When things needs to be done, esp. in the face of lack of motivation (which is more frequent than the motivated ones), instead of pondering on how to get started, which task to start off with or wasting time waiting for inspiration to strike or the right state of mind, the following practices can help in closing the to-do items productively:
Start off with the 2-min rule
When confused as to where to start, pick any task without delay and engage yourself 100% just for 2 minutes. Most of the time, by the end of these 2 minutes, your mental state would be in a different place than where it started, more calm and focused towards the task at hand. And instead of procrastinating that task for later, most of the time you would feel like getting it completed before moving on to something else.
Eat the frog first
Once you are in the zone by the end of your first task, move on to the most difficult task while you still have high mental energy. This is referred to as eating the frog first. Once you are done with the difficult task, the remaining would be relatively easy and this would help you to to convince yourself to start tackling the rest of the task as they would be the “easy” ones.
Do on-the-fly scheduling
When you are complete with the first or second one, have a look at the to-dos remaining and do a on-the-fly sequencing in mind (though noting it down would be a better way) in the order the rest would be tackled with. This will help you structure the rest of the day more efficiently and would provide a sort-of-anchor for guiding yourself through the sea of task.
Practice an objective mindset
One reason for procrastinating things is our perception towards the task-this task is too consuming, the other is too boring etc. To brave such notions and overcome procrastination, an objective mindset which views the tasks as something to get done with without categorizing them based on difficulty and other parameters would help you tune your mindset more into the mode of getting things done and focusing on being productive rather than being the judge based on perceptions.
Tick things off the list
Checking the things completed off a written list provides a visual cue of the progress achieved which further bolsters the willingness to continue doing the rest so that all the things can be checked off. And also, the very act of checking things off provides a great satisfaction for all the hard work done.
Hoping these tips would help you be more productive each day.
See you tomorrow !!!
Klikomo 