Getting It All Done!

Definitely when I was in a 'regular' type job, this could have been a picture of how most of my days were. There never seemed to be enough time in the day to get it all done. The only way that I learned to take control of my day and therefore to be more productive was to plan. Even though I am now retired from that type of job, I can honestly say, I don't have the overwhelming feelings from people above me on the ladder, yet there are still days that pop up where there is just not enough time in the day to accomplish what I want.

This means looking at how to reel myself back into the reality of getting things done that I need to click off my list. The one good thing is that it is "my" list. That is the beauty of retirement. When I say reeling myself back into the reality, I mean finding where I am wasting time. This, I know for a fact, I am very good at doing.

Being a writer of blogs, as well as working on my book, I MUST set goals. That is just how my mind operates. There are better ways than others to help anyone work more efficiently, no matter what their jobs may be. There is not a class to take that teaches us how to work. Everyone is different, and everyone must find their own bad habits and how to eradicate  them. It helps if you have some support around you. 

Somehow most of us just fall into the routine of failing to plan for the day, wasting our time on low level tasks and allow procrastination to start sneaking in to us. For me, I know that I do start my day with high hopes of getting right down to it. First things first, I must have my coffee. That is a MUST! Then to have a moment of quiet meditation to get into my positive mantra for the day. Yes, for me, that means putting it up on my FaceBook page. This is a dangerous move on my part. Sometimes (rarely) I can zoom right on through without reading other posts, knowing that I can do that in the afternoon when my creativity is not as high. 

From there I look over my agenda which I made at the end of the day before. It is my plan of what is top priority. This is easy to be distracted from if I am not careful and apparently I am not alone. I rather like to check my e mails, delete the ones that are junk or get unsubscribed when possible, I tend to get side tracked in the news items that pop up. Some stories are just not worth taking the time to read. All it is doing is cluttering my brainwaves. It is my belief that it is a way to allow procrastination to come rolling in.To help ease my guilt, I will use this time to get my breakfast so that I am eating while reading. Probably not the best for digestion. It works for me.

Keeping the sounds off on my phone and computer is a big help in order to not get pulled in to check on e mails. I read that checking two times a day is enough. For me? I prefer three times. The one at lunch time is important because there may be an item that needs immediate action. If I waited till the end of the day, it may be too late to do anything about until the next day. A great quote:

Before I started planning more effectively, I read an article about tracking my habits. This was eye opening, for sure. I knew that I seemed to not have enough time in my day but where did it go? It really showed me that I needed to set my own rules and get rid of the distractions. I used this information as a power tool. Now I was able to work on the bad habits and focus on improvement. Nobody is too busy; it is just a matter of priorities!