What’s the most common excuse you hear from people when they fail to see something through?
‘I just didn’t have enough time…..’
I’ve used it, you’ve used it and you’ll know others that used it. However 95% of the time, this is just a lame excuse for not having enough determination to get something done.
Now I fully appreciate that time can be a factor in things and when it is, you simply have to have to suck it up, prioritise and get the most important stuff done. Every one of us though could be using our time more effectively and if we did we would make much more progress in the areas that are important to us.
Have a plan for the day
First of all you have to use the bulk of your time wisely. You absolutely have to have a PLAN for the day and if you are smart you will have a plan for the week and you’ll pull your daily plan from that. If you start your day without a plan, you’ll be more likely to do random things or get dragged into things that other people want you do to.
Get into the habit of sitting down for 15 minutes each morning and planning out what you intend to do that day. Put rough timings on each task and if your aim to work for 5 hours, plan just shy of that to account for inevitable distractions. Once you have a list of tasks timed up, put an asterix next to no more than two, these will be your MUST DO’s for the day. Then put them in the order that you plan to do them and attack them.
Have a plan to deal with distractions
You need to have a solid plan to deal with distractions that will come your way. It could be idiot colleagues just looking to waste your time aswell as theirs, people coming to you with non-urgent discussions/tasks or whatever.
You need at least a couple of ‘head down’ parts of the day where your head is literally down and you are working uninterrupted – it’s amazing how much you can get done when you set yourself up to make this happen.
Shut down your Email and any instant messengers (and computer if you can!), turn off your phone, make your colleagues aware that you will be unavailable and if anyone does come up to you, be stern (but polite) and let them know you are extremely busy and on a deadline and you will get back with them later.
Make extra time
‘I cannot wait until they ivent a 25 hour day’
You must have heard this before. The truth is most people don’t need more hours, they just need to learn how to utilize and leverage the time they currently have.
I did a bit of a test this week. I have been meaning to read/listen to audio books regularly for years now and if I am honest I think I buy 5 times as many books as I actually read lol. So this week, I tried to make sure that I took advantage of the times of the day where I was generally doing tasks where I could easily do something alongside it. Walking the dog, Taking a crap, making and eating breakfast, driving, doing cardio etc. And I have nearly gotten through a whole 3 hour audiobook this week.
So I challenge you to have a think about times of the day which you could be doing something more useful alongside it. If you drive for an hour a day, you could be filling your brain with inspiring, motivation information…. or you could just listen to Chris Moyles talking rubbish 
Do Work!
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