Secrets of Success: Simple Mom Style

Read a great article on Simple Mom today that lead to another and another as I clicked through the links.  I'm feeling a little burnt out at work lately and am preparing for a much needed vacation.  When I am feeling burnt out the number one problem is motivation.

Secrets of Success: is pointed to Stay-at-Home-Working-Moms and her advice is to "Get it done early".  Simple enough and you can read the whole article.  What I liked best was this piece:

The ironic part of this for those of us who are naturally procrastinators is that while the pressure of deadlines provides incentive to get things done, the freedom that comes from getting things done early is an entirely different type of motivation that can make work fun again.

Mandi also makes the suggestion of adding margin into your day.  I am great about planning my day, but I almost never give myself enough time to realistically get tasks done and don't leave time for going to the bathroom, answering urgent emails, eating lunch.  

Eat the Frog:  This article is based on a book called Eat That Frog.  If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the worst is behind you.  I like this idea.  I often have things I need to get done, but delay doing them if they take "too long".  If I just did them right away and got it over with I would feel better for accomplishing something and relieved to have it out of the way.

Tools: Tsh posted her favorite tools and downloads on Simple Mom.  Check them out, there is something for everyone!

SimpleMom.net

Finishing

This article: How to Be a Great Finisher at Harvard Business Review by Heidi Grant Halvorson reminded me of ME!  Especially at work!

Take a good look at the people you work with, and you'll find lots of Good Starters — individuals who want to succeed, and have promising ideas for how to make that happen. They begin each new pursuit with enthusiasm, or at the very least, a commitment to getting the job done.  And then something happens. Somewhere along the way, they lose steam. They get bogged down with other projects. They start procrastinating and miss deadlines. Their projects take forever to finish, if they get finished at all.

This behavior drives me crazy.  I have a terrible habit of working my inbox like a fiend and realizing at the end of the day I got nothing of real value done.  I have been trying to break this habit for the past year by scheduling my time for projects.  David Giese, a life coach and author of this gave a seminar about time management at work.  He explained that you should not start your day until you've planned your day.  Each night before he leaves the office he plans his calendar for the next day.  He alots time for specific tasks to get done, time to answer email, time to each lunch. 

I have been using this with some success.  My problem is that I underestimate the time it takes me to get things done, I don't plan for email, and I cannot stop checking my email.  I am basically LAZY (the horror!).  Rather than do actual work, I do email cause it's easier and usually takes much less energy. 

My husband recently told me that he turns his email OFF and only checks it 3 times a day.  WTF?  I turned off the pop up notification and will now occasionally turn mine off for an hour to focus.  But 3 times a day is INSANITY.  Well, not insanity, but very bold. 

How do you get things done?