1. Concentrate on one task at a time. If you have 15 things going on in your mind, they are all competing for attention and energy. They will all take a share and leave you feeling drained and torn. Tackle your tasks one at a time.
2. Just start – now – don’t wait. There is a great deal of power in the phrase ‘just do it’. So make a start. Even if it is only a few minutes, it is a start. This is particularly true of things that you have been putting off for ages. Just do something towards it. This then changes how you think about the task from something that you are going to start sometime into something you are currently working on.
3. Visualise clearly what it is you want to do – make the picture clearer, brighter and bigger. What you focus on increases so the more clearly you focus on your end result the more quickly you will reach your goal
4. It is important to decide on a destination before you begin your journey. Before you begin, decide on your desired outcome. What will it look like, sound like and feel like when you have achieved your objective?
5. One of the reasons that you have not started may be a lack of knowledge or lack of confidence. One of the best ways to gain knowledge quickly is to ask a friend or a friend of a friend who knows about this area. Failing that, have a look on the internet or visit the library. Whatever you need to find out, there will be somebody who has already done the research. Why spend time re-creating information that already exits.
6. Visualise the benefits – what will you have when you have finished that you don’t have now, and how will that make you feel. What will you feel like if it never happens? If you are not bothered either way question whether you should even be doing this in the first place. If not doing it makes you feel terrible and doing makes you feel wonderful, use this as a motivator when things get tough. Think big. Imagine what this project could lead to – the money it could generate or the employment opportunities it could create.
7. Write down a key question about the project, then take a long walk or go for a run and force yourself to think about nothing other than the problem for the duration. Once you get back to the office, you will find that the problem seems smaller, the obstacles have gone and the ideas will flow more freely.
8. Write a plan – step by step – no detail just what to do first – next – next etc – do this in 2 or 3 minutes. What are the 5 or 10 things that need to be done and when do they need to be done by? Now begin.
9. Decide on a date that you want to get it completed by. This focuses the mind. Projects with uncertain dates tend to have ever moving completion times. Often it is a good idea to set the completion date first and then work backwards to see how it will be possible to reach that date.
10. Break the whole project down into small and then even smaller steps. Ask yourself if you could complete 5 of your new tiny steps by the end of this week – of course you could. You will then have made a start. Once the project is in motion, it is far easier to keep it going.
11. How many people are involved in your project? The more people, the more complicated and therefore the more likely it will get delayed. This is particularly true when people are not clear about their specific responsibilities. If you are going to involve other people (and delegation is a great way to get things moving) make certain that they know exactly what is required of them.
12. Meditate. What is the problem that is causing the mental blockage? Write it down, write down what you want to achieve and meditate on the solution. Don’t worry about it – trust yourself to provide the best solution and it will come to you!
13. Tell yourself that it doesn’t matter much what the result looks/sounds like – perfection is overrated and can come later if required. Many people are paralysed by fear before they start something, because they are worried that the final result won’t be all they hoped it would be. Oscar Wilde once said that if a jobs worth doing its worth doing badly. Don’t fret over creating perfection. Things are rarely perfect.
14. Penalties – decide what needs to be done as a first stage and if you don’t complete, commit to doing something that you really hate as a punishment for not completing in time.
15. Eat a frog – Brian Tracy explains that the best way to start the day is to eat the biggest, ugliest frog (i.e. the most unappealing task) first. That way, everything else you do all day will seem better in comparison. Look at the project you have to do, see which bit you keep putting off and make a point of not doing ANYTHING tomorrow until you have completed this part of the project. This will give you huge momentum and make the rest of the task progress far more quickly.
16. Decide the first step and do it. You don’t have to finish – however once you start you are likely to finish because the human condition loves habit so once you are in the habit of e.g. writing a few words a day you are more likely to continue. This is a technique used by Olympic Champions. When faced with an endless day’s training, many top athletes tell themselves that they will just run the best 20 metres they can, and not worry about the other 80. They will just run the first 400 yards of a marathon etc. The hardest bit is always the start. Once you start, it actually becomes harder to stop.
17. Speed writing! Take the phone off the hook and force yourself to write anything – literally anything – on the subject you are working on for 15 minutes. Much of what you end up with may be rubbish, but amongst that you will have the root of the reason you have been hesitating, and great deal of information on where to start work.
18. Take courage. Don’t allow the fear of failure to stop you from starting. Whatever happens, you will achieve some kind of a result – even if it is not the result you were expecting. Think positively about the outcome, but also spend time thinking about what could go wrong – and take action to ensure that the possible problems don’t occur.
19. Clear your desk of everything that may distract from the task in hand – anything that will catch your eye will take your brain on another path. Why is it so important to get rid of clutter? Not only is it easier to find what you are looking for, if you are working in a messy office it will tend to distract your thoughts. Your eyes will constantly notice the unpaid bills and post it notes and your mind will go off in all directions. This does not aid the ‘one track mind’ mentality that you are seeking to cultivate.
20. Give a friend £50 and tell them to keep it if you don’t get back to them by a certain time with the completed task!
21. Follow your gut instinct. Why do you think you have been putting off this task? Perhaps there is something about it that you don’t like or need clarification on. Sit in a quiet place and ask yourself why you have been putting it off.
22. Ask yourself “What’s the worst that can happen?” If everything goes wrong in the current situation, what would the long term consequences really be? Would it be the end of the world? In most cases the worst – the very worst - that could happen would not be that serious. Now imagine some of the things that could go wrong, make a list of these and start to work out how these wrong turns could be avoided. You have now started to take action, whether you realised it or not.
23. Tell a friend or colleague you are going to have it completed by the end of the month. Ask them to hold you to it and promise a report by the allotted time. Then you will have to do it because you will not want to let them down.
24. Pick up the phone and start dialling. Call somebody who can give you some answers about what you need to do. This could be somebody in a different department or a friend who experienced a similar problem. It could be a ‘friend of a friend’ who is a real expert in solving the problem. It could even be a professional who would be happy to help. If it is a problem that requires the input of an expert why not call in a few favours and ring up a local firm and ask their opinion? Most of the time they will be happy to answer a question or two and you will be able to tap into their specialised knowledge for free.
25. If a project seems to be taking over your life, try to put it into perspective. Look back on your life from 1 month, 3 months, a year or even 10 years in the future. How significant will it be, viewed from that distance? In the context of all the other things going on, will it really be such a big deal?
26. Does hesitation = wrong decision? Perhaps you haven’t actually decided that this is the right thing to do? Perhaps that’s why you have been hesitating. Go back over what it is that you have actually committed to do and re-evaluate it. Perhaps you will come to a different conclusion this time.
27. Promise yourself a treat when a task is finished.
28. VAK the result – give yourself a visual image, an auditory image and a feeling that will occur when you have finished. Doing this will really enhance how you view the end result and help to motivate you to complete.
29. Move faster – walk towards the start at an increased pace – or even run – it will make you more purposeful, and give a momentum to the task. Your unconscious will accept the message that this is something you are moving fast towards and bring the resources you need to progress.
30. Communicate efficiently. What’s the best way to pass on information? Sometimes e-mail is the easiest, but not the most effective as you need to call several times to explain. Sometimes a simple bit of information is better as an e-mail or a text message rather than a 20 minute phone call. Before you communicate, decide the best medium to use.
31. Make time. We all have very busy lives, but there are always some bad habits and time wasting situations that we can eliminate and better habits to get into. For example could you replace watching a soap opera with reading a book? Every time that show is on TV, read a book instead. The extra two hours a week of reading could make you a fortune if you choose the right books!
32. Keep fit – you function best when fit and healthy. If you are constantly short or energy and out of condition, you will never be able to complete the projects successfully.
33. Apply the idea of Kaizen to any project. The expression is most closely associated with
34. Work from a 'to do' list every day. Just create a list of the top 10 things you want to do today and work you way through it – doing the most important task first. If you don’t already do this, you will be amazed at how much more quickly you get important tasks completed.
35. Deal with anything that is uncomfortable in your life – it takes energy to carry around unfinished business. So speak to that person or begin to address that problem right now. Get on with it otherwise it will diminish your energy and reduce your capacity to get anything done – let alone fast.
36. Find when is the best time of day for your ‘get it done fast’ activity and do it then. Everybody has different times of day when they function better or not so well. You might be at you most efficient first thing in the morning or perhaps you are a night owl. Many people have bit of an energy slump after lunch (although there are plenty of ways to avoid this) so decide on an hour of the day when you are at your peak of creativity to use on your most important tasks.
37. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step – so take it now. Nobody earned their millions overnight. It took time and effort. Use these ideas to speed up the process, but realise that it is a process and that all processes take time to complete.
38. See how much activity you can cram into 10 minutes. For manual tasks such as cleaning or tidying, loud fast music combined with a deadline to tidy a whole are in the next 10 minutes has been shown to increase productivity 3 fold.
39. Combine tasks. Could you do 2 things at once to create more hours in your day? For example, could you listen to readings of management books when you are ate the gym or in your car driving to work? Could you get exercise when you are with you family (such as on a family bike ride or swimming) or ride your bike to appointments. There are plenty of ways that you can combine 2 worthwhile activities that will free up more time to do other projects.
40. Timetable a slot to do a bit of that dreaded task and put it in the diary. It is better to do a little and often rather that a huge splurge of activity and then nothing for months. Think about weight loss. A little less food and a little more activity is a far more effective way to shift the pounds that yo-yo diets.
41. Ask yourself great questions such as ‘how could I do this in half the time?’ or ‘What is the fastest way this could be done and still be successful?’
42. Fill up the dead time. There are probably moments where you are waiting for a meeting to begin or waiting for somebody to call you back. Always take a notepad with you or a book to read in these situations. This wasted time adds up over the year and you could use it to your advantage. What could you do with 26 hours of extra time? That’s what you would have if you used 10 wasted minutes three times a week for a year.
43. Work with someone else at a certain time – then you are letting them down if you don’t work on your project together. You don’t have to meet – it could be that you are both writing a book in your own offices and exchanging the results of your labours at the end of the allotted time.
44. Meetings can be a terrible waste of time and resources. Consider conference calls as an alternative or have meetings where you stand up. Don’t allow lengthy discussion on points that achieve nothing and if you have a colleague, who is always wasting time at meetings, meet without them!
45. Divide the task up into small chunks. Big tasks always look daunting. Little projects don’t look like much. You might not think you couldn’t write a book, but you could certainly write a page of a book. If you could write a page a day for 200 days you could write a book.
46. Have role models. Ask yourself what one of ‘the greats’ would have done in this situation. You might even want to imagine them talking to you and offering their ideas.
47. Goals must really grab you – performance is emotional. It is not possible to get motivated and passionate about something that you don’t care about. However, if it is something that you really want to do (get the promotion, earn the cash, take the chance to be your own boss), it is easy to become passionate about the result.
48. Smile as you start – it will encourage you and if you make a habit of smiling every time you think about the project, it will start to become something you look forward to.
49. Have milestones and celebrate as you pass them. Nothing of any worth was created overnight. Every time you are able to move onto the next phase, take a moment to reflect and celebrate you success so far.
50. If you are stuck on something ask someone for advice – preferable an expert but anyone might provide the trigger to get you unstuck - this will keep the momentum going.
Bonus tip
51. The best time to start on your next project is just as you are about to conclude your current one.
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