7 Prioritizing Hacks

Do you still feel overwhelmed after organizing your files and drawers over and over again? It could be that you are over organized. Wait. What? Is that possible? Yes indeed. Over organizing can be an excuse not to do work. Think procrastination. If you find yourself constantly reorganizing papers or belongings but not acting on your “To Dos”, then you are in the hamster’s cage just spinning your wheels.

Also, over researching your information links can cause stress. Too many thoughts rambling through the head – oy, it hurts just to look at another link to that thing you are interested in learning more about.

So how do we get out of the weeds and become good at prioritizing so the procrastination conundrum will leave us be? Try some of the following tips to help you put your best foot forward.

  1. Practice Mindfulness – do some deep breathing. Focus on yourself for 5 – 20 minutes a day, getting in touch with your breath and your presence. This awareness helps you feel more grounded.
  2. Learn to clarify what matters most. When you know what the goal is, you have better decision-making power. Sounds easy, right? Sometimes the answers are not so clear cut. Modern technology has cast a spell in us such a way that our compulsive need for immediate gratification can cloud the picture. We can’t help ourselves. Need an answer – shoot a text or an email and expect to get a response ASAP. When you want an update on the news, you flip to your Tweets or FB page for a quick dose of the latest rants. Tune out the noise and sit down with pen and paper. Create a brain map of your things to do with the understanding that this can take some time. Put the map away after the first draft and refine it another day.
  3. Make good use of your time. Speaking of time, when you are at your ultimate energy level, your internal camera lens focuses more sharply. Block your most productive time of the day to do your brain dump.
  4. Trust your instincts. Often procrastinators are afraid of failure of success. Give yourself the long-needed pep talk. And remember, we learn from our mistakes. Some of the most successful businessmen/women will tell you they achieved their goals because of mistakes they made along the way. If success is your concern, visualize what it will look like to achieve that goal.
  5. Create one List. Toss out all those cute pads with witty sayings and use one notebook or pad to contain your essential list culled down from your brain dump. The essential list is just what it is called, helping you prioritize what needs to get done immediately.
  6. Let go of perfectionism. Sometimes, good is perfect enough. Train yourself to understand what is the task that requires your most detailed actions and what can just be acceptable as is. 
  7. Just do it! Whatever it is, you will never know if you can achieve it unless you try to go for it.

Remember, if you are struggling with that work, life, balance formula, you can contact us at 678-294-7813 to help you get on task, on track and on time.