Plan Tomorrow Today: Train Your Brain To Fight Procrastination, Create Optimized To-do Lists, Enhance Productivity, And Practice Better Habits 54u57

Plan Tomorrow Today

Train Your Brain To Fight Procrastination, Create Optimized To-Do Lists, Enhance Productivity, and Practice Better Habits Michelle Moore

Copyright © 2019 by Michelle Moore. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the author.

Limit of Liability/ Disclaimer of Warranty: The author makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaims all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and recipes contained herein may not be suitable for everyone. This work is sold with the understanding that the author is not engaged in rendering medical, legal or other professional advice or services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. The author shall not be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an individual, organization of website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the author endorses the information the individual, organization to website may provide or recommendations they/it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet websites listed in this work might have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on the products and services or to obtain technical , please the author.

Contents

Introduction

1. How to Make a To-Do List

2. How to Stop Procrastinating?

3. Enhance Your Focus

4. Boost Your Productivity

5. How to Become More Organized

Conclusion

Reference

Endnotes

Introduction

I used to be very scattered and unorganized; I kept forgetting deadlines, meetings, and promises. I had no priorities. I didn’t even know what they were. I told myself that I don’t need a notebook, let alone a to-do list, to pen down my engagements as my memory is pretty good at retaining everything – and people who needed schedules and notebooks were not in control of their lives. But I was – or so I thought. Until I wasn’t. When I was in my early twenties it was not that hard to live by my silly beliefs, storing everything in my mind, as I had one or two strict engagements a week. But as I gradually became an adult and my duties multiplied – and their stakes rose – I had to bend my knee and resign my grandiose beliefs about my memory’s stretching capacity. As my tasks increased I started missing out on more and more events – meeting friends, finishing assignments, showing up where I was needed at work. My scattered brain cost me friendships, a job, and lots of lost nerves. There is this fact that adults try to tell you but in your golden age of youth you categorically ignore, “You need to start acting like an adult. You need to be more responsible.” My parents told me this so many times, and just as many times I brushed them off with youthful arrogance: “I know what I’m doing and no one has ever complained about my punctuality.” This was true, given the limited number of tasks I had to juggle with. And then out of the blue, I stepped out of college, a place where I had a schedule. But the school created it, and I could access it online at any time. After college, everything crumbled. From one day to the next, I was alone, no one made a schedule for me, and my obligations shot through the roof.

I was as stressed as an overburdened dog walker who had too many dogs to take care of, with each pulling her in different directions. I felt hopeless. I didn’t sign up to walk twenty dogs at a time. Why had life given me twenty dogs to deal with? “Because if you learned how to walk one dog at the right time, you’d be able to walk the twenty. It’s what you’re supposed to capable of at this age,” my conscience told me. Well, dogs in my case were tasks, and the dog-walking process was organizing these tasks in the form of to-do lists. Why am I qualified to write a book on to-do lists if I can’t manage them, as I self-proclaimed? Because that reality is past tense. Since then, I have become a master to-do lister. My parents didn’t teach me how to do it; my school didn’t teach me either. But here I am, an adult, living, breathing example, that it’s never too late to create to-do lists, become organized, and, as a happy consequence, become more productive, less prone to procrastination, and better at focusing. There is a saying that today, knowledge is not a luxury but a choice. And so is not knowing. In the digital age where the internet is free, as is a lot of material on it, it’s really up to you to stay ignorant about… anything, really. I didn’t shy away from what I needed to do: learn how to manage my day better. I read every article and eBook available, and watched a lot of YouTube videos on the topic of to-do lists and organizing. Thanks to the stories, advice, and tips of professionals and helpful everyday people, I created my own to-do list system and managed to get a grip on my life. Ever since, I don’t miss deadlines, I don’t let people down, but more importantly, I’m much calmer and balanced during the day. This book will help you get to a state of organized bliss on a fast track. I collected all that I have learned about creating order and discipline in life to:

- finish every task on your to-do list;

- become more productive in whatever you do;

- ditch procrastination and learn to delay gratification;

- enhance your focus;

- organize your working space;

- and most importantly, set up a tailor-made to-do list. Do you want to set up a functioning to-do list? Come and read this short book to find all the answers you are searching for.

One How to Make a To-Do List

When I left college in my early 20s, keeping up with my everyday tasks and appointments was daunting. I tried everything I could think to keep myself organized; I went out and bought an agenda, wrote notes in my phone, created calendar reminders on my desktop, and, of course, made countless to-do lists in an effort to ensure I got everything I needed done. While getting my work organized felt like a proactive first step in helping me see, visually, all of what I needed to get done, my to-do lists and reminders quickly became a source of frustration and resentment. My to-do list grew quicker than I was able to check items off of it, running on for pages without an end in sight; when I tried to skip around my list to complete easy tasks I’d find that they were more tedious and time-consuming than I originally anticipated. I was overwhelmed, and I simply didn’t have the time or energy in me to put “Have a panic attack” on my to-do list, let alone check it off. I’m not alone in my to-do list troubles; people of all ages struggle to effectively manage their time and tasks because these skills aren’t explicitly taught to us. Schools stress the use of an agenda and task prioritization, but put little emphasis on teaching students how to write assignments or create task lists that are effective. More damning, schools often fail to teach students how to manage their time to prevent their work from piling up. Adults, lacking these foundational skills, form poor habits in an attempt to organize their work and continue making mistakes that critically impact their ability to successfully complete tasks. Despite the negative experiences many people have when making them, to-do lists can be helpful tools in organizing work and inspiring productivity. Serving

as an external memory aid to help you recall everything you need to do, to-do lists help add structure to your day and simplify the chaos of everyday life. Furthermore, an effective to-do list can help you develop better time management skills, ensuring you meet your deadlines for each task by appropriately prioritizing and working on them. This will save you the time and hassle of having to constantly put out life’s little fires throughout the day, reducing your stress levels, guilt, and frustration. Ultimately, effective to-do lists help you focus your energy on achieving your full potential. But you know these things already. Whenever setting up your to-do lists (if you do them) you may be wondering how your to-do list could possibly be ineffective. After all, isn’t it just a list of work you need to get done? Then chaos kicks in, and you don’t accomplish the tasks on your to-do list, and you become bitter, disappointed, stressed, or resigned. To-do lists don’t work after all. While, at face value, to-do lists may seem simple, the science behind them can be quite complex. Underestimating the intricacies of an effective to-do list can ultimately render the list useless. In fact, studies show that 41 percent of tasks on the average person’s to-do list go undone. By studying the mistakes that people make when creating to-do lists, we can prevent ourselves from creating unproductive lists in the future. Common to-do list mistakes The most common mistake people make when writing their to-do lists is putting too many tasks on it at one time. Studies show that an individual can, at any given time, be juggling up to 150 tasks. While anyone can recognize that this is an unmanageable amount of work, writing all these tasks down can amplify the stress over getting them done. Another mistake we make when trying to follow a to-do list is giving ourselves

unlimited time to complete each task. Who’s guilty of this one? I certainly am. Observations of human behavior show that people are less likely to turn in work by a specific deadline when they have been given more time to complete the work in question. Most people try to give themselves ample time to complete a task in case they run into any unplanned circumstances, sometimes even failing to set personal deadlines for themselves. While this may seem helpful, it is actually counterintuitive; by planning in incidentals, you are giving yourself excuses to shirk your responsibilities and take more time than necessary on the task at hand – time that could be better used on other tasks. This kills your productivity; you get less work done in a given period of time and, chances are, your workflow will lack structure and your important tasks will fall to the wayside, receiving less attention than they should.

Also, we tend to avoid completing tasks that have a far-off deadline as a psychological defense against having to do hard work. In contrast, tasks with stringent deadlines (real or self-imposed) are often completed quicker and with less hesitation because they are perceived as easy, and provide us with some satisfaction in getting to cross them off our lists. Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands as to fill the time available for its completion,” essentially meaning that our tasks will take us more time to complete if we allot more time for their completion. Limiting your time on tasks may sound like it will add more stress to your day, but it will actually have the opposite effect; when you impose deadlines on your tasks, you will be able to better focus on what needs to get done at any given moment, clearly defining your work schedule for the day. Set a challenging time limit to your task and play with it – turn completing the task into a competition against the clock so that you can have a greater sense of accomplishment as you work towards the task at hand. If you complete your challenge, try reducing the amount of time you give yourself the next time you have to do something similar; this internal competition will help motivate you to focus more on your tasks, making you more productive in the long run.

Try to recall a time in your life when you had months to complete a project. If you’re like most people, I bet you didn’t even touch it in the first few months. Similarly, there must have been a time in your life when you received a project with a crazy-strict deadline and somehow you managed to deliver it on time with a similar quality of work as the project for which you had months to accomplish. Why does this happen? Because when we have a lot of time to finish something, apart from procrastinating, our focus may get derailed from the main problem and dive into some rabbit holes of information that are not needed. The project you hand in could be unfocused, scattered, and filled with unimportant information that you wasted a lot of time on. By contrast, when you have a strict deadline, you need to be focused on the main problem of the project – you don’t have time to contemplate about interesting factoids related to the subject. Thus the work might be more concise, to the point, and overall better than the overresearched pamphlet you spent triple the time on, and stressed much more about due to procrastination and perfectionism. In addition to setting time limits for all your tasks, do your best to ignore distractions while you tackle each of your deadlines. While it may sound obvious, ignoring distractions during your work is one of the best ways to boost your productivity; ignore your phone, email, social media, etc. Our to-do lists often fail because we fail to prioritize our most important tasks. While it may feel good to whittle down our lists by crossing off small, meaningless tasks, it is critical that we learn to pick the most important things from our lists to focus on before we move forward each day. By focusing on just a few important tasks, our to-do lists seem far more manageable and, therefore, we are more inclined to complete the tasks in front of us. For a to-do list to be effective, it needs to be broken down into small, actionable steps that our brains can easily process and work through. As such, we need to make specific plans for how to tackle each item on our lists and set deadlines for achieving each step so that we can stay on track to completing important tasks. These mini to-do lists within each task will prevent the brain from becoming overwhelmed and shutting down.

A to-do list is a living document that should constantly be reevaluated and updated to ensure that tasks are appropriately prioritized to meet your needs. While it may seem like life is full of small fires that constantly need to be put out, an effective to-do list can help show you that most of all these fires will blow out on their own without ever requiring your attention. Lastly but most importantly, have a well-defined, well-argumented purpose for creating your to-do list. If there is no deliberate reason behind it, why would you feel compelled to finish the tasks on it in the first place? Associate your tasks with specific goals. For example, paying your bills in time to avoid penalties to save more money. Reason is the fuel of motivation. Popular to-do list systems While all of our to-do lists can be improved by avoiding the mistakes listed above, no two to-do lists will look the same. There is no one universally effective one-size-fits-all model for writing a to-do list. Rather, your to-do list needs to match your own personal organizational style to meet your specific needs. The “start/end date” to-do list model

Some people find success writing their to-do lists by categorizing tasks with start and end dates. This approach can help ensure that you are managing your time appropriately by visually listing out the deadlines for each task. By prioritizing tasks by due date, you can relieve the stress of missed deadlines or the guilt of not getting around to certain tasks; your to-do list will outline exactly when each tasks needs to be complete, allowing you to focus your time and energy on what is most relevant to your needs each day.

A correct sense of judgment and a reasonable room for flexibility should be added to this method. What I mean is that you need to be confident in your time assessment about a project. For example, writing an annual report is not a twoday job, especially if you can dedicate only an hour to it daily. Make an accurate estimation on how many hours you will be able to work on a task every day and how much time you need to complete a long project. Like, for real. Don’t lie to yourself. People tend to give overly generous or nonsensically strict time estimates to their tasks – that’s what generates stress. Additionally, assume that your estimate is not completely accurate. While doing your best to complete your task within the time interval you decided upon, allow yourself a 10-percent grace period for the actual completion (11 days instead of 10, for example).

If you don’t feel confident about your task-length estimation accuracy this to-do list type is not for you, but there are other to-do list models coming, don’t worry. The “big-spoon/small-spoon” to-do list model

While start and end date to-do lists may help some people accurately estimate the length of certain tasks, others may prefer writing a to-do list using a “bigspoon, small-spoon” method.

In this type of to-do list, your tasks are split into two categories – everything you need to get done (the big spoon), and everything you need to get done in that day (the small spoon). By breaking your to-do list down into two separate lists, you are able to plan out what tasks urgently need your attention in the next 1-2 days, and what tasks can be postponed until a later date. Each task chosen for the daily “small spoon” list should be chosen based on their urgency, difficulty, and deadline.

This is the type of to-do list I use most of the time. I create a simple excel worksheet in my Google Drive and update it every day based on my

daily tasks, or any changed priorities in the future. Actually, my to-do list is a five-spoon list – as you can see in the picture inserted below – breaking down my tasks into daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and seasonal plans. I work from column E, Seasonal, backwards. First I set a seasonal big goal, then I break it down into manageable steps in each category.

A -Today

B - This Week

C - Next Week

D - This Month

E - Seasonal The “Big 5” to-do list model

In this type of to-do list, people are able to prioritize daily tasks by choosing just five things they need to complete over the span of 24 hours. This differs from the big-spoon, small-spoon approach in how the tasks are picked and presented on the list; while all tasks on your Big 5 list should be relevant and important, at least three of the chosen tasks should be able to be completed within 30 minutes while the other two tasks should be more time consuming. Tasks on a Big 5 list can be prioritized by urgency as opposed to difficulty,

giving you the freedom to complete them as needed and focus all your energy on what needs to be done at a given time. Focusing on each of these tasks individually can give you a greater sense of accomplishment and let you know that you are working productively on your list each day. The categorized to-do list model

Other people may still prefer a more categorized approach to writing their to-do lists. With a categorized to-do list, you are able to focus on tasks related to different areas of your life, allowing you to prioritize tasks based on the facet of your life that needs tending to most. These lists can be broad categories (work, family, personal, etc.) or can be broken down by event, allowing several separate to-do lists to run concurrently to help you organize tasks you are trying to finish for specific projects. One upside to categorized to-do lists is that they provide you with a clear picture of what you need to get done for each of your goals, allowing you to break down larger to-dos into smaller, more manageable steps. Unfortunately, these to-do lists can also be overwhelming for the faint of heart; with multitudes of to-do lists cluttering your desk, you may take on too many tasks in one day, or may spread yourself too thin in approaching your various tasks by only completing one or two items off each list per day. If you like transparency and seeing the big picture, this to-do list may work for you – but you need to be mindful about your time and energy. Even if you have ten categories where you want to accomplish something, don’t schedule more than five tasks per day. (Yes, this means that for that day at least five categories will be ignored.) You can juggle with tasks day by day, finding a balance between the categories. There are categories like work and family that will occupy at least one slot of the five tasks on your daily to-do list. But there are also categories that may not need daily attention. For example, your “yoga goals” category may challenge you with a task only twice a week. Maybe yoga to you is an everyday task, I don’t know. This method can provide a nice, full picture about your life’s activities, but again, be realistic about what you can

accomplish in one day. You know how the saying goes, we overestimate what we can achieve in a day and underestimate what we can accomplish in a month. The “Zen” to-do list model

Another form of to-do list is the most important task list for the Zen junkies. Proposed by Leo Babauta, this type of to-do list has the focus on completing each day the three most important tasks (MITs) they’ve listed on their to-do lists, ignoring all other tasks until these three are complete. “No matter what else I do today, these are the things I want to be sure of doing,” ¹ Babauta says. These MITs are linked to specific goals that you may have set for yourself and can be broken down into smaller steps to make them more manageable. By focusing on just the three MITs of your day, you can remove the stress of worrying about the rest of your to-do list knowing that you are taking care of what you need to do first. Babauta also advises to do our MITs first thing in the morning; at home or first thing after arriving at work. Later in the day we may get wrapped up in other things and chances become greater for not accomplishing what we want the most. The “Kanban” to-do list model

More advanced to-do listers (or people who are just incredibly busy) may benefit from using an alternative to-do list format: the Kanban method. Using the Kanban method, you create several lists – a to-do list, a doing list, and a done list – to both physically and visually sort the tasks you are working on.

The Kanban method allows you to see everything you are working on at one time to be able to more effectively assess whether or not you can take on any more tasks, and it helps you feel productive when you are able to move a “to-do” into your “done” column. Tech-savvy to-do listers can even create Kanban boards on online platforms to digitally track everything they need to get done.

Picture 1: Standard Kanban Board

Despite this, the Kanban to-do list can be problematic for some; with so many tasks moving between columns, it is easy to lose track of the smaller things you need to be doing, causing them to become lost in the shuffle. The “Getting Things Done” to-do list model

The last form of popular to-do list is aptly called “Getting Things Done,” a method that was proposed by David Allen as an “easy, step-by-step and highlyefficient method for achieving a relaxed and productive state.” This five-step process of capturing, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and engaging with your tasks assists you in systematically addressing each task to be able to complete them quickly and effectively. In the capture and clarify phases, you are simply writing down all the things you have to do and determining whether or not they are actionable – that is to say, whether or not you can do anything to address each of these tasks at the given time, thereby reducing the clutter on your to-do list if certain things are not able to be done yet. The organization of the tasks is one of the most unique tenets of the Getting Things Done method; in this step, you categorize all tasks by type – that is, the steps each task might take to complete – so that you can complete them all quickly and efficiently in the reflection and engagement steps.

Picture 2: Getting Things Done Model ² Your to-do list model

When writing a to-do list, it is important to make sure that you are prioritizing your tasks appropriately. Separate present tasks from future tasks and allocate time for addressing them so that you are able to keep up with all your deadlines. This will help ensure that you are able to move forward on your to-do list as opposed to playing catch-up on past-due tasks later down the line, thereby helping reduce the stress of juggling multiple tasks at one time. Take a pen and paper now and write down your:

most desired long-term goals; your recurring tasks; and your short-term priorities.

This exercise is essential for you to see what the key things are in your life that need a to-do list. , a to-do list can keep you on track with tasks, grant you clear daily objectives, and give you long-term direction. Before deciding which to-do list type you’ll adopt, it is good to see “what we are putting up with”. So jot down everything you want for yourself in, say, the next 12 months. When you are done with your broad list of wishes, must-dos, and priorities, additionally, take some time to understand why you want each of these goals; when you understand the “why” behind what you are doing, you have a greater

sense of urgency behind getting the task done because it is important or even desirable, making the task easier to do. You don’t need to want each of these tasks in the literal sense. No one is burning with desire to pay their bills, yet they still want to do it to avoid punishment in the form of fees. This is a perfectly reasonable “why”. Whenever you understand why you are doing something, you are more inclined to want to do it, causing you to procrastinate less. When you begin to understand why you are doing something, take a moment to look at how you are going to tackle a specific task. Start from the short-term priorities and recurring tasks to build up a plan where you break down the larger tasks into more manageable chunks of work that can be completed within different time frames. Breaking your tasks down into monthly, weekly, daily, and even hourly increments can make them much less daunting when you go to actually complete them because each step will be actionable and realistic. For example, right now you have a sheet of paper with everything you want to accomplish this year – even the thought of it is overwhelming. No worries. Here comes the absolution. Turn the page around and divide it into 12 symmetrical columns. Step one, write your monthly recurring tasks into each of the 12 columns, then cross these tasks off from the first page of the paper. Step two, with a rough estimate, insert your short-term priorities into the first three or four columns of the 12-column paper. For example, you have a thesis to write for your university. With a rough estimate, that should take about four months considering that this task isn’t the only thing you do all day long. Step three, finally, divide and drop your long-term goals into the latter eight columns of your paper. Consider the fact that what today is a long-term goal, in three months, will slowly turn into the next short-term priority. In addition to breaking down your tasks, set rough deadlines for all of your

monthly tasks. By attaching deadlines to your tasks, you can create a reasonable and realistic breakdown of all you need to get done so that you can approach your tasks appropriately. If, for instance, you know you need to lose 15 pounds by June for a wedding, it would be unrealistic to start this goal in May; rather, you should break this goal down to small monthly changes that can be tracked with self-imposed deadlines to give you the best shot at meeting or exceeding your goal. Additionally, always give yourself less time for a deadline than you think you may need; Parkinson’s Law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,” so, by giving yourself less time, you will feel a greater sense of urgency to complete all of what you need to get done and you will be able to adjust your course if the task proves more difficult than you anticipated. Now, what we did until now is a pre-to-do list. It’s like a consultation with the doctor about your general health condition before digging deeper into your problem. The paper you just created is a yearly plan broken down to monthly rough goals. Now, the real work will start. First, take a look at everything you put on that paper and put your hands on your heart and be honest with yourself about its achievability. We tend to be generous with our future predictions in the present when the burden of hard work is not affecting us. And then when the time comes to put in the work, we won’t show up or we won’t be able to maintain the initial enthusiasm about a project – we’ll then fail to complete it, setting ourselves up for disappointment and self-doubt. So be realistic about your plans. You know yourself, you know your “whys”, and you know how much you are willing to work or give up for a certain goal. Be honest with yourself, and then whatever you set yourself up for will be achievable. When you are done with the achievability evaluation and your list is cleared from elements that are unimportant or useless, it’s time to set up your to-do list for real. Take another paper, an online app (I will recommend some later in the book), and break your monthly goals into weekly and daily ones. No matter what

type of to-do list you choose to create and maintain, it is imperative that you give yourself time to relax – stressing over your to-do list is a surefire way to add “Give up on my to-do list” to your list. Limit yourself to choosing between seven and ten tasks per day (depending on the time it will take to complete each task). In giving yourself seven tasks, which vary in length between 5 minutes to a couple hours, you are giving yourself time to be able to complete everything on your list, ensuring that your daily tasks today don’t bleed onto tomorrow’s todo list. As you maintain your to-do list, try to organize your tasks by nature, type, and/or location (similar to the categorized to-do list or the “Getting Things Done” method). When your tasks are broken down by these specifics, you are better able to focus on tasks at the appropriate time. There is no sense in worrying about a task that needs to be done in the office if you have no means to tackle this over the weekend; rather, you can use your weekend time productively to take on all the tasks that have been piling up in your personal life. When you highlight the different specificities of each task, you can simplify your life by knocking out two (or more) birds with one stone when you visit a particular location or nature, giving you more leisure time in the process. While it may seem obvious, one way of avoiding a long to-do list is to eliminate unimportant, expired, or undoable tasks from your list – you did this with your yearly goals, now it’s time to do it with your daily ones. Too often, your to-do lists are cluttered with tasks that don’t deserve your time and energy, causing you to feel overwhelmed and shut down when you see how much work you still have left to do. Take the time to cross items off your to-do list that don’t matter or are not actively working towards a larger goal – some things are worth simply letting go in pursuit of a greater purpose! Once your to-do list is clutter-free, choose your daily tasks and decide how much time it may take to complete each to-do so that you can schedule your day around your list. For example, if you have five items on your daily to-do list, you can schedule times to complete each task and interspace longer assignments with shorter ones to give yourself variety and much-needed periods of rest as you work towards your goals. Setting a timeframe for the completion of tasks helps in ensuring that you are sticking to deadlines and not putting work off until later

in the day. While your to-do list is your responsibility, there’s no rule you can’t get help with it. If you have a task on your list that requires another person’s assistance, make sure that you communicate this and actively seek the help you need in advance. Each person has a list of their own daily priorities and will need this notice to ensure that they are available when you need them to complete the task. By scheduling time ahead, you can reduce your frustration levels later when you may have to put off a task in order to wait for another party to be ready. Despite all your planning and list-making, life happens! Plans go awry and sometimes you may have to make adjustments to your daily to-do list to accommodate this. Don’t fret; roll with the punches and adjust your list as necessary – be flexible whenever you are setting deadlines for yourself so that you have some extra cushion built in to your schedule. Knowing that your to-do list may change will help you better prepare for these unplanned incidentals and allow you to stay on top of all your tasks. Equally important as your to-do list is a “done list”. Keep track of the tasks you have completed each week. When you are able to see all of what you have gotten done over a period of time, you can feel accomplished and motivated to continue working towards your to-do list, even when it feels like your list is building up. Eventually, your done list may even become longer than your to-do list! If you are having difficulty keeping your to-do list organized, consider using apps to help you better manage your workload. Workflowy, Trello, and Todoist are all apps that can be used to help catalogue all the work you have still yet to do; these apps keep track of when you first added tasks to your to-do list and your due dates, sending you periodic reminders to mark items as complete if you are already done (or start a task if you haven’t yet begun). For the tech-savvy todo lister, this can help ensure that your to-do list gets done because it can be carried with you anytime, anywhere. But there is also the good-old Excel chart that you can design according to your needs, and through Google Drive you can access it on all your electronic devices as well.

Two How to Stop Procrastinating?

Everyone procrastinates – it’s human nature. When I was in high school, I avoided writing my essays at all costs, rationalizing that I had more pressing work or social commitments to complete during times I could (and should) have been writing; when my essay came due, I was always rushing to complete it just hours before my teacher needed it in their hands, causing me to stress out, lose sleep, and miss meals just to turn in mediocre work at 8 am. While my time management as an adult may have improved since my days in high school, my procrastination, like that of my peers, has not – too often we put off work for temporal pleasures like browsing the internet, engaging in social media, or talking to our friends, causing work to pile up and seem less desirable in the meantime. To become happy and satisfied with ourselves, we need to break out of the grip of chronic procrastination so that we can begin and complete our work, creating more time for play later on. The definition of procrastination is intentionally putting off a task that we know should be done. When we think about procrastination from this traditional perspective, this can be perceived as laziness or lack of motivation to complete a task. However, sometimes procrastination can be sensible; for example, if you have to go to the gym but get off work during rush hour, procrastinating from doing this task directly after work can keep you from sitting in traffic or waiting for equipment with everyone else who has committed to completing this same task right after work. This procrastination, then, actually helps you work towards your goal of getting fit by reducing your frustration with the gym. Like many other things in life, procrastination can be both a positive and negative influence in our lives depending on how we use it. Let’s take a closer look now on harmful procrastination that often sabotages our to-do list. One reason people tend to procrastinate is that we seek tasks with instant

gratification. When we complete a task that has an immediate reward associated with its completion, we feel better about this task and having completed it. For example, many people prefer to complete short, simple tasks simply for the instant gratification of being able to cross something off their to-do list and feel accomplished. People have, for centuries, internalized this mindset that instant gratification is more meaningful than far-off reward, causing us to put off tasks that may take more time or that do not come with an incentive for completion, sabotaging our ability to achieve long-term goals and rewards. Because we tend to, by nature, avoid tasks that are undesirable or have a delayed reward, the best way to combat this type of procrastination is to take action early and complete the task. Sitting around just thinking about how much we dread starting a task will inevitably make it harder for us to begin and complete, as this dread will build to resentment and frustration. To bust out of our procrastination bubble, start the task with small steps that can easily be followed up on. For example, if you plan to begin running but hate exercise, start out small by just putting on your shoes and leaving the house for a short jog. Once you’ve started a task, you will be more likely to follow through to make sure that it is completed and can be checked off your to-do list. Easier said than done, right? Don’t worry, later in this chapter I will give you some actual techniques about how to overcome the mental block and take immediate action. The effects of procrastination can be far-reaching and can have a significant impact on your life and productivity as a whole, although you may not know it right off the bat. Think of it this way – when you choose to avoid an important conversation with your partner because it is uncomfortable to address a specific topic or behavior, your situation will become more toxic until you are no longer able to remain in that relationship. Similarly, if you choose to put off paying your credit card bills, you’ll face steep charges that could have been avoided if you made a minimum payment or otherwise ed the company to set up a payment arrangement. Even choosing to ignore something as innocuous as a small pain in your stomach can lead to lifelong consequences as you put off going to the doctor to prioritize other, seemingly more pressing, work. Slowly but surely, procrastinating from undesirable tasks on your to-do list will begin to impact your health, wealth, and relationships, leaving your life in shambles as you scramble to pick up the pieces.

Because of these damning effects of chronic procrastination, it is imperative that you understand and strive to control this habit to minimize the negative impact this has on your life in the long term. When you stop procrastinating and begin tackling all the tasks you’ve put off for too long, you take control of your life and reduce your guilt, anxiety, and stress levels. Ultimately, this will allow you to be more productive in all facets of your life, improving your professional and personal relationships and allowing you to add valuable activities to your life. In addition to improving your health outcomes, working on overcoming procrastination can help you improve your happiness levels. When you stop procrastinating and begin completing tasks you once dreaded, you gain selfrespect and a great sense of accomplishment, inspiring you to continue working towards your long-term goals. This makes you more successful in the long run, giving you the confidence boost you need to take more proactive steps in your life towards completing your to-do lists. Why do we procrastinate?

As I mentioned before, some people view procrastination as laziness, but psychological studies have shown that there may be more to it than that. While the traditional view of procrastination states that the bad habit is an avoidance of work, studies have shown that people who procrastinate frequently are actually trying to avoid something far more sinister: stress. A quick analysis of frequently procrastinated tasks shows that what we put off, more often than not, are tasks that we describe as tough, boring, or painful – just generally unpleasant. This makes sense, when you think about it; whenever we dread doing something, we put it off as long as possible in an effort to not think about the task. Mel Robbins, the author of the best-selling book The Five Second Rule says that procrastination has nothing to do with our attitude, work ethic, or competence. Quite the contrary, it is a behavior meant to help us cope with stress. Usually what we are putting off is a stressor in our lives and by nature we want to escape this stressor. The “looking for easy shortcuts” brain response to the stress we feel makes sense; we try to avoid it and seek short-term satisfaction in the form of

distractions instead. Spice this with our evolution; our DNA evolved for centuries in an environment where stress acted as an aiding mechanism to help us avoid the things that were likely to threaten our chances for survival. Imagine some hungry Neanderthals are wishing to go hunting, but they spot some sabertoothed tigers lurking outside their caves. Clearly this stressor overwrites the cavemen’s urge to go hunt, and they decide to stay in the cave and make some nice drawings on the wall instead. Whatever we perceive as prehistoric art today was in fact the result of prehistoric procrastination. Surely, finishing a paper for Monday is nearly not as big of a life-or-death issue as a saber-toothed tiger, but our DNA doesn’t know that. All that it re is stress equals danger equals wait, stay put. And we shall obey. So don’t be too harsh on yourself when you catch yourself procrastinating, it doesn’t say anything about you as a person. If you are procrastinating anyway, at least spend the time usefully while you are in that zone and ask yourself the following questions to untangle what stressor triggers you to procrastinate in that moment:

Is my stress rooted in a real threat or a perceived one? If my danger predictions are correct, what's the worst-case scenario that can happen to me?

Questioning yourself and honestly replying are the first steps in developing awareness about why you procrastinate. While procrastination may be a way we evolutionarily try to avoid stress, in the modern world it can, ironically, cause more stress in our lives in the long run; whenever we procrastinate, we allow undesirable tasks to pile up, leaving our todo lists cluttered with things we would prefer not to do, thereby making us dread working on them. This leads to poor health and performance outcomes. Physical studies performed on people who frequently procrastinate this; one study on procrastination showed that people who put off tasks experienced more stress

and regret than non-procrastinators, causing them to lose sleep and experience heightened levels of frustration and anxiety. This stress and lack of sleep had damaging effects on their self-esteem, causing them to describe feelings of guilt, shame, and self-criticism, all stemming from their procrastination. This type of negative stress is vicious and cyclic – it builds up in our lives and makes us continue to put off tasks, adding to our already burdensome load. Tips to overcome procrastination

Chronic procrastination is a hard cycle to break; the guilt we feel over procrastinating manifests as stress and anxiety, making us feel less capable and, ultimately, worse about ourselves. Looking to break past your procrastination and become more productive? The “Five Second” rule

The very first thing to do when you find yourself procrastinating is to acknowledge that you're stressed. There is no need to look for the whys and ifs of this state, just accept it. Your momentary procrastination is not about being incompetent, lazy, or inadequate, it’s simply a stress response. Acknowledging this helps your brain calm down a little bit and allows you to think more clearly instead of getting caught up in self-loathing or avoidance. The next step is making a five-second decision that is opposite to the stress response. This is Mel Robbins’s famous five-second rule. In her words, this is a decision of courage: "When you act with courage, your brain is not involved. Your heart speaks first, and you listen." ¹ Instead of rationalizing your stress overthinking it, do quite the opposite: a brainless five-second decision and commit that in five seconds, for the next five minutes, you will work on the very thing you are so stressed about. Kick stress in the butt by not allowing your brain to overanalyze your situation. Is it an

email you dread writing? One, two, three, four, five, write it! Is it doing pushups? One, two, three, four, five, do the push-ups for five minutes. Now. You may complete only twenty push-ups in those five minutes but hey, that’s are twenty more than what you would have done otherwise. The quality of the push-ups isn’t really the point of this practice. Just make that “five-second decision, fiveminute commitment” combo and break the cycle of your stress. Decide and act – five seconds. Don’t let your rationalizing brain interfere. While there is nothing complex about this practice, it takes time to build it into a habit. This practice won’t cure you of procrastination but it is a good reminder that you are almost always just five seconds away from making a decision, and it is completely up to you what you will do. It may bring comfort to you to know that right now you are just five seconds away from doing what you need to do. Focus on your “why”

Too often, people procrastinate because they overthink a task and make it out to be more difficult than it actually is, causing them to want to put it off. When we view each and every undesirable task as a catastrophe that is happening to us, we lose focus of why a task needs to get done and what benefits having it done will bring us. In reality, this focus on the short-term gain of avoiding stress causes us to lose focus of the long-term results we would like to accomplish. It is important to think about the benefits we may reap once a task is complete. Ultimately, the challenges, boredom, and hard work you may have to face during an undesirable task won’t kill you, but the stress of procrastination can if it is not addressed. Think for a minute about dieting; many people dread dieting because they know they have to watch what they eat, and because of this thought they psych themselves out and panic when they are about to or first start their diet. Despite the panic, the long-term goal behind dieting is usually to become healthier or lose weight, which cannot happen without the diet. Focusing on the positive outcome of this undesirable task can help you redirect your mental outlook on your to-do list and psych yourself up to completing the task so that you can

reach your goal. Similarly, this logic applies to tasks that cause us mental anguish. Consider this all-too-familiar scenario: you have a closet that needs cleaned out, and it has been accumulating clutter for a year. This may seem like a daunting task every time you open the closet door, causing you to put off cleaning the closet while it simultaneously continues to fill up with more junk. While you may rationalize your procrastination as saving yourself from an afternoon of organizing Christmas lights, in actuality you are depriving yourself of the joy that comes from completing such a tedious task. Think of the satisfaction you will feel once the closet is cleaned out and you are able to once again walk into it without things falling on you, or the extra money you will have in your wallet if you sell your unwanted items. The closet may seem like a daunting task at first, but putting this off will only cause you further mental anguish while cleaning it will bring you peace and prosperity. You don’t “have to” do anything.

Procrastinators tend to look at their to-do list as things they “have to” do. This perspective is disempowering because it strips you of your personal agency. Generally, people feel good when they are able to make choices and decisions about their life and what they want to do. When we begin to frame our to-dos as things we are forced or coerced to do, it causes us to want to resist doing those tasks out of anxiety or defiance. Think back to your childhood… when your parents told you that you had to clean your room, you, like millions of others, probably moaned and groaned about this task, trying to avoid it for as long as possible. If, however, your parents offered you a choice – either cleaning your room or doing the dishes – you were more apt to agree to one task over the other and take ownership of it because it was something that you chose to do. To stop looking at your to-do list as a “have-to-do” list, change the way you talk about your tasks. By consciously making the effort to be more positive with your personal language, you will trick your brain into ing that completing the task is desirable and makes you feel better in the long run. Instead of saying

“I have to”, say “I choose” or “I will” when talking about your to-do list, and eventually add a “because” part where you express the positive emotions associated with the completion of a task, like “I will feel accomplished, satisfied, relieved, proud, happy, free…” I know this advice sounds awfully like “fake it ‘till you make it”, but ultimately, every action we take is a choice, and the language we use to express our choices is important to helping us feel better about what we do. I’m not talking about faking enthusiasm or deceiving yourself about the excitement level of the task itself, I’m talking about being aware of the advantages each difficulty holds. Focus on starting instead of finishing

The majority of the stress associated with keeping a to-do list and tackling undesirable tasks comes from the pressure we place on ourselves to finish the tasks we take on. This, psychologically, is damaging; when we focus too heavily on finishing something, we are motivated by a vague and highly idealized version of a potential future. While this may motivate some people to complete a task, it can cause anxiety in others. The idea of starting a large task and getting from Point A to an uncertain Point B can be overwhelming and can cause us to experience a wide variety of feelings including stress, frustration, and even depression. Think about a big task like losing weight. Many people are motivated to lose weight and have a vision of what they would like to look and feel like at their goal weight. This image may, at times through the weight loss journey, feel impossible to obtain due to the lack of progress they may see in the initial stages of working out and dieting; one slip from a healthy routine may make them feel like a failure and cause them to give up entirely out of guilt, anxiety, or depression. While keeping this vision of a perfect body somewhere in the future may help motivate some, far more people will find more significant and lasting motivation from visualizing the beginning of their weight loss journey and adapting this vision, over time, to include their new, healthier selves. Focusing on the beginning of this journey is helpful for ensuring that they do not get

discouraged from the task at hand and can help inspire them to reach their end goal. So how can we shift our focus to the starting line? Simply, start focusing on the first step of a task. We can spend eternity mulling over whens and what-ifs, but if we take this moment to spring into action, we will give ourselves the starting push we need to turn our idealized futures into reality. When we start a task, it becomes immensely easier to complete. Starting – all by itself – is sufficient to help us build the momentum we need to stop procrastinating and begin checking difficult tasks off of our to-do lists. Cut the task into pieces

Tasks that are larger or more time-intensive are intimidating and often cause us the greatest stress, thereby leading us to procrastinate from the task altogether. While a big project may seem daunting at first glance, this same task will look far more manageable if you break it down into small, actionable steps. When you focus solely on one chunk of work at a time, you are able to ignore the larger picture for a while to simply do the small amount of work in front of you, making it easier to do and, by extension, more desirable to do. Small commitments like this will allow you to tackle large to-dos and reduce feelings of hopelessness or anxiety over starting a large undertaking. Consider this scenario… your boss has tasked you with creating a very important presentation for your company’s board next week, complete with visuals, a written report, and a 30-minute speech. A project this large would paralyze anyone with fear, causing them to procrastinate from completing any part of the project because they feel as though it is too big of task to tackle. There is, however, an alternative to procrastinating; if, after the initial shock of receiving the assignment, you sit down at your desk and break the task your boss assigned you into several smaller to-dos (creating handouts, writing the report in sections, completing the visual aids, etc.), you will be able to calm yourself down from the initial overload the project sent your brain into, allowing you to quickly and efficiently begin work on the project because you can cross off each step as you

complete it. Think about the last time you sat down to write a report for your boss. When you sat in front of a blank screen or piece of paper to begin writing a report from scratch, you may have, like many, experienced a sense of immediate writer’s block. This may have even made it feel as though completing your report was impossible. If, however, you sat down to write the same report and focused your efforts on one paragraph at a time, gradually building up to a larger piece, your task would feel more manageable.

Breaking down a task like this is important because it helps us begin the task at hand, breaking out of our procrastination cycle to be more productive. Stop thinking about the way things “should” be.

In our head, we all have an idealistic version of how we think our lives “should” be – it’s in our nature. Despite the universality of this feeling, our fixation on how things should turn out often causes us to feel guilty when life takes a “wrong” turn. When we begin to focus on all the things that we should be doing (or on the things that we think should be happening in our lives), we begin to feel like we are failing ourselves, causing us to spiral into a depressive state. This stems from the false comparison we draw between our current reality and the idealistic picture of reality we envisioned. Life will seldom turn out as we think it should, so it is imperative that we begin taking our lives into our own hands to create the future we envision for ourselves. When we take ownership of our to-do lists, we have the greatest control to create the success that we have waited so long to achieve. Directed action

There is an old adage that says, “No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow your progress, you are still way ahead of anyone who isn’t trying.” This nugget of wisdom can help teach us a valuable lesson about procrastination: while it may initially feel more comfortable to ignore a task because it is difficult, stressful, and time-consuming, our choice to procrastinate from starting on it puts us well behind anyone who has already taken the initiative to begin a task. When you begin to take joy and a sense of accomplishment from simply starting a task, you will know that the small steps you take towards completing something you have dreaded are mini-victories in their own right. Be cognizant of your procrastination, and actively work against it. When you begin to find yourself thinking that you “don’t feel like” doing a task, encourage yourself to practice the five-second rule and spend five minutes working on it. When you refuse to give into this urge to ditch your difficult task for something easier or less time-consuming, you are successfully breaking your habit of procrastination and making the task easier to complete. Ditch distractions

All work and no play may make Jack a dull boy, but at least he will be a productive one! Distraction is the playmate for procrastination. Controlling procrastination means you will have to rid yourself of any distractions that may keep you from being able to complete your work. Consider carving out a period of time during your day in which you tune out all distractions, including your phone and social media, to be able to focus your time and attention on the task at hand. Social media is one of the biggest distractions of the modern world; constant notifications from your favorite apps can pull your focus away from your work and make it harder to stay on task and be productive throughout the day. While you may feel inclined to keep notifications on out of a fear of missing out on important information, constantly checking your phone shortens your attention span and will reduce your productivity in the office. Studies show that it can take upwards of 20 minutes to regain workflow momentum after experiencing a

distraction – if you receive just one notification an hour, you are losing over 2.5 hours of productivity in your work day just trying to regain focus. The best way to combat your social media addiction and boost your productivity is to turn off notifications from all forms of social media on your phone and desktop. When you are not constantly receiving notifications, you will be less inclined to check your s for updates, allowing you to focus more throughout the workday. Turning off social media notifications isn’t always enough to prevent people from getting distracted; as such, you may have to set very strict rules for yourself on how many times a day you can visit social media during the workday. Creating these limits will allow you to limit the time you spend on these sites each day and prevent you from wasting all of your scheduled breaks on these sites. If this sounds like a task you would struggle with, consider using a site like www.selfcontrol.com to lock you out of sites you frequent for a few hours to force yourself to focus and get work done. Another way to prevent yourself from being distracted by social media is to have a specific purpose for checking it. While you could spend all day scrolling through a social media feed just looking at all the new posts, checking your s with intentionality will allow you to satiate your desire to use the without necessarily wasting time on it. If you’re waiting on someone to respond to a message, commit to checking your solely for this correspondence; in doing so, you’ll have more freedom to check your social media without the temptation to continue scrolling. Make it fun

Because we, as humans, tend to avoid undesirable tasks, one of the best ways to control our procrastination habit is to make work fun! Too often, we think that work can only be done when we are locked away to complete it, but this doesn’t have to be the case. While it is important to eliminate distractions while we

work, it is equally important that we reward ourselves with something fun or relaxing after doing some serious work so that we look forward to completing each milestone. Avoiding long stretches of work by scheduling small, but frequent breaks can help end your procrastination by helping you look forward to starting a task, as opposed to trying to cram all your “fun time” in before you start the task. This reverse psychology can help give you a more productive and enjoyable mindset moving forward with your to-do list. Rephrase your internal dialogue.

The language we use to describe a task can impact our willingness to take it on. While we may have started by saying, “I have an important task I need to finish – I know I’ve put it off and I just need to suck it up and do it,” we should instead end up saying, “I can make progress towards this task with just one small step – I’m going to choose to start this so that I’ll feel good about my work and still have time for fun later on!” What a change! The shift in this language removes all the excuses procrastinators normally use to avoid their work, shifting the focus off of the negative aspects of the task and onto all its bountiful rewards. By rephrasing your internal dialogue and considering the importance of word choice as you think and talk about each task, you can catch yourself as you first start to think negatively and spin your thoughts into something more positive, creating a healthy habit that can create positive, permanent changes in your life. Drop perfectionism.

Many procrastinators are perfectionists; they want to finish each task perfectly, and so they will often opt to hold off on starting a task until they know they have the time, resources, or strength needed in order to complete it perfectly. This allor-nothing mentality is damaging because it prevents tasks from being started or completed.

In the mind of a perfectionist, imperfection is failure. This is an incredibly damaging mindset for anyone looking to boost their productivity; while often viewed as an asset in the professional world, perfectionism causes employees to experience unnecessary stress over doing everything just right as opposed to allowing them to feel accomplished over having overcome the hardest part of the battle: getting the work done in the first place. Think back to when you were in school… while you may have always shot for 100 percent on your tests, getting an 80 percent or 90 percent likely never affected your life in any real manner. This same principle applies in the professional world: while your work may not be perfect, it is still good enough. The most dangerous part of perfectionism is that it undermines your productivity by causing you significant stress; people with perfectionist tendencies experience symptoms of anxiety more frequently, causing them to cope with this stress in negative ways. Perfectionism is often used as an excuse to justify procrastination; because those that experience it feel as though there is no way they will be able to perfectly complete a task with their given time, resources, or mental state, they will say that they have to put off a task when, in reality, they are simply avoiding it to do something else. This, in turn, leads to increased feelings of guilt and stress, creating a vicious cycle that harms your self-esteem. Overcoming perfectionism is about changing your attitude regarding your work, which is easier said than done. You first need to acknowledge that perfection is an impossible standard to work to and, as such, you doom yourself to constant failure and self-hatred when you set this expectation up for yourself. Instead of striving for perfect, focus on what is in your locus of control: completion. When you begin with your end goal in mind and believe that simply finishing a task is good enough, you will be far more productive in completing your to-do list. If you find it hard to give up your perfectionist ideals, consider the amount of time it takes you to perfect a task versus simply completing it and consider a cost-benefit analysis of the situation. Is the difference between the time it takes to perfect your task and the time it takes to complete your task really worth it? This is a question you need to ask yourself every time you feel the urge to put off a task in order to perfect it; chances are, you have many better things you could be doing with your time! Invest the time you would take perfecting a task to

mark another task off your to-do list so that you can stay ahead of the curve, or simply have a walk through nature while listening to an entertaining podcast or an audiobook you have wanted to listen for a long time. Still not convinced that giving up perfectionism is worth your time? Try changing your mindset around mistakes to view them as learning opportunities. Each mistake you make on a task is a chance for you to grow, both personally and professionally, so that you can improve your performance in the future. Think about the last time you made an error on a report and sent it to your boss; you may have beat yourself up over this, but was it worth all the time you spent worrying and thinking about how you could fix it? Probably not. If it helps, consider the worst-case scenario if you make a mistake – chances are, a simple error is not going to cost you your job. Break the perfectionist mentality by focusing on being better than yesterday. Strive for excellence in all that you do by actively working towards your goals even when you are not fully prepared to address them. When you focus simply on this excellence, any effort you make towards your goal is a step towards perfection, allowing you to get the job done even when you are not ready. Forgive yourself

People who frequently procrastinate often feel guilt over their past inaction, causing them to have low self-esteem and motivation for completing new tasks. Whether you are a chronic procrastinator or have simply been slacking on your responsibilities, it is never too late to break free from the negative thoughts you may have about yourself. , it’s evolution, baby. Tell that voice in the back of your head saying that you “should have” started earlier and that you are just lazy and worthless that it can kindly shut up. Research has proven that forgiving yourself for procrastination can help you move forward towards becoming more productive, allowing you to live your best life. Have an ability partner

If you find that motivating yourself to work towards a task is too difficult, consider finding yourself an ability partner – someone who can hold you able for marking tasks off your to-do list within the time limit you set for yourself – to inspire you to do more work. With a manageable to-do list and either an intrinsic or extrinsic motivation to complete your work, bying procrastination will be a breeze. Instead of blaming yourself for past procrastination, take some time to analyze and learn from your mistakes. Consider what triggered you to start procrastinating from your work. Were you avoiding fear, stress, feelings of incompetence, or anxiety? When you start to consider what prompted your procrastination, you can actively combat it in the future and make better decisions about how to manage your time and to-do lists.

Three Enhance Your Focus

Often, I find myself standing in the middle of my kitchen, puzzled, staring at the refrigerator door. Why have I walked into the kitchen? What did I need again? I think for several seconds with no recollection of why I came into the kitchen and leave, only to invariably my original purpose an hour later. I know in this I am not alone; millions of people every day lose focus and forget their purpose as they amble through their day, causing them to lose precious time as they wrack their brains to recall what they have forgotten. Research from the University of California San Diego conducted by Adam Aron and Jan Wessel shows that there is a reason for this loss of focus; studies of neurons and the system within the brain known as the subthalamic nucleus (STN) show that, when we begin thinking of something while we are in action, our brains tend to lose focus of the thought when the action is interrupted or stopped, thereby causing us to forget what it is that we intended to do. These interruptions are, more often than not, caused by unexpected events that pop up throughout our day, such as finding a person on the other side of the door when we exit a store. ¹ Psychologically, the reason we do this makes sense; the human body is programmed with an automatic fight-flight-freeze response that is activated whenever we perceive danger within our vicinity. When our memory goes through a hard reset, we are better able to use our brain functions to respond to this perceived threat and ensure that we remain safe. Unfortunately, most of the threats we perceive throughout the day are innocuous daily occurrences, such as the ringing of a phone or the appearance of a coworker, causing us to frequently forget our purpose and live in a constant state of confusion. Research conducted by David Rock, a co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute and author of Your Brain at Work, has confirmed this; while the average American may spend

nine hours every day at work, Rock found that we are only productive for six hours per week in all this time due to the constant distractions we face on a daily basis. ² Disruptions in our actions and thoughts severely hinder our ability to be productive throughout the day, causing us to miss out on valuable opportunities to complete items on our to-do lists. Despite the fact that these reactions are, by and large, biologically hardwired in our brains, there are ways to combat these responses to strengthen your focus and become more productive in the face of small distractions. How does concentration work?

Concentration is a top-down process; you need to consciously put in an effort to focus on something so that you can take in and analyze all of the information presented. For example, think about a picture; at first, your brain will simply take in the image as a whole but, as you spend more time looking at the piece, you will find yourself focusing in on small details and other minutia, giving you the ability to fully analyze the piece as a whole. When you begin to focus like this, everything else seems to melt away and you are able to ignore outside stimuli in favor of concentrating on what is in front of you. How do we lose focus?

While it may sound counterintuitive, losing focus is actually a good thing. Biologically, we have been programmed to focus our attention on situations that warrant it most – when we are in danger or about to be rewarded. Centuries of evolution have proven that humans need this type of response in order to appropriately respond to their surroundings. Unfortunately, this is an incredibly difficult fact to explain to a teacher or boss who expects you to stay focused throughout the duration of your work day.

Losing focus is problematic because it leads to decreased productivity; research done by Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, shows us that, once focus is broken, it can take up to 25 minutes to return to the task you originally started. A small, one-minute interruption can throw you off for almost half an hour! Consider the implications of this study in a school or office setting, where distractions can pop up every 3-10 minutes; with so many distractions, it’s no wonder that so little work gets done throughout the week! ³ Many people believe that distractions can simply be avoided altogether in the workplace by avoiding other people, but Mark’s research shows that this is not the case. In fact, we actually interrupt ourselves 44 percent of the time. From this, we can see that there is no easy and clear-cut way to reduce the distractions in our lives. While the research on distraction is damning, there is still hope for focus; research shows that the human mind is able to focus on a given task for up to two hours straight. How do we get our minds to this level? To begin living up to our full focus potential, we need to name the cause of our distraction: chronic overwhelm. Living in the 21 st century, we are constantly bombarded by new masses of information with every ing minute. Despite this constant barrage of information, our brains have not yet adapted to keep up with the amount of and speed at which this information is thrown at us, causing us to feel disoriented and overwhelmed. These feelings often make us seek solace in distraction, causing us to “check out” mentally into a digital world of social media and texting that our brains have also not yet adapted to. When we spread our attention so thin between information and technology, we become far less effective in our efforts to complete necessary tasks. In addition to being frustrating and causing us to lose productivity and focus, distractions are also physically and mentally exhausting. The average office worker can be forced to change focus between ten and twenty times an hour, causing them to lose track of their tasks altogether as they respond to minute-byminute concerns. This constant changing causes workers to feel exhaustion, leaving them less capable to understand, decide, recall, and memorize

information. Because of this, many workers are only able to complete a fraction of the possible work they could be doing. While losing focus is already an issue, research also shows that our ability to pay attention and focus on a task is also drastically impacted as we progress through our day checking items off our to-do lists. Studies show that we become less productive after each task we complete, causing us to lose focus and energy throughout the day, which is especially troubling when we have a long to-do list to get through. Attention, therefore, needs to be treated as a limited and nonrenewable resource. Remove temptation

We know that distractions are bad for our productivity and our health. How can we avoid them? Quite simply, you have to plan around them. Life is a series of distractions that can get you off task at a moment’s notice. When you understand this and are aware of the impact distractions can have on your productivity, you can combat distractions effectively. Knowing that your productivity decreases throughout the day based on the tasks you complete, your knowledge of how distractions impact you can help better plan your day. For example, if you know you have a tedious, time-intensive task on your to-do list for the day, you may want to prioritize getting this out of the way first so that you can free up your mental capacity for shorter, easier tasks later in the day. Additionally, if you know that distractions can and will occur, you can curb them by setting aside “distraction-free” times in your workday. Set up a specific time to turn off your phone and log out of all social media s. By disconnecting from these external distractions, you will allow your brain to focus on the work in front of it as opposed to having to resist the temptation of refreshing your Twitter feed every 15 seconds. This is one of the best ways to help improve your mental performance and ensure that you remain productive throughout the day.

While all of this is easier said than done, it is important to acknowledge and reiterate that distractions can and do happen frequently. It takes courage and selfdiscipline to actively avoid distractions and hunker down on your work, and even then the most disciplined of people may not be able to avoid all distractions; the brain is, after all, built to pay attention to novelty and anomalies. Coping with internal distractions

Temptation for external distractions can often be avoided with the click of a button or a strategic hiding spot, but internal distractions can be much harder to evade. This is because internal distractions are quick, unconscious thoughts that we cannot control from popping into our heads when our minds begin to wander. This wandering attention stems from ambient neural activity, or our brain’s nervous system constantly processing, reconfiguring, and reconnecting data in your brain every moment of every day. Neuroscientists from MIT, Trey Hedden and John Gabrieli, studied the impact of internal distraction on people engaged in difficult tasks. The results of their study were unsurprising: people who were distracted by their own thoughts were significantly impaired in their ability to perform the task assigned to them, even when they were unaware that they were still distracted. This loss of external focus led to decreased productivity. ⁴ While it may seem impossible to avoid distractions if any random thought we have can kill our productivity, there are ways of increasing our focus scientifically. The good news is that the human brain is wired to stay focused, if effectively trained. Neuroscientists use what is called a Stroop test to examine the brain and its ability to focus. In the Stroop test, volunteers are given words printed in different colors and told to read aloud the color of the text and not the word itself. To combat the distraction of the word itself, volunteers taking the Stroop

test need to learn to inhibit their automatic responses so that they can process through what the question asked them to analyze and answer appropriately. The region of the brain within the prefrontal cortex that controls inhibition, the right and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), can be trained to have more restraint over these automatic responses, thereby reducing the amount of internal distractions you may experience. When your mind wanders, you become distracted by memories and thoughts, both factual and emotional, which prevent you from being able to work to your full potential. By training your brain to inhibit your automatic responses to different stimuli, you can effectively block out various forms of internal distraction to become more productive and successful in your endeavors. How do you go about training your brain? It starts with your brain’s braking system. In the VLPFC, there is a brake system, similar to a car, which has a strong correlation with how well you can focus. When a car is going down a hill, braking early can allow it time to slow down to make necessary turns and changes to stay on route. Similarly, when we recognize a distracting thought early, we are able to stop ourselves from getting tangled in it and going down the wrong path, redirecting towards our task at hand. ⁵ Unfortunately, the brake system in the human mind is incredibly fragile and temperamental; it takes lots of energy in order to stop ourselves from thinking about things that the brain wants to bring up. Think of it as a form of impulse control – sometimes, you are able to control your actions based around an outcome that you want to see, but other times your impulses are too strong and you act on thoughts, feelings, or desires that you know you should not be acting on. To be able to activate your brain’s braking system, you need to be aware of your internal mental processes so that you can catch yourself before your thoughts go awry. For this, timing is everything. When you catch a thought early, you are able to take action to prevent it from being a distraction; the earlier you catch the thought, the less energy it will take you to be able to rein it back in and bring yourself back to focusing on the task at hand. Because of this, it is imperative

that you are constantly paying attention to, well, your attention. The core skill you need to practice to avoid internal distractions is mindfulness. Tips to enhance focus: Practice mindfulness meditation

Practicing mindfulness meditation regularly, you’ll be able to notice your thoughts as they arise and let them go. You’ll be able to see thoughts for what they are, thoughts which have no power over you unless you let them. When you feel as though there is a thought or memory that is plaguing you, it is in your best interest to acknowledge and gently let go of this idea so that you can get back to the task at hand before addressing it later. Acknowledging that you are distracted by something can help you better process this distraction later and allow you to rid yourself of a disrupting thought later on. Another way of practicing mindfulness is through intentional scheduling. Because we know that our brains lose the ability to focus after we complete tasks, and we know that the human brain tends to come up with, at random, any given number of distractions to keep us busy, it is imperative that we learn to schedule our days around potential distractions. For example, if you want to be productive and do significant, deep work, you will need to schedule these heavy tasks for earlier in the day when your mind is quiet and focused. In doing so, you set yourself up for success and ensure that you are able to commit to the task at hand. Your brain, like any other muscle in your body, needs to be exercised and trained to function at its best. Practicing mindfulness meditation helps you become more aware, giving you the ability to block out distractions and focus for longer

periods of time. A study from Emory University shows that just 20 minutes of daily mindfulness meditation can have a significant impact on your ability to focus throughout the day. Mindfulness meditation can be as simple as closing your eyes, breathing deep, and focusing on a chosen set of imagery. But if you’re not familiar with meditation, know that this can be a simple practice that can be easily adopted into your daily routine. Many guided meditation programs and podcasts exist that can walk you through the steps in helping you reach a more mindful and relaxed state. You can check out online guided meditation apps such as Calm or Headspace. Or you could a meditation group, which I find to be the most effective way to learn how to meditate and keep yourself on a mindfulness track. Close your door.

Whenever we are interrupted in the middle of a task, it can take 27 percent more time to be able to complete even the simplest of to-dos. Furthermore, when we are distracted, we are more apt to make mistakes and experience anxiety over task completion. Because of this, it is important that we limit distractions and their ability to enter into our workspaces by creating physical barriers between ourselves and our distractions. If you are able to, consider shutting the door to your workspace so that you are able to keep out any unwanted distractions. This will signify to your coworkers that you are trying to get work done and will limit the amount of they attempt to make with you. If you do not have or are unable to shut your door at work, consider an alternative “door” that you can use to shut people out, like a pair of quality headphones. Having your headphones on can help show your coworkers that you are uninterested in talking with them at the moment and can provide you with some noise to block out any potentially distracting sounds in your environment, allowing you to focus more on your work. Take several short breaks.

Breaks are important for productivity. While the human brain can stay focused on a task for up to two hours, after this amount of time of continuous work, our performance begins to deteriorate rapidly. Science suggests that we are our most productive selves when we take short breaks after every 40 minutes of working towards a task. This is because our short-term memory can only store between 59 things at once – trying to and act on any more things will actually overwhelm our brains and cause them to begin to shut down. Many people believe that they can only be productive if they are powering through their to-do list one task after another, cramming all of their work into a short period of time in an effort to get more done. While it may sound counterintuitive, taking breaks is an important factor in your personal and professional productivity. Life is full of moments of pause – we pause between breaths, between songs, and even when we speak – and these moments of pause should also extend to our work sessions. When we work without taking breaks, we become bored very quickly and lose focus; our brains become numb to what they are doing and therefore our cognitive resources are depleted quickly, causing us to become less productive over time. This is known in psychology as vigilance decrement; the longer we are required to perform a specific task, the accuracy and speed at which we complete the task begins to suffer. Science continues to show that the brain needs breaks to save data and refresh its capacity to continue processing new information. While it may seem easy to follow, taking breaks is actually much harder than it sounds because we often are unable to draw the boundary between taking a break and procrastinating. To avoid the procrastination pitfall in taking a break, consider scheduling breaks using the Pomodoro Technique or with a slightly varied frequency and duration. When short (10-20 minute) breaks are scheduled into the work day, we are better able to focus for a set period of time, allowing us to commit to working intensely for longer periods of time if we know there will be some payoff. These breaks should not only be planned, but also productive; breaks should be used as a way of improving mental capacity by committing to self-care such as calling family and friends, grabbing coffee, or going for walks. Planning break-time activities makes us more likely to commit to following through with this self-care and avoiding counterproductive activities.

To use breaks effectively, we also need to get past the stigma that taking breaks from work is shameful. Many people feel guilty when they take breaks from their work because they are afraid this makes them look lazy or unproductive, asking themselves, “What would my father think if he saw me taking a break right now when I should be working?” By identifying the reason we feel guilty for taking breaks, we can address these concerns objectively and remind ourselves that breaks actually help us regenerate much-needed energy and focus so that we can be more productive in the long run. Prioritizing long-term productivity over short-term task completion will allow us to be more effective in our time management; this fact alone can help anyone feel less guilty about taking a much-needed break. The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a brain-training program that helps you build your ability to concentrate and focus on tasks for longer periods of time. Using the Pomodoro Technique, you train your brain using the same type of interval training you would use for other muscles of your body; setting a timer for yourself, you allot 25 minutes to intensely focus on a task, allowing a 5-minute break at the end of this time for distractions. After every four 25-minute periods, you allow yourself to take a longer break (20-30 minutes in length) to recoup your strength. By doing this, you will slowly build your endurance to be able to focus for longer periods of time with shorter periods of rest, maximizing your effectiveness when it comes to knocking out larger projects! Still think 25 minutes is too long for you to be able to focus right now? Try starting with smaller increments of time, like 10-15 minutes, and working your way up to the full 25 minutes over the course of a few weeks! Forget multitasking

While many people may say that they do their best work while multitasking, this is not ed by science. Studies show that multitasking decreases our ability

to concentrate by 20-40 percent because our short-term memories can only store between five to nine things at once, making it difficult to balance two separate sets of information to retain and act on them. Furthermore, multitasking trains our brains to be unfocused, constantly trying to complete a myriad of tasks while not fully prioritizing any for completion. This is promoted by a society that values workaholics. your reasons

Everyone knows they have tasks they need to complete each and every day, but successful people know that the key to being able to focus on, organize, and complete these tasks is understanding not only what they need to do, but also why they need to do it. When completing smaller tasks, ask yourself how this task will help you achieve a particular goal (and answer your own question) or, when completing larger tasks, remind yourself why you are trying to achieve that goal in the first place. Once you clarify your own motivation for working towards a particular task, your attitude towards the task will be more positive and you will have a clearer picture behind why each task is important to complete, further motivating you to focus and ensure it is done in a timely manner. The intrinsic motivation of your own interest in completing a task will make concentration easier. Keep an organized space

Another reason you may have trouble focusing is your environment; the structure of a well-organized environment can help psych you up and motivate you to concentrate on a specific task because it reduces the potential for distractions. When you maintain an organized environment, you know where everything is and can easily access all your materials and supplies when they are needed, cutting down on the time it takes you to search for anything. Furthermore, setting up an organized environment can actually trick your brain into feeling more ready to do your work; people, in general, feel more motivated and positive when they are in an environment that is conducive to their work.

When you organize your environment, you are setting yourself up to be successful in task completion. So how do you organize a space to maximize focus? I will dedicate an entire chapter to answer this question later in this book but for now here is a hors d'oeuvre: start by clearing away anything that is not work-related from your designated work area. By doing this, you reduce the physical and visual clutter on your desk, allowing you to work distraction-free on the items you have laid out for yourself that day. Additionally, many people benefit from having an organized file system; this helps them know exactly where all their documents are so that they can save time from having to search through bags, files, and folders. Lastly, your cell phone should be put on silent and away from your line of sight. This will allow you to focus on the task ahead of you as opposed to constantly checking for new tasks or updates.

Four Boost Your Productivity

The ultimate aim of creating and maintaining a to-do list is to be more productive. Despite their good intentions, many people are overly ambitious in their planning, allowing their to-do lists to run their lives and thereby making themselves less productive in the long run. Think about the last time your to-do list was too cluttered – while you likely spent the day trying to cross off tasks as quickly as possible, you probably spent an equal amount of time trying to put out fires that started as a result of you dropping a few balls along the way, thereby causing you to be less productive. Instead of fretting over dozens of tasks, you could boost your productivity in a situation like this by focusing your time and energy on select items that you have prioritized over the day, completing them thoroughly so that you do not waste time later trying to make up for what you failed to do initially. It is also important to make a plan for your day so that you can create a set schedule for when certain things need to get done by. When you create and maintain a schedule, even if it is loose, you will be able to plan your day around specific tasks on your to-do list and set goals for yourself throughout the day. Consider a hectic day at the office; when you have no priorities on your schedule, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the tasks that are piled on you throughout the day as you try your best to keep up with items as they are assigned. If you instead create a plan for your day and set specific times for your tasks, you will be able to have a more fulfilling and productive day knowing that there are breaks and work time scheduled in for you. Should a task not take the expected amount of time, adjust your schedule accordingly so that you can fit more into your day as opposed to allowing these small changes to throw your entire day off kilter.

Another thing affecting your productivity may be your emotional, physical, or mental state. Studies have shown time and again that how we feel greatly impacts our ability to be productive during the day. Consider this… a woman wakes up with a toothache, but prioritizes going to work over taking care of her physical health because she reasons that the toothache is a minor inconvenience and she needs the paycheck to cover her bills for the month. Over the course of her day, she is also inconvenienced by her car breaking down on the way to work and her boss yelling at her for her tardiness as a result of this. Now, that physical pain she experienced in the morning is compounded with and made worse by a broken car and the financial and professional stress associated with having an angry boss, causing her to feel unmotivated or demoralized throughout the day. These small events, while seemingly insignificant if only looked at independently, can have a huge impact on someone’s effectiveness and productivity; they may prevent the woman from being able to focus at work due to the need to cope with her problems by venting or crying, or else they will pull focus from her to-do list as she thinks about her problems and how she needs to fix them. Our brains, in fact, are not programmed to be able to process emotion while we are working towards a specific task. Pain and stress cause our brains to release hormones like cortisol which, when left unaddressed, can impair our ability to make decisions. Because of this chemical reaction, we may be unable to focus because we cannot make the decisions necessary to address our tasks, ultimately making us less productive. In the situation described above, the toothache alone may not be a significant enough stressor to warrant a mental block, but the emotional duress caused by the cumulated stressors may cause these chemicals to build up in her brain, causing her to be unable to do her job. How do you overcome this productivity killer? By prioritizing to deal with your physical and mental stress so that you can be more effective in the long run. In other words, you and your wellbeing come first. If the machine is well-oiled and well-maintained, the chance of malfunctioning is significantly smaller.

While it may seem like it takes too much time out of your day to call out to visit the doctor and practice self-care, you will be far more effective in your job upon your return once you have handled everything you need to. Sit down and consider what feelings you may be having that are stressing you out and carve out some time to address this head-on as soon as possible; once you are able to clear your mind of what is weighing you down, you will have more mental space to be able to focus on your important to-dos. One way of keeping yourself productive and on task is to create a system of both positive and negative consequences for your work to help push you to meet your goals. For example, if you complete your daily tasks, treat yourself to something that you want such as free time, a meal out, or a tangible reward like tickets to an concert you are dying to see. This will make you want to complete your to-do list as quickly as possible, keeping you productive throughout the day. These positive consequences will need to be balanced out with negative ones as well, such as committing to donating money to a cause you disagree with should your tasks not be completed by a certain date/time. The balance between these two different sets of consequences will keep you inspired to stay on task so that you can reap the benefits of reaching your goals while avoiding the negative repercussions of failing to complete everything you were planning on accomplishing. In keeping a consistent level of productivity first and foremost, you need to be mindful of your daily habits that may be hindering your ability to focus to your full potential. Consider the tips listed below to boost your productivity and ensure that the tasks on your to-do list are getting done. Productivity tips Stop checking your emails so frequently

If you’re trying to become more productive, you need to start by checking your email less frequently. A recent study conducted on office workers shows that 22

percent of people check their email between six and ten times per day and another 9 percent of people check their email upwards of 40 times in a given day. Julie Morgenstern, Oprah’s most trusted organizational expert, advises that this is unhealthy; in fact, she even wrote a book on it called Never Check Email in the Morning. According to Morgenstern, the habit of checking your email frequently or first thing in the morning is not a good strategy – it can lead you to feel a false sense of accomplishment over having done “something” during the day while still leaving the piles of work incomplete on your desk. While answering emails may be a necessary part of your job, this is not necessarily a task that is helping you work towards a goal on your to-do list. This ultimately traps you in a vacuum, causing you to lose track of time focusing on unimportant work. To overcome your email obsession, you need to start by designating a specific time each day during which you will check and answer your emails. By setting aside particular times of the day (limit yourself to two times per day) and setting limits to the amount of time you allow yourself to spend checking/responding to email, you will free up more time in your day to focus on tasks with more urgent deadlines. Take these limits a step further and disable your email notifications from your desktop, laptop, and cellphone; when you aren’t constantly receiving alerts about new messages accruing in your inbox, you will be able to more easily ignore your email until your designated time. While this may take some explaining to your friends and coworkers, establishing this boundary will create a healthier and more productive work life for you. If the idea of only checking your email two times a day strikes fear into your heart, explore why this may be the case. What triggers are there that cause you to check your email so compulsively? When you acknowledge the reason you are tied to your inbox, you will be able to find more productive alternatives to these habits. For example, if you are checking your email simply because you are bored, consider filling your time with a more meaningful and enjoyable task. Similarly, if you are married to your email in fear that you will miss out on an important communication, address this with the people you regularly chat with and let them know to call you if anything urgent arises. By putting your email excuses to the side, your urges to check your email compulsively will eventually

subside, and you’ll have less unnecessary disruptions throughout the day. Practice self-care

Practicing self-care is one of the best ways you can boost your productivity. While it may seem unnecessary compared to the plethora of tasks piling up on your to-do list, taking care of yourself should always come out at the top of your to-do list so that you can be in top operating condition. When you ignore your physical and mental health, the symptoms of these conditions compound, leaving you worse for wear later that day. Think about the last time you chose to skip lunch or eat fast food quickly over your desk as opposed to sitting down for a real meal during a stressful day at the office – I’m willing to bet this likely did little to improve your health at the time and likely left you feeling more sluggish and unproductive than before your meal. Ultimately, poor health habits leave you less alert and, therefore, less productive. Poor dieting habits impair your ability to focus; while sugary foods like candy or cola may give you quick bursts of energy, these quickly wear off, leaving you feeling drowsy. Your body needs appropriate nutrients and sleep to function properly and, as such, continuously eating junk food or foregoing sleep to stay up late working will quickly suck the energy out of you, causing you to be less productive throughout the day. Fixing your unhealthy habits and practicing self-care takes conscious effort and an understanding that you are worth the time and maintenance to ensure that you are still able to function beyond the current moment. Think about your body as a machine – in order for you to continue working, you must have the required fuel and parts. In regards to your diet, make a list of healthy foods to buy and prep every week. If you have these foods on hand and pre-prepared, you will be able to eat these instead of purchasing junk food every time you are feeling hungry at work. Similarly, create a list for yourself of all the foods you should avoid (chips,

cookies, and other highly processed snacks); in doing so, you will have a physical reminder of what you need to actively avoid in case your healthy snacks are unavailable at the time. In addition to this, try to plan your meals a week in advance so that you can avoid random temptations or cravings. This, along with an eating schedule for what and when you should eat, will allow you to avoid eating unhealthy food for the convenience and keep your body well-fueled for the hours, days, and weeks ahead. In addition to eating right, getting a good night’s rest is key to ensuring that you stay happy and healthy all day long. By staying up late or getting up early, you are depriving your body of the time it needs to fully recharge, leaving you perpetually tired and groggy. To combat this, set an alarm for yourself 30 minutes prior to your bed time, and use those 30 minutes to unwind from the day and get ready for bed. This time to prepare will give you the ability to settle in for a solid 7 hours of rest to wake up refreshed for the day to come. Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule like this will allow you to feel more alert and productive throughout the day, giving you the energy you need to focus on your daily tasks. Along with eating well and getting enough rest, one of the most important things you can do for your body is commit to exercising for at least 30 minutes each day. By starting an exercise regime that includes cardiovascular activity at least three times a week, you can stimulate your brain to allow for better concentration and increased serotonin levels throughout the day, leaving you feeling happy and productive. Choose an exercise or activity that interests you and that you feel you can commit to; there is no pressure to a gym or otherwise make a huge commitment (financial or personal) that you will feel stressed about keeping. Whether you bike, jog, walk, swim, dance, do yoga, or lift weights, you are working to improve your health and productivity. Learn to say “no”

While saying “yes” to helping your friends, family, and coworkers may make you seem friendlier, this does nothing to help your productivity. By constantly

taking on work that is not your job or your responsibility, you are adding to your to-do list without having first assessed your own priorities. Think back to the last time you offered to help someone in the office – while helping a coworker may feel good and help you establish a positive reputation as being helpful, it establishes an expectation at the office that you will always help others in need, causing you to fall behind on your own work. This can often lead to others taking advantage of your kindness and lead you to feel more exhausted. Setting boundaries with your willingness to help, such as only offering partial assistance or telling someone that you are busy at the moment but would be happy to assist once your own work is finished, can allow you to prioritize your own work while still maintaining positive relationships with the people around you. Stop trying to control everything

The Beatles’ hit song “With a Little Help from My Friends”? Consider this your personal productivity anthem. While it may be difficult to give up some control, one of the most effective ways to boost your productivity is to collaborate with and delegate tasks to the people around you. Think about the last time you tried to juggle too many tasks from your to-do list in one day; you likely felt frustrated, upset, and didn’t get around to doing everything that you intended to that day. Now, imagine how much more productive your day would have been if you had someone to assist you with your tasks – quite a difference. The fact of the matter is that, while many people see asking for help as a sign of weakness and, as such, seldom reach out when they could use a hand, it is physically impossible to do every little thing by yourself – we all need a little help from our friends from time to time! Breaking the lone-wolf habit is not an easy task – in order to get over this productivity killer, you will need to do some soul searching to figure out why it is that you feel the need to keep control. Many people find task delegation to be difficult because they fear it makes them look weak or lazy, or because they don’t feel as though they can trust others to complete the task to their high

standards; both of these beliefs need to be dismantled through critical selfreflection and thinking to maximize productivity. Contrary to popular belief, task delegation does not make you look weak - in fact, people who show they can prioritize, manage, and delegate tasks according to the situation actually look stronger than their peers who are struggling to complete each item on their to-do list. Furthermore, while you may hesitate to give up control because you want to ensure everything is done perfectly, you need to ask yourself whether or not you have the time and energy to devote to perfecting each task on your to-do list; more often than not, you will find that delegation will allow you to actually complete each task with greater attention to detail because you are no longer splitting your time and energy between multiple tasks concurrently. When all else fails, when you feel the need to maintain control over all your tasks, simply ask yourself “What’s the worst that could happen?” if you asked for help – chances are, there are more benefits than consequences to this. Another way of overcoming the fear of delegation is to review and prioritize your to-do list. Start by separating the long- and short-term tasks on your to-do list, marking 3-5 important tasks that demand your absolute attention or perfection. As you review your to-do list, identify tasks that are easily correctible or have a negligible consequence if done imperfectly. This will help you identify which tasks you need to keep on your to-do list and handle personally, and which tasks you can realistically reassign to maximize your own effectiveness. If you are still struggling with the idea of letting go of some control over your todo list, try asking yourself how much an hour of your time is really worth. Look at your to-do list and break down how much time each task will take you, roughly, to complete. Ask yourself what is more valuable to you – spending 2 to 3 hours with your friends and family, or spending the same amount of time running errands and completing other menial tasks? When you know the value of your time, you can easily make decisions based on your personal and professional priorities; your time will likely always be more valuable than whatever it is you’d pay for someone to complete your menial tasks for you. This makes learning the value of your own time vitally important for being able to let some of your control go.

Thinking of giving up some control but don’t know where to start? Consider making a list of reliable, highly efficient people in your life. Having a list of trustworthy people will make task delegation much simpler for you; whenever you run into a task that you need help on, you will know exactly who to call without hesitation, building your capacity to make significant strides towards completing all the items on your to-do list. Create a system for recurring tasks

One of the most common ways people waste time is by repeating their efforts on recurring tasks, thereby reducing their productivity. If you have a task that you know makes it in to your to-do list with some frequency, be it daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly, having a system in place for how to tackle this task will help you improve your productivity and ensure that the task is done accurately and well each time. To overcome this productivity killer, start by making a list of all your recurring tasks and track the amount of time you waste on each one. For each task, consider developing a system to more effectively manage your time. If, for example, you know that you have to send out a promotional email every Monday and this takes anywhere between 10-20 minutes of your day to complete, consider creating a system where you set aside an hour to draft out all these emails on the first Monday of each month, scheduling each draft to be sent automatically throughout the month so you don’t have to think any longer on it. When you create systems for recurring tasks like this, make sure you also schedule them on your calendar (or through an app like Trello or Todoist) so that you can keep track of and to complete all your work in one shot. This will reduce the amount of work you have to do over time and allow you to be more productive throughout the month. Take responsibility for your actions

When you avoid taking responsibility for your actions and choices, you reduce your own ability to create effective and positive change in your work habits, thereby reducing your own productivity and effectiveness. Because of this, how you view your work is important to ensuring that you are productive; when you view your work as something that is just thrust upon you without option, this can lead you to procrastinating from completing the tasks on your to-do list or doing them with little effort. If you can’t accept responsibility for your work and take the initiative to do it and do it well, you have little chance of getting promoted or being given meaningful projects, leaving you in an unfulfilling or low-paid position for decades. As such, your motivation to do work is directly linked to the responsibility you feel towards what you do, thereby impacting your ability to be successful and productive. The first step in taking responsibility for your actions is acknowledging the importance of your worldview on the outcome of a given situation. When you realize your action (or inaction) is causing a negative outcome, such as an increased workload or stress level, you can take proactive steps to fix this later down the line. Consider why you choose to avoid responsibility for your actions and figure out where this behavior stems from in your life; when you unravel this pattern of behavior, you are able to more effectively change this for lifelong success. One of the most common reasons people fail to take responsibility for their actions is because they associate responsibility with fault; this false equivalency causes us to feel guilty when things don’t go as planned with a specific task. Change your mindset around this; the fact of the matter is that, no matter whether or not you accept responsibility for your actions, you are equally responsible for the outcome of the situation, whether it is positive or, more likely, negative. Accepting responsibility for your actions also means accepting responsibility for your failures and mistakes and learning from them to become more productive later down the line. While it may be easier in the moment to the blame at work when you make a mistake on a set of paperwork to avoid momentary discomfort, choosing to buck this responsibility will prevent you from being able to enjoy personal and professional growth. By accepting responsibility for an error and trying to correct it, you allow yourself to own the progress you make

during this difficult time and will show those around you that you take your work seriously, garnering some respect around the office. No matter where you are on your productivity journey, be patient with yourself; learning to accept responsibility and own up to your mistakes is a process that is difficult and often messy. Many people avoid responsibility out of fear of failure, and that is not something that can be overcome immediately or easily. Show yourself some kindness and you will be far more successful with overcoming this barrier to your productivity. Stop feeling sorry for yourself

When things go wrong in your life, it’s easy to place blame for this onto someone or something else and complain about all the things that could be going better for you. While it may be to complain about your circumstances, this mentality of victimhood is bad for productivity; when you focus all of your time and energy on lamenting about how unfair your life is, you allow yourself to feel as though you have no ability to pull yourself out of this situation, lowering your motivation and productivity. Complaining may feel good in the moment, but this behavior only attracts sympathy from others as they focus on the negative aspects of your life with you, only serving to bring your spirits further down. The longer you sit around and complain about your circumstances, the harder it will be to get back on track with your tasks. To overcome this victim mentality, it’s important to take a long, hard look at your own role in the misfortunes you’re experiencing to understand how you can take control of the situation and turn it around. If, for example, you have a coworker that is constantly pushing their tasks off onto your to-do list because they are having a “tough time” and this is stressing you out, consider how your choices to act with kindness and generosity are allowing you to be taken advantage of. When you recognize your own side in creating the misery you are enduring, you will be able to change this so that you have less to complain about.

In addition to recognizing your own role in your misery, it is equally important to identify and change the actions you take in these circumstances. Your actions condition you; as such, when you practice self-pity, you’re creating a vicious loop that is hard to break away from. Take stock of when, how, and to whom you complain the most, and what you complain about. Recognizing this pattern will help you be more mindful of your own actions, allowing you to break it so that you can focus your time and energy on fixing the things in your life that you want to change. Once you’ve accepted responsibility for your misery and have committed to changing this, take some time to actively look for things in your life within your locus of control that need to be changed and commit to changing them. When you take control of the situation and decide to make a change, your victim mentality will change to that of a survivor, giving you a greater sense of agency and ability. Any time this feeling of self-pity comes back, remind yourself of all the things you are in control of and see what you can do to better your own situation. In this way, you’ll inspire yourself to be more active and productive. If your circumstances are relatively unchangeable, consider trying to accept the things you cannot change and practice gratitude towards everything good in your life. By focusing on at least ten positive things in your life each day, you eliminate feelings of self-pity and replace them with positivity and a greater sense of agency. This can be especially helpful for anyone “stuck” in a seemingly unchangeable situation; while it is important to recognize that life simply isn’t fair, detaching from negative events and focusing on what is positive in your life will allow you to feel more motivated throughout the day. Pregame your meetings

One way of improving your productivity is to research and pregame all meetings. Before you go into any meeting, take a moment to just why you are going into the meeting and what outcome you are looking to have from it. When a topic comes up that isn’t relevant to the primary reason for the meeting, don’t entertain it – steer the conversation back on track so that you can

get the desired result of the meeting in less time. Step out of your own head and share your ideas with others. When you’re able to brainstorm and collaborate with your coworkers, you increase your productivity and effectiveness by improving on your original idea with the perspectives shared by your coworkers, saving you time and energy later on when the idea would later be revised. Productivity, just like any other skill, needs to be honed over time; whether you are looking for ways to use your time more productively or get better at staying on task, there are many practices available online or in this book – inspire yourself with them. But , at the end of the day, reading about productivity won’t make you productive. Choose a few tips and adoptable habits and take massive action based on them.

Five How to Become More Organized

Getting organized is key to boosting your productivity and completing tasks on your to-do list. Despite the obvious proof, many people believe this is an impossible standard to reach because they think organization is an inherent trait as opposed to a learned habit. People with great organizational skills are not born this way; rather, they have spent years learning and cultivating healthy habits to help them stay organized and approach their work efficiently. Even the most disorganized person can learn to stay organized by making small, simple changes to their daily routine. Doubting me? Consider using the following suggestions to make positive changes in your life and become more organized. Write things down

Are you struggling to dates and deadlines in your head? Try writing them down! Studies show that when someone writes down an important date or piece of information, they are more apt to this information later on. This simple trick not only engrains the information in your head, it also provides you with a physical reminder of what you need to do, doubling the chances you’ll to complete a particular task, even if it is something as small as sending a birthday card! When in doubt, write it out! To make writing things down easier, try carrying around a notebook for your thoughts. Write your grocery lists, important dates, to-do lists, and other important information here to help jog your memory later down the line! Give everything a home

The best way to stay organized is to give everything in your life a home. When you have a specific place for everything, you are able to keep order in your physical space, reducing the distractions and clutter in your brain. Start your organization with the things you use every day, and give them homes that are easy for you to access. If, for example, you frequently have to staple documents together, you’ll want to make sure that your stapler has a home close to your regular workspace so that you don’t have to get up all the time to use it. Consider breaking out a label maker to define spaces for each item, if this helps you. Make sure everything is intentionally placed and labeled; the biggest pitfall people fall prey to when organizing is creating a “miscellaneous” drawer – this can quickly compound, so avoid throwing together miscellaneous items at all costs. In addition, check out the work of Marie Kondo, the author of the bestselling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. She has great tips in her book and now Netflix series on how to declutter and organize everything efficiently and beautifully. Declutter regularly

Life is messy and your environment will not stay organized on its own – you’ll need to reorganize constantly and consistently to ensure that your space does not fall out of whack again. The good news is this: when you stay on top of an organized environment, it is far easier to keep organized with just small adjustments. This same principle also applies to schedules – when your schedule is getting too cluttered, it is time for you to reorganize to ensure that you are committing your time and energy to the most important tasks on your to-do list; anything else needs to be removed from the schedule. Keep only what you need

Identify your most organized coworker and take a stroll into their office – what do you notice about the space? Highly organized people seldom have lots of stuff lying around their space; they keep what they need and toss the rest. By having fewer things in their space, they are able to enjoy these items more and get more use out of them. Not sure if you have too much stuff? Take out a piece of paper and write down everything you use throughout the day in each room. Once your list is complete, take stock of everything else in the room that is extraneous. Chances are, there are lots of things in your space that could be cleared out to simplify your life and declutter. Another way of approaching decluttering is going around your living and working space and identify the tools you didn’t use in the past few months or year. Do you really need these objects? Ditch the “it may come in handy one day” mindset. If you have a collection of empty margarine jars because they might come in handy when you’ll dye your hair (putting and mixing the hair dye in them), you still don’t need twenty jars, just one. Discard the rest. Know where to discard items

When you decide to get rid of your stuff, know where to go to get rid of it. Go through each room in your home and make three piles in each space – one keep, one toss, and one donate or sell. Once you have sorted all your belongings, follow through and make sure each item finds its respective home – items you are keeping should be re-shelved or put back up while tossed items should go to the recycling center or trash. Any items you’ve listed as donate or sell can be given to a local thrift store, listed on eBay or Craigslist, or taken to the local flea market to be listed for sale. When you go through each space in this way, you will give yourself the ability to discard the items you don’t need to focus your time and attention on maintaining what you do need.

Delegate responsibilities

People with strong organizational skills know that they cannot tackle their to-do lists alone – oftentimes, they enlist help from friends, family, and colleagues to ensure that everything on their list gets done in a timely manner. Delegation is a tool they use frequently because it allows them to relieve stress and slowly become more organized. Unconvinced on how task delegation can help you get more organized? Go through your to-do list and find just one task that you can ask another person to do, and let it go. Getting help on this task will make you feel better and alleviate some of the stress you are experiencing trying to get everything done.

Conclusion

Each step of this organizational process is important for ensuring that you maximize your own productivity and make progress towards your goals. Creating a to-do list will allow you to organize your thoughts and create a roap for your day, week, month, or year. This, ultimately, will help you enhance your focus so that you can stay on task throughout the day and boost your productivity. When you are more effective in all of these areas, your overall organizational skills will improve because you’ll better understand why you are completing each task and how you are going to complete them, meaning you’ll no longer entertain the distractions of everyday life. This allows you to get more done in less time. If you take anything away from this book, let it be this: organization is a journey, not a destination. Each and every person is on their own organizational journey learning new skills to realize their full potential and meet their goals. It is my hope that this book has inspired you to take charge of your life and adopt new habits that will boost your productivity and allow you to live a more organized, less cluttered life. Thank you, dear reader, for taking this journey with me; your commitment to bettering your life is truly commendable, and you are a better person for deciding to take this proactive step towards a more organized future. As you continue your journey, know that you have come a long way from where you began; be proud of your progress – you’ve made it this far, you can go this distance.

Reference

Allen, David. Getting Things Done. ed in 2019. www.davidco.com (Picture 2) Babauta, Leo. Purpose Your Day: Most Important Task (MIT). Zen Habits. 2019. https://zenhabits.net/purpose-your-day-most-important-task/ Hasenkamp, W., & Barsalou, L. W. (2012). Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 6, 38. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00038 Mark, Gloria. Gudith, Daniela. Klocke, Ulrich. The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress. 2019. https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf Robbins, Mel. The Five-Second Rule. Savio Republic. 2017. Rock, David. Dr. Beat Back Distractions: The Neuroscience Of Getting Things Done Huffington Post. 2016. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beat-backdistractions-th_n_498120 Rock, David. Easily distracted: why it's hard to focus, and what to do about it. Psychology Today. 2009. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brainwork/200910/easily-distracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-it Vozza, Stephanie. What Happens In Your Brain When You Lose Focus. Fast Company. 2016. https://www.fastcompany.com/3060388/what-happens-in-your-

brain-when-you-lose-focus Vrabie, Alina. The science behind concentration and improved focus. Sandglaz. 2013. https://blog.sandglaz.com/the-science-behind-concentration/

Endnotes

1. How to Make a To-Do List

1 Babauta, Leo. Purpose Your Day: Most Important Task (MIT). Zen Habits. 2019. https://zenhabits.net/purpose-your-day-most-important-task/

2 Picture 2: Allen, David. Getting Things Done. ed in 2019. www.davidco.com

2. How to Stop Procrastinating?

1 Robbins, Mel. The Five-Second Rule. Savio Republic. 2017.

3. Enhance Your Focus

1 Vozza, Stephanie. What Happens In Your Brain When You Lose Focus. Fast Company. 2016. https://www.fastcompany.com/3060388/what-happens-

in-your-brain-when-you-lose-focus

2 Vrabie, Alina. The science behind concentration and improved focus. Sandglaz. 2013. https://blog.sandglaz.com/the-science-behind-concentration/

3 Mark, Gloria. Gudith, Daniela. Klocke, Ulrich. The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress. 2019. https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08mark.pdf

4 Rock, David. Dr. Beat Back Distractions: The Neuroscience Of Getting Things Done Huffington Post. 2016. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beatback-distractions-th_n_498120

5 Rock, David. Easily distracted: why it's hard to focus, and what to do about it. Psychology Today. 2009. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easilydistracted-why-its-hard-focus-and-what-do-about-it

6 Hasenkamp, W., & Barsalou, L. W. (2012). Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 6, 38. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00038