The art of getting things done

Millennials are known to be serial multi-taskers; for which they have been praised and almost just as equally condemned. Not sure if you are one of the jugglers? How many tabs do you have open in your browser? You are probably reading a few blogs at the same time, researching a term or concept, catching up with the news, social media, etc. How many projects are you working on? And the goals you are you trying to accomplish? We do have a lot going on. If it’s not through multi-tasking, how else is a person supposed to achieve all this and balance it with living life, spending time with family and friends all while having fun?

The famous weakness of having a lot to do at once is the feeling overwhelm and lack of focus. Sometimes in an attempt to do more, we end up with low quality results or even unfinished projects. Think of what happens to a computer’s performance when you have so many applications running at the same time. Having a lot to chew on really affects productivity.

In this age of time is money, it’s crucial to do much in less time. However, “I had a lot on my plate.” will never be a valid excuse for not growing or getting to the vision. You know what they say, “If it’s worth doing it’s worth doing right.” Below are some of my helpful tips on how I get things done.

• Plan and prioritize. It is easy to remember what you need to do when you write your goals down. A plan is best when it considers the resources available, e.g. Time, money, etc. in relation to what needs to be done. But you can’t do it all at once. This is where prioritizing comes in. Your resources are limited, so you need to decide which goal or task gets the time, money, etc. This is not to say you will never get to your other goals, unless they really do not add value. But you must decide and focus your resources to get somewhere. Also, have you ever ticked things off a list? The satisfaction!! Apparently ticking things off a list causes your brain to release dopamine, the happy hormone.
• Manage your time. Sometimes when I feel my busiest, I realize at the end of the day that it is all because of lack of time management. Sometimes, when I think I am working, I am really going back and forth, accomplishing nothing. But when I take the time to consider my time, allocating things accordingly and as realistic as possible, I get more productive. One technique I learned which helps with managing time well is called the Pomodoro technique. It encourages absolute focus on one task (keep your phone away) for 30 minutes and take a break after. Try it. You will be surprised at how much you can do in just 30 minutes without distractions.
• Know your limits. Understand that you are human and can only do so much in one day. It also does not help anyone to beat yourself up over the past. Learn from it and change it. Get accountability (yes, even with time management) and learn to focus and prioritize your limited resources.
• Be organized. If my space is cluttered, in most cases my thoughts are also all over the place. I also tend to be more confident, with better mental clarity when I am well-groomed and well dressed. I think it just helps to clean up.
• I tried the gym, but I’m too much of a home body to stay consistent. I hate wasting my money, so paying for membership when I wasn’t actually going to the gym probably became my main stressor. Then I tried running, but I found it still takes too much effort to get out of the house and go to an area safe enough for running. So, although I still run sometimes, it’s not the thing I do consistently. I need as little barrier as possible to exercise, so I started building a small home gym. My stationary bike stands in front of my TV, and I cycle as soon as I wake up or in the evening, as I wind down while watching a YouTube video. I have also been adding weights as I go, which works the best for me. Most times, whenever I feel overwhelmed, exercise is one of the things I need to get things into perspective again. It is probably the ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ phenomenon. Exercise might not be so hard for you if you worked out what works best and made things easier for yourself.

Finally, don’t forget to set some time for yourself to recharge, because all work, and no play makes one dull and grey. That’s not the colour I want painted on me; neither do I wish the same for you.