How To Achieve Your Goals Faster
Do you want to achieve your goals faster? Do you know what you want to do and where you want to be in your life, but you feel stuck because you canโt find the time? There is just not enough time in the day.
Everybody who wants to change their life goes through these struggles. We have our current lives to run. There is no free time to make the necessary changes for the future life we want. So we keep going on with our current life a bit frustrated and a bit disappointed in ourselves.
Lost time is never found again.
โ Benjamin Franklin
What if I tell you that you have this time and the only thing you have to do is make small changes to your daily routine.
No, you donโt have to quit the weekly Saturday game with your friends or stop seeing your besties. You donโt even have to change your sleeping patterns. In fact, you need to sleep more to help your body work better. But this is a topic for another conversation.
So, hereโs a list of small changes that you can put in place to find the time for the things that matter to you. All suggestions are easy to do. It needs a bit of attention and some level of discipline. I am sure you have it. After all, you are already trying to make the changes. You are reading this post because you are looking for answers.
First Things First
Do the most important things for the day first. There is a lot of evidence showing that we are more motivated and more focused in the morning. Towards early afternoon our motivation starts wearing off. Leave the small things and the fun things for later in the day. In a way, this will feel like a reward for the hard work you did at the beginning of the day. It will give you something to look forward to after the hard part is over.
Leave all mobile devices in another room for the period of time needed to finish the task. Every time your phone, Apple watch, etc. buzzes your mind gets distracted (even if you donโt look at the device). It takes on average 20 minutes to get the mind back to being fully focused on the task. That is you donโt get another buzz in the meantime!
Time Leaks
Check messages and emails at certain times of the day only. At the beginning of my art business, I used to receive on average 30-40 messages a day. Half of my workday was spent answering them. I felt obligated to reply immediately, afraid that I would lose a customer if they had to wait for the answer. It got to the point where I was struggling to fulfill my orders due to a lack of time.
I reorganized my work and started checking messages only at certain times of the day. The messages were checked 3 times a day, morning (before starting to work), lunchtime (during lunch break), and after I shipped all orders for the day. I also implemented up to 30-minute email checking sessions.
This gave me a feeling of urgency. During the day I sent short replies only to the urgent, time-sensitive ones. The non-urgent messages I left for the end of the day. By implementing this small change I freed up a couple of hours of my day.
Guess what, nobody complained about not receiving my answer immediately. ะore work was done. More customers were happy with the faster processing of their orders.
Limit the ways of communication. You donโt have to be available on every platform all the time. I mostly use one email account and one social media platform for communication. The other accounts I check once a day.
I prefer written communication to phone calls (introvert thing). There is no pressure to reply immediately as in phone calls. I can reply when I have time (on my terms). I can also go back to the messages if I canโt remember the details.
Different people have different styles of communication. Pick the one that works best for you.
A Few More Tips . . .
Check the news no more than two times a day. Most of the news shown later in the day is a regurgitated version of what you saw first thing in the morning. Follow the news that is relevant to you. A cat stuck on a tree for hours is a sad thing, but it is not relevant to you. Use only reputable and reliable sources that will give you straight facts.
Go through your social media and email subscriptions. Unsubscribe and unfollow all accounts, support groups, and email newsletters that are no longer relevant to you today.
In the different stages of our lives, we need different things. The support we needed when we were in college is no longer relevant once we moved into the workforce. The old support system becomes spam. Donโt feel guilty to let go.
Plan specific times for doing unpleasant chores and tasks. This way you know when they will be done and you donโt have to think about it for the rest of the time.
MOVE!
No, really MOVE! Every hour or so stand up and move for a few minutes. Increasing blood circulation refreshes the mind and helps it become more focused.
Create a capsule wardrobe. This will save you time in deciding what to wear. Choose the outfit from the night before. You wonโt be wasting time doing so in the most productive time of the day.
Learn to say โNOโ! This was one of the hardest changes for me. For years I felt obligated to say โYesโ. I felt people were relying on me. Guess what, most of the time they are not. They are trying to find someone to do the work. If you say โNoโ they would call the next person until someone does it.
If you feel uncomfortable saying โNoโ on the spot, say you would check your calendar and reply later. Later, send a message saying you already had plans and wouldnโt be able to help. This is not a lie, you do. You have YOUR plans to work on.
This is YOUR time and you donโt have to explain what you do with it or feel guilty about refusing to give it away. Yes, some people will try to guilt you into doing it.
Every time you say โYesโ when you should say โNoโ you are canceling your plans to make someone else’s happen.
Seek Help
Don’t expect others to know that you need help. Ask for help from your friends and family. Most people will be more than happy to help, but they have to know you need it.
Donโt try to adopt all steps listed here at once. Start with a couple of changes, make them part of your daily routines, then try a couple of more. Trying all at once will make you feel overwhelmed. You are working on creating new habits. It takes time to have them become part of your daily routines.
Conclusion
I hope you will find the tips I listed above helpful. Some of them are easy and quick to adopt, some take time, and some are difficult (especially the ones involving other people). But none of them are impossible to do!
Keep your eye on your goals. Stay motivated. Before you know it you will have the extra time you need and you will be on the road toward reaching your goals.
Do you have other things that you do to organize your days to stay productive? What things do you find difficult to manage and what comes easy to do? Please share your experiences below, so others can also learn from them. If youโd like you can contact me directly.
