I was excited to hear Matt Perman was releasing a new book entitled How to Get Unstuck.
I’m a huge fan of Perman’s – I enjoyed his first book and have had the chance to speak with him on my podcast. There aren’t many people who write on productivity from a specifically Christian perspective, so naturally we were kindred spirits.
So when I had the opportunity to get an advance review copy of How to Get Unstuck, of course I was going to jump on that!
As the years have gone on, I’ve tried a variety of time management systems and have a big collection of tricks I’ve used.
You want to know what I’ve found to often be the best method for me?
The one that’s new.
Sometimes time management is about large, sweeping goals and major projects that affect our lives. Other times, it’s just about a quick trick or two that will help us have a little fun and shave some minutes off of your workday.
This Thursday Time Tip is definitely one of the latter – a fun technique that can give you a little drive to close out some tasks.
There’s only so much mental effort that you can pour into a particular task before you need a break.
These breaks aren’t giving in to temptation. As mentioned in The Power of Full Engagement, taking the occasional breather helps you increase your energy levels before you tackle that difficult project again.
But there’s another strategy that I’ve toyed with that has allowed me to be quite productive and still enjoy the energizing effects of a break.
How do you spend the 24 hours you have in a day?
I mean, how do you really spend them?
By performing a time audit, you can find out. And with a realistic perspective on how your time is actually spent, you have the information to find areas of improvement.
In fact, this audit has been one of the tools that has helped me the most over the past few years.
For many people, we are our own harshest critics. We have high expectations for ourselves. We push for perfect performance.
But sometimes having high standards can backfire.
Expecting perfection can lead to a psychological phenomenon that I will call the “might as well” effect.
Here’s another tip that didn’t fit into Your Procrastination Solution but may be quite helpful to some.
As explained by Richard Wiseman in 59 Seconds, dive into a project and trick your psychology using the Zeigarnik effect.
I left this out of Your Procrastination Solution, but I think it’s worth a mention here.
Although it’s not necessarily a cause of procrastination, often confusion can be a large contributing factor.
If you don’t have a clear idea of what you should be doing right now, it’s much more likely that you’ll procrastinate in order to relieve the tension.
Maybe a task seems overly complex. If so, break it down into steps and get started on your first item.
Maybe your to-do list is lengthy and unprioritized. If so, establish what’s your number one priority at the moment.
This isn’t a revolutionary approach – it seems like so much common sense. But I bet you’d be surprised how often confusion throws a monkey wrench into your productivity. Oftentimes a little confusion is all it takes to tip the balance over to procrastination.
And, of course, I don’t want to forget to mention my new (and free!) ebook, Your Procrastination Solution.
Don’t procrastinate and grab your copy right now.
You undoubtedly struggle with procrastination. It seems as common to the human condition as breathing.
Scripture tells us it’s foolish, time management experts tell us it’s wasteful, and even our own common sense tells us it’s something to be avoided. But yet we still scratch that procrastination itch.
We don’t need more guilt trips. We don’t need more motivational posters. We need real solutions.
That’s why I’m excited today to announce the release of my new (and free) ebook, Your Procrastination Solution.
Do you know what the two easiest tasks in the world are?
The first is creating work for others. The second is saying yes to work others create for you.
Of course, this leads to a breakdown as commitments vastly outpace our ability to meet them. It’s crucial we learn to say no.
And as I think back in my life, the person that most often creates work for me is my wife. By far, I’m the person in my wife’s life that creates the most work for her. I’d imagine your marriage may be the same.
We need to learn how to lovingly and respectfully navigate this situation – guarding our time and learning to protect our spouse’s schedule from our own demands.