As you know, I get crazy pumped for ambitious people like you to take control of your time and habits so you can live a happier, more productive and rewarding life.
That said, in order to create this feeling of order and success — to shift your habits and make progress everyday towards your goals — you need to stop doing certain things, PRONTO.
If there’s any part of you that hopes for better results, better attention and quite simply, a better life, I hope you commit to STOP taking part in these five common ways we give up our power.
#1: Stop The Notifications
Seriously, it’s time. Turn off the notifications. All of them. They are stripping you of focus and clarity, not to mention draining you of energy. You are an adult and it is in your control to stop this behavior now.
Do not fool yourself into thinking you’ll leave your email notifications or your FB notifications or your CNN notifications on…but you won’t look at them. No one believes that. Not even you. The easiest thing to do is to not have the distractions in the first place.
So right now, go onto your Settings on your phone and on your laptop, and turn those brain and focus suckers off!
#2: Stop Starting and Not Finishing
You know how you can be busy all day long and still feel like you got nothing done? What gives?
A usual suspect is starting a task but not taking that last little step to finish it.
Which means at the end of the day you look around at your cluttered desk or at your overflowing email and you feel like you haven’t completed a thing. Instead spend the 10-60 seconds it will take for you to finish the job.
For example, if you respond to an email, take the few seconds to drag it into a folder or tag it with a label. That way the task is complete.
When you fill out a form or print out a document, take the extra 30 seconds to grab a manila folder, write the name of the doc or project on it and file the paper away.
Yup, half a minute friend is the difference between clutter pile up and feeling accomplished.
#3: Stop This Bad Habit When You Have A Few Minutes
You have twenty minutes in between meetings, so what do you do? Check your email.
Your 1:30 appointment cancelled last minute so what do you do? Fall into your email.
You have three high priority projects due next week but see some “white space” on your calendar, so what do you do? You know you the answer. You get sucked into your email.
Stop that. Now please.
Every time you don’t have something scheduled does not give you permission to dive into email.
Things will be just fine, in fact a lot better, if you got your head out of email quicksand and instead focused your attention on the other 729 tasks you need to get done.
Instead, schedule specific times that you will check and respond to email. Like for 20 minutes after each one hour of other work. That way you know you’ll be checking your email soon enough, but you don’t need to check it every 47 seconds.
When you’re not in your scheduled email time, close the tab. Just like that. Take your sweet little cursor, click that X on your email tab, and lose the temptation to jump back in. Remember, you are an adult. You can do this!
#4: Stop Being Still
If you’re sitting at your desk for four hours priding yourself on being super productive, think again.
You brain and body need a break. If you’re not moving for hours I guarantee you’re finding ample ways to waste time or to simply not work as efficiently as you can.
Move your legs, stretch your back, shake your booty if you need to. Take at least five to ten minutes every 60-90 minutes to walk, fill up your water bottle, or do some jumping jacks.
Activity will reenergize you and reengage you in your task at hand. Breaks will help clear your mind, invite creativity and simply, make you happier. Stop sitting still.
#5: Stop Thinking You’ll Remember
Every now and then something falls through the cracks, doesn’t it?
- Sometimes it’s non consequential like forgetting to pick up batteries while you were at the store.
- Sometimes it’s embarrassing like showing up to an event without your tickets.
- Sometimes it make you look real bad, like bringing one copy of a presentation to a meeting instead of three your supervisor asked you to bring for his clients.
No matter what, it’s frustrating when you forget to do, add, make, buy, dispose, attach, create or simply think about something you knew you were supposed to do.
Stop relying on your memory.
You’re storing a lot in your brain and even if it’s not full, why stuff it to capacity? Get as much out of your head and on paper as possible. (By paper I’m referring to a physical OR digital source).
Get into the habit of releasing all your thoughts so you leave room in your brain for fun thinking like: What will I daydream about on my walk? What would be the best vacation this year? Where can I learn more about calligraphy? Yes, fun stuff.
Leave space for exploration, strategy, planning and creativity, rather than mundane thoughts that you could easily capture on paper.
Well there you have it. Five things you should stop doing right now so you can get and stay focused, achieve your personal and professional goals, and squash overwhelm.
Which one will you commit to doing right now? Ahora? Pronto? Stay accountable by letting me know in the comment box below.
You have so much brilliance to share in the world. Don’t let any of the above common distractions derail your happiness or success.
Here’s to getting the right things done!
With love,
Mridu
# I am committing to #4! Many times, I don’t realized I had sat for over 2 hours and had forgotten to get up and walk around and stretch! Thanks for this reminder!
Great commitment Tiffany! A short walk will do your brain and body good. 🙂
Hey Mridu,
I seriously love #5, at 66 years young I have a serious case of CRS [Can’t remember …Stuff]. Never got into electronic reminders, have always used that slim Hallmark calendar that fits into my purse. As for #4, old Arthur (arthritis) took care of that a long time ago. As for #3, it goes hand in hand, pun intended with checking a cell phone, every few minutes (or seconds). As for #2, some of your challenges in the past are helping me to keep on the straight and narrow even now. I don’t have to worry about #1, because I never learned how to do it in the first place. Ta, da, that leaves continuing to work on #2. Time to get back to writing, ’cause that’s the thing I really need to do.