Monday Motivation: Stop Putting Things Off!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I apologize for the lack of post on Friday. Sometimes my work gets a little hectic, and everything has to take a backseat. The joys of television, I suppose. But, because of that is what inspired today’s blog post: STOP PUTTING THINGS OFF! One reason I’ve been able to post a blog every day is I try and knock it out first thing in the morning before my day gets hectic. On Friday, I kept waiting until “after lunch” which then turned into, “shit, it’s already 6pm and I have date night tonight.” So here are 3 simple ways to avoid a procrastination problem.

Tackle Large Things First

You know when you have a large list of things to do, but you can’t even start on the little things until the big stuff is taken care of? Well, there’s a reason the big stuff needs to get done first (as daunting as that is!). When wedding planning, I couldn’t even begin to think about the food and colors until the bigger item of venue and general guest list was taken care of. Same thing goes for “every day life.” It’ll be a lot easier to keep the apartment tidy if I do a great big overhaul clean first.

Plus, an amazing thing happens when you scratch the biggest item off your to-do list first – everything else seems that much easier! Suddenly you can say to yourself, “I can totally take care of those little things because I already finished (insert GINORMOUS task here!) It does wonders for your self-esteem.

The same can also be said for items that are small, but seem monumental to you emotionally and physically. Like working out, for example. That’s why I try and get my workouts in first thing, so the rest of the day I can say, “well, I already worked out this morning!” I don’t have it hanging over my head like a yucky, gray cloud.

Get Support from Friends

Anytime I’m unsure of my ability to actually perform a task, I tell at least a dozen people about it. Why would I do such a potentially humiliating thing, you ask? It’s because I know my friends will hold my feet to the fire and I don’t want to deal with the embarrassing question of, “hey, whatever happened to that blog you were supposed to do?” By even saying the task aloud, you’ve made some sort of contract with the universe to complete it. Writing it down, that’s some sort of written contract. Telling your buddies about it? That’s support and pressure all rolled into one. And hey, who can’t finish to-do’s without a little support and pressure, huh?

Re-Evaluate Halfway Through the Day

Every morning, I always sit with my blank to-do list journal, and blank word document that will soon be filled with my daily schedule. I fill both items out while sipping on my morning coffee. Then, I get to work on them. BUT, without fail something will come up halfway through the day that prevents me from working on my novel or getting to read the research book for my boss. Instead of letting it derail me, I’ll revisit my list halfway through the day and start the day over like new. Suddenly the things that were so pressing this morning don’t need to get accomplished until tomorrow, and things that just didn’t seem like a big deal needed to be taken care of yesterday.

By revisiting our goals, it allows us to reorganize and re-pattern and we’re less likely to put them off. Or at least be able to accomplish them in a better thought out way. It’s like the daily check-in motivator.

Weekly Goals

Here’s mine for the week. What are yours?:

*Take 10 minutes every day to train Cardinal

*Have daily check-in meetings w/ my boss to ensure nothing falls through the cracks

*Finish my pilot beat sheet

*Write a chapter of my novel

*Workout at least 3 times this week

*Stick to no more than 1 glass of wine a night this week

*Root hard for the lakers!!!

*Take time to RELAX

Have a wonderful week, lovelies! 

Monday Motivation: Setting Goals

By now you may have realized that I’m in love with lists. Not only are they extremely helpful in seeing everything in a concise, well-laid out manner, but it feels oh-so-satisfying to cross something off on my to-do list. Along those same lines, I’m a huge goals person.

My college job was working for a mortgage company, and while I didn’t learn a whole lot about mortgages, my boss was extremely goal oriented and a great leader. He was the first person that really introduced to me the power of writing my goals down, and then subsequently seeing them come to life. Funny, that one of the first goals I actually wrote down was leaving that job. Anyway, since then I’ve always written my goals down and nine times out of ten, they’ve come to fruition – no matter how big or small. I usually do the big set of goals at the start of the year, in lieu of traditional resolutions. But, I do try to set a smaller set of goals every week. Creating a smaller goal list is essential in checking the bigger items off. After all, there are very few things you can do overnight; it usually takes a lot of practice and determination.

The biggest trick of goal setting is not to overwhelm yourself. Start small, or maybe only focus on one for each “category of life.” For example, don’t make it a goal to “get out of debt” and simultaneously “start saving for a down payment.” Focus on the get out of debt part first (or whichever you prefer). This way you have a solid focus and clear objective.

Goals can be anything from: “I don’t want to get overly stressed this week,” to “I’m finally going to finish my screenplay.” My goal last week was to write a blog entry every week, and low and behold I did it! And, don’t worry that’s one of my goals this week, too. Here are some of my other goals:

-Keep the house clean (I did a major spring cleaning yesterday, and I’d like my counters to be clutter free for at least a week)

-Write a chapter of my novel

-Workout at least 3 times this week

-Make sure my dog is getting the proper exercise he needs (walks at least twice a day)

-Do not spend more than $60 on groceries, essentials, etc this week

-Do not spend more than 1 hour a day on wedding related items (lately my afternoons have been spent up browsing wedding blogs… oops!)

-Eat healthy, but it’s okay to allow 1 cheat day (there is pizza and cookies in my house right now, after all!)

And that’s it! What are some of your goals this week?