3 Ways to Get Very Little Accomplished

Ok, FOUR ways to get very little accomplished.

1.  Ditch the plan for the day -  If there is nothing specific for me to focus on doing when I wake up, I end up just going through the day in a reactive way.  In other words, when I'm at my computer, I just respond to emails willy nilly, I get pulled in several directions as my phone rings, my email dings, and my cats sing (ok, meow, but that didn't rhyme).  When I wake up, I need to have a goal in order to get me going.  It could be to work on a specific project, to tie up some loose ends, or to head to the mountains for a hike.   If I have even a simple game plan, it's more likely it will be executed.

2.  Allow the details to overwhelm you - Often it's the small little things we need to do, and lots of them, that can overwhelm us.  If I have 3 projects to do, but 17 little things to do, THOSE are the things that bug me the most.  Unless I write them down and put a time estimate next to them to see how long each one will take, my mind blows these up and I get frustrated and stressed, which means I can't focus on the big picture. Once I realize each little thing only takes 2-10 minutes each, it puts them into perspective in my head, and I can relax more.

3. Get lost in email - yeah, yeah, I KNOW email is part of your job and reading and responding to your emails can help get things done.  But honestly, how often does this happen: 

• you read an email, don't want to deal with it, close it; 
• read another email, maybe respond; 
• open an email, read it, then realize you read it before and that's one you don't want to deal with now, close it; 
• read an email and respond quickly, 
• read an email, don't want to deal with it, close it;
• and on and on.  

Before you know it, an hour (or 2 or 3) has passed and the real work you need to do has gone untouched.  Right?  If we actually deal with, or process, the email when we read it, and set a time limit on how long we are on email, then we could get out of the email trap and get to working on our actual work.