Are you getting the things done and thinking about the things you should be?
Are there projects in your life that are languishing?
Are you clear on what you are not getting done?
Do you know how many of those promises and commitments you’ve made to yourself you actually knocked out in the past week? Past month?
We all could improve in our self management from the shopping lists we work from, to the daily to do’s, to the yearly resolutions (which are garbage IMHO), and to our long range vision of ourselves. You do have a long range vision of yourself and of your legacy, right? Right.
Before we go getting all grandiose in visioning and legacy, let’s talk basics.
Are you really managing yourself? Truly managing yourself.
If you said yes, I’m going to say you are probably lying to yourself either deliberately or inadvertently. The point of this post is to get you questioning yourself to the point of taking onboard one or two simple things you could do to enhance your ability to hit the things that you said to yourself that you would do. Here’s the deal – if you can’t manage yourself effectively – much of your life will be managed by others, and you are effectively a slave to their agendas and missions. Whose life is this anyway?
I’m a list-based guy, and I like to keep things simple. If I promise to do something either for myself or for someone else, I write that shit down. I don’t commit to any deliverable unless I truly believe that I can get it done – first off. Then I set either a target date or a hard due date for this commitment. Am I batting a thousand each week? Hell no, but I do know what I missed and what I got done – and with this information I can wield incredible power with intention across all elements of my life. That’s no bullshit, buddy.
So if you find yourself in a place where you have a loose idea of what you were supposed to get done for yourself yesterday. Stop reading and take five minutes and begin writing down everything that comes to mind. Do not get caught up with judging how much of a slacker you are or how awesome you are – just take the list down of whatever you know you missed. You can do this on a sheet of paper or on some fancy online tool or app – I don’t care about the tooling at this point – just get the junk out of your head. This blog will be waiting for you when you get back…
Congrats – you have the beginnings of a burn down list to begin managing yourself. Are there any patterns with the stuff you captured? Is it all work related? Is it a mixture of work and personal stuff? Whether it is two things or twenty or more – add another item to your to do list – schedule a 30 minute appointment with yourself to revisit this list within the next three days.
OK – you have a burn down list of a few things, some time set aside to revisit and revise the list at a set time in the next few days, now what the hell are you supposed to do? This next step is in many ways the simplest and the hardest part at this point…you ready?
Pick something off of that list, one thing or even a piece of something that advances you towards completing your goal/promise and COMMIT to doing that thing today. One single thing in 24 hours, that’s it. You know what you can handle, you know what you SHOULD be doing, but perhaps you just need a quick win with your oldest child or there’s that presentation at work that has been languishing for a few days…
Decide to commit to get that one thing done, today. My recommendation is to pick something that you can get done in under 30 minutes, and this likely means that it will be a step forward on a commitment and likely not something ‘completely completed.’ The goal is to start exercising your self commitment and follow through to yourself, and to demonstrate progress on a daily basis. The power of momentum will eventually take hold, but for now – just get the one thing done.
At the end of today, pull out that list or stack of post its or note cards or however you captured your to dos – and cross off the thing you got done today. Relish this moment. For me, each day when I sit down and look at what I got done – it is now an empowering feeling rather than a topic to be avoided. Reflect now on the remainder of your list.
Pick another single item to get done tomorrow. Then do it. Then review at the end of the day tomorrow.
Two days from right now, you will already have your next to do selected – the ‘revisit your list of to do’s’ at that scheduled time you selected from earlier in this article. Take the time to start setting some target dates (intended delivery dates) and hard due dates (promises to yourself to complete) and to add more items to your list.
Keep doing this ‘1 per day’ habit for the next few days. Keep track of what you get done each day. I promise you in two weeks, you will be amazed at the emerging turnaround, even if you didn’t get everything done each day – I bet you can hit 10 out of 14 days with 10 wins for yourself. Now you have a habit, a daily habit, that you can begin building upon.
Sometimes the simple things are the most empowering, bring your energy to this and take some action.
Let’s go…
