Life sucks sometimes, doesn’t it? Running all over the freakin’ place and not getting anywhere. And just when you think you’ve done everything you were supposed to do, wife is calling on a cell, asking if you remembered to buy the tampons since she told you she’s out that morning. Of course you didn’t.
These 4 simple steps will prevent that from happening. As the result you will stop spending time on bullshit and maybe use that excess of it to make more money or at least spend it on your passion. Mastering each of these steps creates the foundation for future success.
Blend your list of daily errands with your professional routine
Everybody is talking about those annoying lists. Like you don’t know how to make one, right? Well it’s not just about making the list with chores and errands. It’s about blending it perfectly with your general daily schedule. And it’s not just about the list per se https://helmii.com. This is in fact an exercise that will help you to be more efficient and it will eventually open the door of success. You really cannot expect to move to the stage of insane success if you are not able to a) organize your day, week, month and year, and b)to stick to it.
Break complex duties
Again, it may seem simple. But what makes the thing to be complex? Not the mental or physical demand but the time essential to complete it. Once you see that duty in a list, it will be easy for you to notice how the time needed for a successful completion of that thing will overlap with something else and shit will hit a fan. Thus, distil those and break them into separate “to-do’s.” In our minds everything seems simple enough to be done under an hour. But in reality, it can pass 3 or more hours to finish with it. Why? Because we all tend to be too optimistic and focus on the end result. That prevents us to see the bigger picture.
For instance, you know you have to go to the mall to buy something. Easy enough isn’t it? What if you get a flat tire or cops block the road due to some shit happening in the neighborhood? Boom! There goes your schedule. On the other hand, if you create a mental image of your day based on a list you’ve made earlier that day, and think about every possible shit that could prevent you to do stuff on time; you will be able to develop a contingency plan. What that means basically is that if you do run on a road block, will you start bitching about it or turn around and do something else?
This step holds even greater potential than it seems to you right now. By practicing this stuff and constantly creating mental images of the day, some event, projects and everything that constitutes the life, you will eventually caught yourself thinking about new possibilities. Your mind will start operating on different principles. It would take too long to explain all the details so just give it some time and you’ll see the difference in your perception.
Do things on a conveyor bay
So by now you have the list in your mind. Too bad you don’t feel like getting up to get the pen and a piece of paper but we’ll work around it, no worries.
When you start to create the list, you will need 2 sheets of paper or two separate windows/tabs, depending of what you are using.
Sheet 1 is for the direct input. Just list the stuff as they pop up in your mind.
Sheet 2 is here for the organization and it contains the fixed things like work time, doctor’s appointments and stuff that have fixed, unchangeable times.
Analyze the Sheet 1 and see where something fits on Sheet 2. Break the complex stuff. Now see where you can connect 2, 3 or even more things to do them one by one, in one take, like on a conveyor bay. For example, if you need to pick up the dry cleaning, is it on your way when you are driving to the doc? Adjust accordingly.
Set time limits
This one is short but bears critical importance. If you are about to meet someone for the coffee or lunch, see if you can limit yourself on 15 minutes, half an hour, etc. Do that for any duty where applicable.
These 4 steps act as a life changer for those who take them seriously. Insignificant as they might seem, they are the backbone of every successful man. It’s what makes the difference between driving a sports car and freaking station wagon.
