Need to simplify your life and get more tasks accomplished?

Let me start by admitting I am not a productivity guru. In fact I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum — lost in a mountain of piled up papers and organizational chaos. But I’m trying to improve in incremental steps — just as you do with personal finance.

A Simple Productivity Idea

I’ve got a long list of things I need and want to do. I’m sure you have a similar list either written down somewhere, in an e-mail you send yourself, or perhaps just inside your head. We’ve all got things we want to do, but obviously we can’t accomplish everything in one day.

I decided that at some point during the day I would create a list of just three things I wanted to accomplish when I got home from work.  I targeted things I wanted to accomplish outside of my “real job” because I have enough to-do lists at work. (Plus the things on my personal list either really need to be done or are things I want to do.)

Three things really doesn’t sound like a lot, but it depends on what you put into the three slots. They could be five-minute tasks or one-hour tasks.

Three Tasks Forces Me to Be Realistic

Having three tasks for each evening forces me to be realistic. If I’ve got 50 items on my list there is no physically possible way I can accomplish all of them in one evening. Instead, focusing on just three helps me set realistic goals for each day.

Those three slots are precious. This helps with prioritization of my tasks. If I truly feel like something is important and needs to get done soon, it must have a spot in one of those three slots. But what if all my slots are ‘filled’ for the day? More on that in second.

Only Three Tasks Prevents Being Overwhelmed

This is a big key for me. When you’ve got a long list of to-dos it can be so overwhelming to look at that you end up with decision paralysis. You get overwhelmed and decide that doing nothing is simply easier regardless that you have things that really need to be done. Here’s a snapshot of what my overall list looks like:

• clean out e-mail inboxes
• setup database backup for wife’s blog
• mow yard
• finish wills and other estate planning documents
• set up blogging businesses for electronic estimated tax payments
• bring flowers home for my wife
• write tomorrow’s article for No Debt Plan
• go jogging with dog
• (30 other things go here)

It’s overwhelming. Some of those items are very boring — like setting up estimated tax payments and finishing our wills. (Important, but boring.) Now imagine the list looks like this: Today:

• mow yard
• setup database backup
• write tomorrow’s article

I haven’t made a significant change to the list, but by having just three items I suddenly feel like I can accomplish these things. I have a focus. I have a daily goal.

What My New Task List Looks Like

I’m looking for something minimal that I can carry around with me. I grabbed an index card out of my desk and jotted down the date with three short-hand words to remind me of the task.

Although the index card is portable (nice), it’s also pretty flimsy. I don’t want to invest in some sort of a notebook until I can prove to myself that I can continue to track my tasks in this manner.

Another benefit of using an index card: making changes is obviously very simple. If something pops up in my life that trumps the importance of one of the top three tasks, I can simply bump one of those tasks to another day.

This tip may not blow your mind. Maybe you are already deep into GTD. Then again maybe you’re a newbie like me that has a stack of papers on his desk that need to go somewhere, anywhere.

Three tasks at a time. Day by day digging through your list. It’s worked for me… maybe it will work for you.

If you enjoyed this post then check out No Debt Plan for insight into your personal finance issues.

Photo by Jeffrey Beall

The common denominator of success — the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful — lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.
~ Albert E. N. Gray

Want to experience more success?

Doing the things we hate is the habit that separates successful people from those that fail.  Therefore, to experience more success you must learn to love what you hate.

This has to be one of life’s greatest contradictions!  It seems puzzling at first, but trust me it makes total sense once you fully grasp this timeless truth.

Learning to love what you hate is the common denominator of success

Albert E. N. Gray was a very successful life insurance salesman.  He also trained a lot of other people to achieve a significant level of success in sales.  The secret that Mr. Gray discovered is that successful salesmen develop the habit of consistently doing the things average or below average salesmen won’t do.

As Mr. Gray points out so clearly in The Common Denominator of Success, many people think hard work is the secret to success.  However, we have all observed that there are a lot of people that work very hard, but never achieve much of anything.  Conversely, other people don’t seem to work hard at all and yet experience a high level of success.  What gives?

This was exactly the contradiction that Mr. Gray set out to solve many years ago.  He arrived at the conclusion I’ve already stated.  This explains why some that seem so destined for success fail while others with obvious weaknesses go on to succeed.

What in particular did Mr. Gray determine was the common dislike amongst life insurance salesmen?  It was that they did not like to call on people who didn’t want to see them and didn’t want to talk to them about something they didn’t want to talk about.

Those that formed the habit of overcoming this mental attitude became very successful and rich!

The things we generally hate doing, but that lead directly to success

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
~ Vince Lombardi

What kind of specific things are we speaking about?  Well, here are some of the things I would suggest we often avoid and that if we did by habit would often lead us to success:

• Cold calling
• Taking risks
• Living on a budget
• Acting on our ideas
• Disciplining our children
• Exercising
• Eating right

This list could go on and on, but you get the idea.  When we anticipate that an action might cause us pain, we naturally avoid it.  We procrastinate.  We make excuses.  We blame others.  We use all kinds of tactics to refuse to do the very things that could make us successful.

Three ways to start loving the tasks you hate

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.
~ William James

1.  Start with the right attitude.

We psych ourselves out with fear and worry.  We begin with a bad attitude.  This usually dooms our efforts before we even try.  Change your mind – literally – about the thing you need to do.  Ask yourself the following four questions as suggested by Dr. Ben Carson:

• What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
• What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
• What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
• What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do it?

This kind of Best/Worst Analysis can help you overcome irrational fear that holds you back from doing the things you should.

2.  Link the task to a definite purpose

Define a reason to do the task that is bigger than the reason you avoid it.  Mr. Gray recommends linking these tasks to a practical life purpose that carries a strong emotional value in your life.  For instance, decide to do the things you hate so your children will have a better childhood than you did.

The purpose has to be personal and powerful.  Write it out.  Fully develop it.  Make it a clear and compelling vision that you can taste, hear and feel.

Once you fully embrace your definite purpose with passion, then procrastination will no longer hold you back.  Your vision will drive you forward.  It will give you the will to succeed propelling you onward.

3.  Track your results

Keep very good records of the results of your efforts.  Once you see success coming from the tasks you previously hated, you will likely feel much better about them.  Seeing positive results will keep you motivated to do the things you hate long enough for it to become a habit.

Set a goal to do the thing you hate consistently for at least two weeks.  You can do anything for two weeks, right?  I bet you can especially if it will start moving you over the hump and toward outstanding success.

Document the progress you achieve while doing the thing you know you need to do, but dislike doing.  No matter how small a result you get, write it down.  Keep immaculate records of what happens.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised and at the end of two weeks you will be well on your way to making this a true habit.

It really is possible to teach yourself to love what you hate doing

I have been practicing this technique myself recently and I’ve found it works very well.  Just imagine how much better you’ll be doing after just a few iterations of using these three steps!  It is truly amazing how fast I’ve made significant progress on some of my goals that didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  I think you’ll see the same results if you’ll just give it a try.

What one thing should you learn to love to achieve greater success?

Photo by gliuoo

The excuses I commonly hear for less than excellent work

As a father and a manager, I try to instill the idea of excellence.  However, I have encountered some resistance.  It seems that there are usually one of three reasons that we occasionally want to do less than excellent work.  Yes, I fall into these traps too.

1.  It requires too much effort.

It sometimes seems that the effort required to do the job is just too great.  We rationalize that no one will even notice the less than excellent work.  We might even think that the job doesn’t warrant the work required.  It isn’t really important anyway.

However, doing a less than excellent job will often cause more work in the future.  When we slack off, we wind up having to go back and do a job again because what we did the first time didn’t stand the test of time.  Shoddy work usually breaks, doesn’t fully convince, or needs further refining to get the job done.

This is really just pure laziness.  Low-quality output will make people question your commitment and integrity.  This is the fast-track to nowhere.

2.  I don’t have the time.

When I’m in a rush, I am tempted to take shortcuts.  I ignore the details and try to just power through the task to get it done.  So what if it isn’t as good as it could be?  At least, it is finished. 

We live in a busy world.  Everyone is rushing from one thing to the next.  No one seems to have the time to slow down and do a job right.  We just want to slap this deal together so we can get on to the next thing.  This leaves a trail of barely completed tasks in our wake.

Yes, it may take a another few minutes to proof read an e-mail before you send it.  It might take another moment to look back over your work to verify it is right.  It might even cost you precious seconds to listen carefully to a co-worker. 

However, none of this is time wasted.  The mistakes it will prevent will save you countless hours of trying to undo a mess that could have been avoided if the job was done right in the first place.

3.  I don’t want to spend that much money on this.

It sometimes takes a little more money up front to do a job right.  We may need the right tools or better quality equipment or some expertise we don’t have to do the task the way it should be done. 

I know it every time when I’m being cheap.  There is a difference between frugality and being a cheapskate.  I have this little voice in my head telling me to watch out.  I used to just ignore it, but over the years I’ve learned to listen.  I found that when I was being cheap, it usually ended up costing me more instead of less.  I’m still cost conscious, but I’ve learned to listen to that little voice.

It is better to spend what it takes to do a job right than to try to do the job without what is truly needed.  This commitment to excellence is worth a few extra dimes.  I found that the little extra invested at the beginning pays bigger dividends in the long run.

Commit yourself to a job well done

Reputation is everything.  Protect your reputation by completing every job you do with excellence.  People will notice! 

I remind myself constantly that it is worth the extra effort, time and money to do things right.  It prevents rework, reduces stress and adds to my satisfaction.  I take pride in knowing I did my best.

A reputation for excellence is well worth the commitment it requires!

What excuses have you heard for performing less than excellent work?

Photo by notsogoodphotography