Weekly Wayfinder: Do the thing you’ve been putting off.

/in , /by

Let’s agree on one thing: We’re all really busy.  And there are a lot of things that can be done on a day to day basis and a lot of things that can’t.  As you’re looking at your to-do list for today and this week I challenge you to do two things:

Do the thing you’ve been putting off. Whenever I have something on my list that I really don’t want to do I do a few things:

  1. First figure out if this is something that should really be on my list.  Is it better done by someone else?  Does this thing actually need to get done?  If it’s better done by someone else, delegate and if it doesn’t need to get done skip this item right on down to the second challenge.
  2. Why haven’t you wanted to do it? Is it too big? Break it down into smaller pieces.  For things I really don’t want to do I will break it down to 10 minutes of action at a time.
  3. Set a timer for 10 minutes or 20 minutes and turn off all the distractions.  And do it.  Start.  Don’t look back. With those first few minutes behind you do you have the momentum to finish?  If yes, do it.  Living more of your life with this thing DONE is a pretty sweet reward.
  4. Is this something you’ll have to do again? Figure out a time of day, month, year that would make this task more palatable.  Schedule it out in your calendar now so it doesn’t sneak up on you and while you’re at it – ask for help.

Remove the thing that you don’t want to do &  doesn’t really need to get done.  Just cross it off this is no longer something on your plate.  (Doesn’t that feel awesome?)