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how to get better time management

How Sticky Notes Have Become A Big Part Of My Success

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The scenario I am about to describe happens to everyone. The scenario happens to some people more than others, but it happens to everyone. The scenario is the “I forgot” scenerio where something was important, needed to get done by the end of the day, and did not get completed.

Some people encounter the scenario too many times. I used to encounter the scenario frequently as well. The goal of writing 4 blog posts in 1 day turned into a day where no blog posts were written simply because I forgot about the goal. Other goals took its place and I used my time doing different things.

That problem stopped happening once I decided to use more sticky notes. I have all of my sticky notes next to my computer. While I am typing, I quickly look over the sticky notes to remind me of everything that I need to do for the day. Sometimes I use 3 sticky notes in 1 day. Other times, I use 10 sticky notes in 1 day. The amount of sticky notes I use primarily depend on how many things I need to do before the end of the day.

Although I did not start doing this in the New Year, I am going to start saving all of the sticky notes. At the end of 2014, I am going to look at all of the sticky notes that I wrote for the first half of January, and all of the 11 months of the year. Then, I’ll lay them all out on a table to see all of the goals I gave myself to accomplish in the year. We will all be able to figure out if all of the sticky notes will take up the entire table or if I need a second table to put my sticky notes on.

Sticky notes allow me to remember what needs to be done so I have less “I forgot” scenarios. After I write something on a sticky note, the only thing left to do is implement. Sticky notes have become a big part of my success, and when you use sticky notes, they will become a part of your success as well.

New Year’s Resolutions: Memory Or Lifestyle?

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It no longer seems as if the New Year was yesterday. Creating the list of resolutions is now a memory of the past. This is the part of the journey where many people give up on their New Year’s resolutions. Writing down your New Year’s resolutions will be a memory for all of us. However, the motivation we had on New Year’s Day cannot be a memory. Instead, the motivation we got on New Year’s Day needs to be a lifestyle.

There are 365 days in a year, and in order to accomplish your resolutions for the year, you need to have the lifestyle that will set you up for success. Today is a very important day to remind yourself about the motivational feeling you felt on New Year’s Day. You need to bring that motivational feeling back into the present and keep it there. Even if this process takes an entire week, it is important to bring back that sense of motivation.

When you bring back a sense of motivation, you will give yourself a new mental mindset as you tackle your goals. By combining your motivation with effective time management, you will be able to get more accomplished in a shorter amount of time. The motivation will be surging within you, and the output will be all of the results you wanted.

In order to accomplish your resolutions, the motivation you felt on New Year’s Day needs to be carried from the starting line to the finish line. After the first mile of a marathon, many runners forget about the beginning of the marathon when they were motivated. In order to cross the finish line, you need to have that motivation from the start and carry it all the way. Once you carry the motivation all the way to the finish line, never let go of that motivation.

 

The Problem With Taking The Easy Road

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Instead of sending out 1 tweet every hour, I could send out 1 tweet every day. Instead of publishing 2 blog posts every day, I could publish 2 blog posts every week. Instead of creating the Twitter Domination Training Course, I could have stopped with YouTube videos. Imagine how different the statistics would look.

The easy road is a mirage. The easy road appears as work free, fun, and the best thing that ever happened. When people take the easy road, they don’t get to unlock their potential. How about this for an activity: name one person who took the easy road. After you do that, try to name one person who took the easy road and became successful because he/she took the easy road.

You won’t be able to think of someone who took the easy road and became successful. There are a lot of people who have systematized their businesses and appear to be taking the easy road, but in order to get a systematized business, those people were not taking the easy road. The easy road is the easier choice, but the easier choice isn’t always right.

Taking the easy road will result in the challenging road going from challenging to nearly impossible. Imagine having to do 50 videos in a month. Doing 1-3 videos a day would result in some spare time to relax and know that all 50 videos are done. Waiting until the last 5 days to do 50 videos will lead to a lot of cramming.

The best thing to do is to take the challenging road right from the start. That way, you will be able to get your work done before anyone else, and more importantly, before the challenging road becomes the nearly impossible challenging road.

 

10 Ways To Get Better Time Management

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Poor time management skills is a worldwide problem. Goals are written down, but the time to do those goals is never found. Goals get scratched off the list, and the New Year’s resolutions lists get shorter. However, there is a solution towards time management. By consistently implementing these 10 tactics, you will be able to get better time management and get more done.

  1. Identify your priorities. These are the goals that need to get accomplished before any of your other goals. Priorities should be determined based on deadline, the impact of accomplishing the goal, and how much you want to accomplish that goal.
  2. Give yourself a schedule. What are you going to do month by month, week by week, and day by day? Write it all down in a notebook.
  3. Systematize certain aspects of your business. I have YouTube videos scheduled past February. Do you have anything that has been systematized?
  4. Ask yourself every day, “What did I do for my business?” Do not go to bed, take that nap, or take your break until you can answer this question (with something other than “no”).
  5. Create a big list of goals. A big list of goals will result in you doing more work. When you give yourself more work, you will force yourself to adapt.
  6. Eliminate the distractions. When you are working, there’s no need for the telephone, music, or mobile phone. In some cases, there isn’t even a need for the internet. Temporarily disconnect from your Wi-Fi network if you don’t need to use it.
  7. Give yourself a reason to keep going. Think of where you will be in a year if you manage your time properly.
  8. Only take 30 minute breaks. After those breaks, work for 90 minutes.
  9. Designate some tasks to others. Don’t give yourself more work than you have to.
  10. Do a short workout before you do your work. By doing a workout, your body releases chemicals that make you feel happy and positive. By feeling happy and positive as you work, you will be able to get more done.

I Just Started The 12 Week Year Plan

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I have been reading The 12 Week Year for a while. Page 3 really inspired me to pursue my ideas further. Now, I’m putting the entire plan in effect. These are all of my goals:

  1. Finish an online training course for teenagers with my brother.
  2. Create another Udemy training course.
  3. Have over 50 scheduled blog posts.
  4. Have 5,000 pins.
  5. Have YouTube videos done past summer (28 videos total).
  6. Be in the middle of writing a book.

Putting these goals into effect is the hard part. These goals aren’t my 2014 resolutions. These goals have a deadline (February 22, 2014, for anyone curious about the deadline). Implementing The 12 Week Year Plan will change your business and your life.