Productivity Tips For Busy People

Do you have a list of projects that have been started with good intentions, only to have them abandoned in the pursuit of something else?

You’re definitely not alone. Recently a friend confessed to me that he has no less than eighteen started — but unfinished — projects hiding in their guest bedroom closet. They have jokingly declared it “The Land of the Lost” and threatened to start putting some of his unfinished woodworking projects in there, too.

As a society, we’re constantly on-the-go. It’s not unusual to be multitasking three or four major items at work, only to go home and have to cook dinner, do a load of laundry, help with homework and somewhere in all of that try to find the time to schedule appointments, take the dog for a walk and remember to put the trash out. So how do we manage to finish ANYTHING if we’re always having to start new projects?

Manageable Bites

The first step in moving toward seeing things through to completion is to break each project or issue down into smaller parts. For example, if you’re preparing a presentation for work, take each element and work on it separately.

• First and foremost, compile a list of all of the steps necessary to get to the end result. This will allow you to think of each element as its own item.
• Create your outline.
• Do all of your research, find your graphics.
• Create your Powerpoint slides.
• Assemble the presentation.

This is perhaps slightly simplified, but it gives you an idea of how to break things out into manageable pieces, rather than trying to tackle the entire task all at once.

If you have those lingering tasks and projects at home, start tackling them one at a time. For instance, if you have several items of clothing that you’d wear if they were altered, pull all of them out and make an appointment to have them tailored. Don’t set them in a bag on the entryway table, thinking you’ll get to it some other time. You probably won’t.

Do you have a project out in the garage screaming for your attention? Decide if you really want to finish it, and if the answer is “yes”, make a list of everything that will need to be done to wrap it up. Then address each item on the list systematically. You may not be able to complete it in one session, but having something to guide you toward completion will allow you to see it as a series of smaller tasks, rather than one big, insurmountable one.

As you start to view projects as pieces, rather than one monstrous whole, you’ll feel less overwhelmed and find you will actually enjoy the process of seeing them through to completion. It sounds a little cliché, but in the words of Nike, JUST DO IT.

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