NON TYPE-A PERSON
THE SECRET TO GETTING THE RESULTS YOU WANT
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