Wasting time is human nature. We have all found ourselves procrastinating from time to time and to be honest even the most successful entrepreneurs in the business world find themselves in this situation sometimes. Avoiding tasks that you should do and doing something else that is more entertaining instead is a pretty classic example of this kind of case. Long to-do lists with multiple tasks and multiple goals that are never completed is another one. Do these things sound familiar? Don’t worry we’ve got your back on this one.
The biggest problem with wasting time and avoiding to complete tasks is that you fall behind. This eventually means that all your obligations pile up and instead of having one or two daily tasks uncompleted you end up having a massive load of them making them seem even more unrealistic to accomplish. But as we previously said even the greatest leaders find themselves in such a situation and they have a way to overcome it. By now you must be wondering what their magic recipe is and how they manage to fight their human nature, but you shouldn’t because here are simple things you can do and make sure you will never fall behind again.
Plan a lot, Work More
Usually when teams get together for business meetings the only thing they do is start taking notes and planning every single one of their actions entirely forgetting about actually taking action. What does this mean? This mean that instead of facing a problem and working on it as a team they end up just writing it down on a to-do list or a workflow. You might have never thought of this but try to remember the last business meeting you had with your team and you will understand exactly what we are saying. Therefore the first thing you must do in order to never fall behind is to arrange working meetings and not planning meetings. The difference between these two is that one involves actual work. Instead of just taking notes tackle your tasks together as a team at that meeting, you would be fascinated of the miracles that can happen in a 30 minute working meeting.
Priorities Might not be a Priority
Prioritizing tasks is very important for project managers and for anyone that essentially starts building a plan. Although it is good to set priorities and know specifically the importance order that everything has to be completed in the way to take action is different. Just because something is high on your priority list doesn’t mean that you should complete it first. The right way to tackle your tasks and start taking action is based on three basic things. The Time it needs to be completed, The Attention it requires and if it can be multitasked. Start completing tasks based on these three and the results will be rewarding as you see your projects running faster than you imagined.
Discipline is Key
The best way to survive in nature is by being disciplined, and given the fact that we are talking about human nature we can easily understand how this also applies to our case. If you really want to make sure you will never fall behind one of the most important things you must do is to stay disciplined. Come up with a plan, write it down and stick to it. Create timeframes and master your calendar. This way you will have total control over both yourself and your project and it would make it even harder for you to find excuses and eventually fall behind.
Falling behind can happen to anyone even if it means falling behind on personal matters or business matters, but the first step to overcome such a situation is realising that it is there and once you do that you will be able catch up again.
