Two For You To Do

 Has that ever happened to you?  There are clinical diagnoses of attention deficit disorder (ADD), there’s adult onset ADD and all types of reasons we struggle to get things done.  The one we can control, but often do not is not a clinical diagnosis but something we’ve learned to do to delay doing things we don’t want to do.  It’s good old fashioned procrastination.

Dictionary.com says “procrastination is the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention.”  I knew I needed to start working on this post, but I hadn’t had my tea yet, so I HAD to get my tea.  Oh, well, those clothes finished drying, so I need to fold them and take them upstairs.  There are so many things that NEED to get done and I HAVE to do now that eventually my computer goes to sleep. Now, all of these things are true, and I love sipping on a cup of tea while I research and write.  But seriously, how were those activities truly helping me complete this action item? They weren’t.  These activities that gave me something else to focus on rather than the task at hand.

So how can we beat this productivitycrusher? 

MAKE A DECISION.  Not a want or a wish, adecision.  Decide what 2 tasks you will achieve today.  Don’t worry about the rest of the week.  Today or if the day has come to a close, what two things will you complete tomorrow?  Why is it important to accomplish them?  What will yougain by achieving them or what will you lose if you don’t?

If you commit to getting to work early or on time, what time do you need to get up to realistically take care of all the things you need to and get to work 5- 10 minutes before your start time?  You have a project at work you are tasked with completing. You know you will have text messages and phone calls throughout the day.  Decide how you will handle them – will you check your cell phone at the top of the hour on every even hour, i.e. 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m.? Decide today what your day will look like.  There are always things that come up.  Life happens.  However, there are some things that are routine and you can predict.  Decide today how you will address them.

What tasks HAVE to be completed this week?  Of those tasks, what needs to be completed between today and tomorrow?  Do you need to follow up with someone?  Do you need to reach out to your child’s school?  Type these actions in your phone and schedule them.  When the alert comes up, take action.  Decide what you will do today and do it.

It all starts with a decision and it ends with action.

This is your life.  You decide what is important.  You decide how to achieve your goals.  When the unexpected happens, (and you know it will), you can focus on dealing with it because you’ve taken positive action over time to do the things you knew had to be done.

Make a DECISION.  Then take ACTION. Do it Now!