Life is hectic; whether rushing to get the kids to school or yourself to work, you can fall behind fast and play catch up the rest of the day. The day can feel like a total loss before it even begins.

It’s hard to keep your precious minutes from being robbed.

We all face similar challenges with work and life demands and relationships to nurture. And it’s easy for any of the three to intrude on our schedule, especially since they’re so important.

One of the Biggest Time Robbers

Failing to organize and manage our time is a massive time thief. Life happens, but even so, we must structure our day. 

How often have you started the morning with a prioritized list of things to do, but by the end of the day, only one or two items have been crossed off because of the unexpected?

You get everyone up, get dressed, and make breakfast. Afterward, you go to load the dirty dishes in the dishwasher but realize it hasn’t been emptied or you’ve run out of dishwasher soap, so you put it on the list and keep plugging away—no big deal. While getting a glass of water before opening your laptop to start your project, you notice the kids have left their dirty clothes all over the floor; you spend twenty minutes sorting clothes and starting laundry. As you wander from room to room, you see a light bulb that needs to be changed or something to be put away.

By the end of the day, you’ve changed a lightbulb, put a few things away, taken unexpected calls, and replied to emails, but the dishes are still dirty, and you never got around to your project, your top priority for the day. 

Whatever your circumstances might be, sticking to a schedule isn’t easy. 

It’s time to take charge of your time and manage your schedule to increase your effectiveness and improve how you feel at the end of the day.

It’s important to be aware of how you feel throughout the day and at the end of the day because if you feel overwhelmed and stressed, your productivity will suffer, not only that, you just won’t feel happy about your life. 

Organizing our time realistically (not cramming too much into the day) helps boost feelings of productivity and reduces burnout and stress.  

Time Management Strategies

Successful leaders and entrepreneurs see time management strategies as tools, and they use them. Is their execution always perfect? No, but at least they have a plan.

They start with the end in mind and work backward, setting goals accordingly. Once they’ve set goals, they schedule tasks in their calendar and do everything within their power to stick to their plan, ruthlessly saying no to anything that doesn’t move them forward, if at all possible.  

They notice how much time it takes to complete specific tasks so they can organize their time more efficiently in the future. 

Time is a kind of currency that we spend to make dreams come true. Sometimes, we can delegate tasks to free up time. 

Other Major Time Wasters

Email can be a huge waste of time if checked every ten or fifteen minutes throughout the day. Turn off notifications, and check email only two or three times during the day if you’re industry allows it.

Social media, mindless surfing, and games are time wasters, too. Do those things after you’ve met your priorities unless social media and researching stuff is essential to your job. Otherwise, leave those things for the evening. 

Commit

Time robbers will always be with us, but that doesn’t matter because we’re in charge of our time. 

Organizing our time and using it wisely is our responsibility. 

Time = life.

Commit to using your time wisely and effectively to get the most from your daily activities and have enough time to spend with your family, friends, and things that matter so you can have the time and energy to unlock your best life.  

The post Time = Life: Taking Charge Of Your Time appeared first on Lifestyle.

Procrastinators have learned the habit of delaying something they must do until the last minute or until it’s past due. Sometimes it’s not a big deal and might even be helpful.

But it can create anxiety and stress, harming one’s career and relationships. 

Imagine suffering from the side effects of chronic procrastination, living under the crushing weight of mounting pressure and frenzied work hours, feeling rushed and unprepared, and plagued by guilt, resentment, and missed opportunities, always under the gun.

Who in their right mind would want to live like that? 

It’s an exhausting lifestyle of overwhelming stress and anxiety, haunting pressure caused by perfectionism, anger, lack of motivation, poor time management skills, and nagging frustration. 

Imagine waking up every day to the crippling fears and regrets of procrastination.

Dealing with Procrastination and Stress

Procrastination creates stress. 

Some people use recreation and physical activity to reduce their stress levels to manage and enjoy life more while dealing with the fallout of procrastination as they learn to stop procrastinating and be more productive. 

Other stress-relieving activities include listening to soul-soothing music, lighting candles, and creating a more relaxing environment.

Putting a stop to procrastination is the best antidote. 

Dealing with Procrastination and Perfectionism

Perfectionism is an underlying cause of procrastination for many people that paralyzes them, keeping them from unlocking their best life.

Perfectionism is faulty thinking.

Use deadlines to put perfectionism in its place.

Without a deadline, you can get trapped in a loop of perfectionistic thinking that delays you indefinitely; you never get off the starting blocks.

Besides using a deadline to snap you out of the doldrums of perfectionistic thinking, give yourself permission to be human! 

No one is perfect. 

An imperfect plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. So get moving!

If you find yourself stuck in an endless loop of perfectionistic thinking that you know is keeping you from achieving your dreams and goals, realize that progress is a process. 

A commitment to constant and never-ending improvement gets you much farther than a commitment to making sure everything is perfect. You can’t get to the next level without getting through this level first.

Be committed to taking action now and revising along the way. 

Dealing with Procrastination and Poor Time Management Skills

Time management is really about organizing your time effectively. 

It’s hard for a distracted or disorganized mind to organize time effectively because it isn’t clear on what it wants, needs, or should do; the target is always fuzzy or moving.

We an be disorganized internally and/or externally.

A disorganized environment drains energy and can make people avoid doing what they should, making it easy to put things off.  

It’s pretty hard to organize your time and stay on task if your thinking is disorganized and your work/life environment is dirty, disorganized, and cluttered, all of which fuels procrastination.

Time Organization Strategies

 A popular strategy is to organize time into 30-minute chunks, give or take. 

Here’s how it works. Schedule a task you think you can get done in thirty minutes or less., and reward yourself immediately after completing it. 

Choose a reward you’ll look forward to and enjoy. Maybe your reward is taking a 10-minute walk in the fresh air, watching your favorite show after work, or enjoying your favorite snack.

You’re training yourself to become a person who gets stuff done. 

Some tasks will take less time, and some will take an hour or ninety minutes. 

Even if the thirty-minute task is unpleasant or uncomfortable, you’ll stick with it because you can put up with just about anything for thirty minutes, plus you have a well-deserved reward waiting for you at the end. 

If thirty minutes is too long at first, choose something shorter, like ten or fifteen minutes; even five or six minutes might be enough time to get you started and in flow. The goal is to jumpstart yourself into action so that you’re a doer, not a procrastinator. 

If using shorter time chunks, decide how many you must complete before enjoying your reward. If the idea is to reward yourself for every thirty minutes of action taken, you must finish three 10-minute chunks to enjoy your reward; make a game of it.

Dealing with Procrastination and a Lack of Motivation

People procrastinate when they’re not motivated. A lack of motivation can come from a place of helplessness or hopelessness. It’s hard to start when you keep thinking, “What’s the point?”

Although everyone occasionally struggles with burnout and laziness, ongoing low motivation points to deeper issues to address before change can occur. 

If you’re struggling with low motivation, ask yourself, what’s my purpose? What do I want from my life, career, relationships, or marriage that I’m not getting? If I were living my best life, what would be driving me?

By identifying the emotional “clog” that’s gumming up your motivation, you can face the situation, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable it might be, find your “inspiring why,” and push through to the next level.

Being driven by an “inspiring why” decreases procrastination because you’ll do what’s necessary and take imperfect action to get what you need, want, or dream. 

Lastly, don’t underestimate the power of a good coach or counselor to help you identify blocks and get clear. They will hold you accountable, inspiring you to take action toward living the life of your dreams.

Procrastination is paralyzing. It restricts your potential and limits how far you can go. At best, procrastination creates an average, mediocre life. At worst, it creates a life of quiet, fear-driven desperation. 

Every cause has an effect. If you don’t like the effects you’re dealing with, it’s within your power to change the cause. Use one of the strategies in this article to create momentum, and then keep building on it to unlock your best life.

The post How To Overcome Procastination appeared first on Lifestyle.

Sometimes it’s easy to fall into the habit of spending time on wasteful activities, fooling ourselves that being busy is being productive. But all it does is keep you stuck and slow down your productivity.

The goal of productivity is to achieve tasks within a certain amount of time to bring goals and dreams to life. You can apply this to all aspects of your life, personal or work. Either way, having a clear plan is a pathway to increased productivity.

Let’s take a look at some different ways you can be more productive in your life. Keep in mind that productivity isn’t an overnight process. And there are no secrets. It takes effort and commitment to work effectively and efficiently. By making small changes and putting some of these habits into place, you’ll work smarter and achieve greater results.

How to be More Productive

Prioritize the Most Important Tasks.

Make a reasonable to-do list that prioritizes and identifies the most important tasks on your list.

Tackle what needs to be done to make meaningful progress on your goals, even when you don’t feel like it, which is probably one of the biggest ways to be more productive – do what you needs to be done even when you don’t feel like it.

Furthermore, set deadlines for tasks. Some can be completed in a day; others take longer.

Honor your deadlines – stay committed to yourself and to your dreams.

In the process, as you see the progress you’re making, you’ll be motivated to stay the course and get even more done.

Also, to better estimate how long it takes to complete a task, track your time for better planning and time management in the future.

Focus on One Goal at a Time.

Focusing on one goal at a time is a powerful way to become more productive. Plus, you’ll have a greater chance of achieving your goal in less time. Not only does this build confidence, but you’ll do a better job at each task.

Refrain from multitasking. When you tackle too much at once, it’s easy to become distracted and overwhelmed by stress. It’s easy to feel like nothing is getting done because you’re jumping from one thing to the next without finishing anything.

Focusing on one thing at a time is less stressful, doesn’t deplete energy levels, and increases productivity.

Recharge Your Mind

Be mindful of yourself, and take breaks as needed.

Let’s face it; your brain needs downtime to relax and recharge. This means getting enough sleep, exercising, and eating healthy.

For your mind and body to function properly, self-care is critical to your mental health. Overall, it boosts your mood, sharpens focus, and increases your ability to concentrate on your goals.

Schedule breaks throughout the day to stay fresh and boost productivity so you can finally create the kind of life you enjoy and have been dreaming of living.

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

The post How To Be More Productive appeared first on Lifestyle.