How to manage your tasks and keep yourself motivated.
This may seem like a no-brainer to some of you, but one of the most important aspects to our roles as professionals is to manage our tasks, time, and to stay motivated. One of the many things we do as consultants is to assist with motivation, but what is motivation and how do we empower others to be productive?
It is great to have a motivational leader, someone that you can aspire to be… but why not start with motivating yourself and being the example?
mo·ti·va·tion
noun
1.The act or an instance of motivating, or providing with a reason to act in a certain way: I don’t understand what her motivation was for quitting her job.
Synonyms: motive, inspiration, inducement, cause, impetus.
2. The state or condition of being motivated: We know that these students have strong motivation to learn.
3. Something that motivates; inducement; incentive: Clearly, the company’s long-term motivation is profit.
This applies to our working day, our short term goals, and our long term goals. So, how do we keep ourselves motivated and how do we achieve the most that we can?
I was given an mp3 version by a friend, of a great speaker by the name of Brian Tracey, who spoke about the miracle of self discipline. I highly recommend everyone to check it out if you’re interested as this is barely covering any of it. There is a key technique which I have adopted and that can help all of you, and it revolves around something as simple as lists and effective goal setting.
The human brain is an incredibly powerful tool that we don’t tend to harness enough. Have you heard of the power of positive thinking? How about the power of subliminal thinking?
The next time that you make a decision, are you really thinking about it? Do you make it under pressure? What if you take even 10 minutes out of your day to focus on the biggest issue and nothing else but that issue, will that help you to come up with a solution?
Your brain is capable of handling ten goals at any given time and helping you to make them happen. Whether you realise it or not, you will find yourself making better decisions, being more productive, working smarter as well as harder, and achieving your goals in the process.
I like to use an iPad, but even your old-school, non-charging, hold in your hand pen and paper will do the job for you. So, here is what you do:
1) You carry this with you every day and you write out a list of at least ten goals, they can be things you need to do today, things in the short term, and long term goals. The important thing is to write those goals as you have already achieved them, and to set a deadline. “I have written our test plan for this project by the end of Tuesday and delivered it to my Project Manager”.
2) Once you have your list, you organise them into categories from A-E. A being tasks that must be done or there are consequences, B and C being lower priority, D being Delegate, and E being Eliminate.
3) Work with this list and watch the feeling of achievement that you get when you cross something off that list and replace it with a new goal.
4) When you start your working day, check your list, add new tasks or goals and get used to your new habit of checking the list on a daily basis. You will feel motivated because you will feel responsible for your tasks. Nobody else is responsible for your list, but you… even if you delegate a task, you cannot delegate everything.
5) Watch your productivity soar, you cannot forget your tasks if they are clearly written out on a list… and it’s incredibly hard to procrastinate when you have a list sitting in front of you.
Be aware! You are your own worst enemy, and to keep yourself motivated and as productive as you can be, it is going to be an on-going battle with yourself and you will have your great days and days where it is tough. Your ultimate goal is to be the best that you can be and to achieve the most that you can in every waking hour of your day.
Your list will help you keep track. Think of it as managing yourself and similar to an Action Register that your project manager may ask you to answer to, or that you ask your staff to answer to.
Good luck, and start writing those lists!
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[...] likely be written later), at times… our Kryptonite tends to be ourselves, and as I posted earlier, you need to manage yourself and keep yourself motivated. By Peter Koevari – Senior [...]