Get Realistic - Get More Productive!
| December 15th, 2008Monday is a special day in the week. It’s the first day and technically anything is possible. (Same could be say for each day). As the week continues productivity has to be measured and if you haven’t completed some work the pressure starts to set in. Regardless if you planned 5 things to do or 50. If you look at them in percentages if you’re only accomplishing 20-40% of your tasks there will be some anxiety remaining. It doesn’t have to be like this.
I find it very easy to make grandiose plans of what will happen during the week. A “perfect world” set of things to do and accomplish. Sadly life doesn’t always work out as planned and things beyond our control occur which require our time. It’s also easy to make a list that is overzealous and come up incredibly short. I know I have done that on more than one occasion.
The secret to having a fun, productive week is setting realistic goals. My to-do lists used to be long. Now they are incredibly short. After sometime of trying to bite off more then I could chew I found I was choking. Nothing close to what I had imagined was getting done. There had to be some kind of remedy !?!
The remedy is setting a realistic todo list. Rome wasn’t built overnight and neither will your business. It’s a slow process of pragmatic steps. It’s easy to do / appear to do lots without getting the results you desire. If you want to get results you need to take a look at what is important; prioritize and then implement.
Here is my secret for getting things done and keeping my sanity.
I set one goal for each day. Have one major goal for each day and if that gets done quickly have enough secondary ones. Ones that if they get accomplished; great. If not they can always be done at sometime because they are not time-bound.
If you accomplish one goal per day that will help you build your businesses towards its desired end you’ll quickly make tracks properly. Things take time and thought. Trying to do too much with too little time is about as productive as doing nothing because you get so caught up that nothing seems to get done.
Another reason why I like to make only one must do per day is that it takes the stress away from your business and makes it fun again. Stress is a killer and sadly most stress is self induced.
Work hard everyday but be mindful of what you realistically can accomplish. If you’re working solo and do outsourcing. Don’t expect it overnight. The man / woman working alone from home doesn’t have the same resources as someone with a full office of specialized staff; so don’t assume things will get done instantly. The flip side is you don’t have any of the overhead associated with it…
Set realistic goals that are achievable and your to-do list will move along smoothly. You’ll feel better, less stressed and ultimately accomplish more.
Why not give it a try? Starting today!?
Keep working from home,
Rob
