You do not have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great! – Zig ZIglar
Have you found yourself at the end of the day thinking, “Where did the time go?” . You feel like you were busy all day but what did you accomplish? Have you moved yourself toward your truly most important goals or even spent your time making moments you will cherish? Or are you like me and spent the day ticking things off an endless to do list and feeling unsatisfied and demotivated by all the things that are left to do each night. Below are 5 tips that can help you figure out what is important and make strides each day toward those things.
- Prioritize what is important
- “Eat your biggest frog” and get momentum
- Batch Tasks and Stack Habits
- Tiny Tasks and Tiny Habits
- Motivate yourself
(1) Prioritize what is important
Sit down and choose ONLY 3 goals you would like to accomplish in the next 3 months. They could even be yearly goals. Mine this year includes; (#1) organizing and decluttering my house, (#2) working on my blog, and (#3) improving my health. These tasks are important but not urgent so they used to always get stuck at the end of the day and I would never have time for them. Now I choose to do one small thing in each category every day and I determine a general time I will do them in the day. These 3 Most Important Tasks (MIT’s) get scheduled and done. They are my biggest rocks and then everything else on my to do list is the sand that gets filled in around those rocks. If I get those three things done every day, I am taking small steps toward becoming a new person and can celebrate these tiny wins.
An Example of how this works in my life:
- AM: Wake up, drink water, make sure the kids are settled and DO YOGA ( #3), DECLUTTER a defined space for 10 minutes ( #1)
- Afternoon: Eat lunch, WRITE BLOG POST ( #2), MEDITATE 5-10 minutes ( #3)
- Evening: Cook a HEALTHY DINNER (#3), Change into pajamas and 5 PUSH UPS ( #3)
RINSE AND REPEAT
(2) “Eat your biggest frog” and get momentum
Sometimes the thing you want to do least or the one thing that keeps getting pushed to the next day on your to do list is exactly what you need to get done. If you just do that one thing that keeps a pit in your stomach or makes you feel guilty you will gain so much momentum because you will feel so much joy and accomplishment when you finish it. After I make sure I can determine times to get my 3 MIT’s done in my day, I then tackle the biggest thing on my to do list.
(3) Batch tasks and Stack Habits
I love both of these concepts. Batching tasks means you set up a 30 -60 minute timer and you knock out as many things on a tiny task list or your to do list that you can. Instead of planning each activity separately, you plan one time to accomplish all those little chores that are adding up in one session. Then celebrate your big win!
Stacking Habits is also an amazing concept. This is where you pair a new habit with an existing one in your day so you always have a reminder to do it. Here are some that I have started: 5 Pushups when I change out of my work clothes at night or get on my pajamas, reading my favorite book for 5-10 minutes right before I shower ( you have the added benefit of no one bothering you because they believe you are in the shower – Mom’s will definitely understand this), wiping down the bathroom mirror after I brush my teeth, partitioning each meal’s leftovers into ready to go containers for work after I am done eating.
(4) Tiny Tasks and Tiny Habits
When you want a lasting life change then Tiny Habits is really the way to go. I was never successful when I tried to change my whole life perspective in one day. I had lost and gained 100’s of pounds before I found a way to approach food that kept me healthy and the weight off for good ( spoiler alert, I made tiny changes every day with food and replaced 1 bad food with 1 good food over time). The way to start is just by picking one small habit that you can ensure you do every day without fail. Instead of your goal being drinking a whole monster sized water bottle every day, how about just 1 cup of water when you wake up. DO NOT commit to working out for 30-40 minutes every day – that won’t work. Commit to 2 sit-ups or 2 pushups and do that daily. It needs to be small or else it won’t stick.
(5) Motivate Yourself
When all else fails; find something silly that makes you want to start. Some people count down from 5 to get themselves off the couch and moving toward their goal. Sounds silly? Actually try it and see what happens. Set an Alexa timer for the family that says “clean up for 5 minutes” at a certain time of day. Even if everyone in the house does that once a week and mostly ignores the reminder, you are still ahead of the game. Set a reminder on your phone with a motivational saying like “You got this” that goes off at the time of day you feel your biggest slump. Design your environment to bring you one step closer to accomplishing your goals. Set up your clothes or things you will need for your morning routine the night before so it is easier to just start when you get up.
The most important thing is to be the person today that you want to be tomorrow. What are you waiting for? Stop pushing off the things you know will bring you your life back and bring you joy. Just get started today and trust me, your future self will thank you!
Great tips!