Get Shit Done

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I used to work 100-hour weeks, pulling all-nighters and wearing my “hustle” as a badge of honour (believe me – I got shit done!). But, then I had kids, and my priorities changed BIG-time. When time’s up, it’s up. There’s no spending 6 hours at the Laundromat, no matter how much you want to put off calling your mom. We all go through shit — maybe you love your full time job, but have to work a side gig to pay the bills; or perhaps you’re no longer passionate about your career, and struggle to find a side hustle you’re pumped about. However, punishing yourself will lead exactly nowhere. Self-discipline is a good thing: It’s a key part of maintaining balance, success, and health. But so are pleasure, relaxation, relationships, and hobbies.

A weekly project list. This should contain everything that needs to go down in the next 7 days. Maybe you need to research which language to learn or which area to start your apartment search. Throw it in here. They’ve probably got three or four other things that they’re “working on” or “researching” also open – as well as what they actually should be doing.To do so, the ability to learn to delegate and allow others to assist and share in the completion of tasks is important as it saves you both time and energy. Don’t begin the activities of your day until you know exactly what you plan to accomplish. Don’t start your day until you have it planned. I personally exercise from home and use the BeachBody App to get in workouts. Otherwise, do something that works best for you, like taking long walks or riding bikes. If you’re constantly trying to run at full speed, you can get tired and anxious and that will only hinder the time it takes to achieve your goals.

Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Many of us, including me, can fall into this at any given moment. Although, this sounds super simple (and don’t get me wrong, it is), many often fail to make it work.Your to-do list should be contributing to your happiness, not dominating your life. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t complete all of your tasks. Getting up and trying again tomorrow is the real achievement. It’s also not sensible to cram a task that takes time and patience to get right, like a research paper, into one day. Really think about it: How much do you need to get done? For how long? When do you get a break? So, now I’ve given you possibly a pretty accurate account of how you’ve not been getting shit done on most days. Let’s talk about strategies to find your focus, prioritise your work and avoid being paralysed by indecision. Strategies to get shit done Every day, see which items from the master list and weekly project list should move to the HIT list. You’ll find that the big hitters from your master list start to play a more active role in your day-to-day.

Personally, I hate the mornings and my most creative moments have come well into the after hours. For others this is different, some of you will be fresh, awake and full of creative juices in the morning. Recognise what time works best for you and schedule the real tough stuff then. One of my favorite perks of entrepreneurship is the ability to set my schedule and work from anywhere. Ah, the good old days, when you managed to get everything done and still have time to plonk yourself in front of re-runs of The OC. Wait, what? That was only yesterday? Every time I do a Q&A, or a talk, I get asked some variation of the “how do you get shit done?” question. It’s happened so many times now, that I thought I’d write a post to tell you exactly how I maximise my productivity – and I can then save even more time, by pointing people here, instead of giving long-winded answers (meaning I can spend my valuable time getting shit done, rather than answering the same question again and again!)Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. Don’t rob yourself of the opportunity to bebrilliant by thinking that every idea you have has to be the most original, complicated and complex thing ever. It really, really doesn’t. 10. Ask for help When I first went from 100+ hour weeks to 25-hour weeks, I did some 80/20 analysis. I worked out the 20% of tasks that gave me 80% of the results. And I stopped doing everything else. To bring your goals within arm’s reach, all to-do lists should have these qualities ( among others) in common:

Doing one task at a time may help you become more productive and it may make each task more enjoyable.You have a full time job, brilliant ideas to share with the world, a side hustle to manage, sleep to catch up on, exercise to power through, and about 100 other #adulting things to take care of. I wrote more about 90-day goal setting, and how to optimise it in my first book Big Ideas… for Small Businesses . Try sharing that to-do list. Whether you post it on the refrigerator or set up a digital calendar that everyone involved with the project can access, this lets those relying on you know that you have the task(s) in hand. 12. Schedule scheduling