Make it Happen This Year!

The New Year has been given a bad rap because of the terrible success rate of New Year’s resolutions. The data is there to prove it: Quirkology.com tracked over 3000 people attempting to achieve New Year’s resolutions and only 12% actually achieved their goal.

Before you give up – read on…

With my clients, I always stress the importance of breaking goals into smaller more achievable tasks. It is truly the only way to achieve what can sometimes seem impossible. In fact, there is scientific research that links neurological evidence to support this theory.

The neurotransmitter Dopamine is linked with motivation. Our brain rewards us with a rush of Dopamine when we achieve our goals. Therefore, if you achieve smaller goals more often, your brain will reward you on a regular basis, making it easier to make the long trek toward larger goals. For instance, if you’re planning on running a marathon, but your  regular workout routine in 2009 involved a remote control and a bowl of popcorn, it would be smart to break this goal into smaller parts for 2010.

If your New Year’s resolutions are truly going to stick, then you have the rest of your life to make them work. Get yourself a 2010 calendar and mark out smaller goals throughout the year. For an example of a success story, read this article.

Happy New Year and enjoy your Dopamine!

One Step at a Time

It’s important to start the morning with an objective for the rest of the day day – a one sentence declaration of what you think you can accomplish in the next 24 hours.

For me, today’s plan was the usual: sit at a coffee shop with all the other laptop junkies and get as much work done as I possible. The question on my mind in this situation is always… how much is it possible to get done in a day?

So, this morning, I had this ah-ha moment while I was brushing my teeth. Not quite Newton with the apple, but genius in it’s own way. I realized that there’s a scientific formula for a productive day. It’s Simplicity+Reward=Productivity First, you must answer the question, “What is the one thing that if I accomplished today would make me feel totally satisfied?” The answer will probably come to you right away – it’s that nagging feeling of guilt and procrastination that you’ve been carrying with you for a couple weeks. How great would it feel to let that go?

Make sure it’s a task small enough to realistically pull off before midnight. Start small, and you’ll be able to celebrate sooner. And, of course, if the project that’s nagging at you is a huge undertaking, break it up into smaller pieces. What part of that project can you finish today? If you want to re-tile your bathroom, but haven’t even started choosing the color of tile that you want, start there. Or better yet, start with a trip to the tile store, just to browse around. No pressure. The hard part is getting out of the “what if” stage. Once you’re actually in front of a book of tile samples, you’ll be totally inspired to do the rest.

So you have the the first part of the formula. Write it down. What is the one thing that is weighing on your conscious, making you feel too guilty to enjoy a day off?

Inboxing Championships

The goal is to keep messages in your email inbox to a minimum. I work on a laptop with a 13-inch screen, and I try to make sure the emails in my inbox aren’t longer than my screen – no matter how busy I get. (That’s less than 20 emails.) Your inbox is supposed to be a waiting room for emails that you are about to answer or archive, but it often becomes a holding cell for procrastination and guilt over unanswered questions and pending decisions.

The best solution is to keep up on it daily. Sit down in front of the TV or put on your favorite iTunes and follow these steps:

Emails usually fall into one of these categories:
1. Junk mail – throw it away immediately and get a good spam-blocker.
2. Mail in limbo – sometimes it’s not obvious that mail is “junk” because you might want to read it someday, and you may have even signed up for a mailing list at some point. Spend a couple of minutes to decide whether you will honestly ever read this email. Create a folder titled “To Read,” and file away any emails that you want to read later (when you’re bored)… and read the others immediately.
3. Are you accidentally subscribed to mailing lists? Many companies trick you into signing up for their mailing lists when you buy a product or use an online service. Unsubscribe immediately. All email lists must have an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. Click the link and follow the directions even if they are complicated – it will only take you a couple of minutes, but will save you headaches later.
4. Emails from people that you don’t want to talk to – answer them right away. The longer you wait, the more you will want to procrastinate. Keep it short, though. Only answer questions and don’t ask any, so you don’t encourage more back-and-forth.
5. Transfer to your to-do list. If we’re busy, we often use our inbox as our to-do list. You should remember to get these emails out of your inbox and on your calendar as soon as you can. For instance, if someone sends you an invitation, put it on your calendar and archive the email immediately.

Up and at ‘em!

Memorial Day, and other three-day-weekends are great for being lazy…. but here’s a tip: Before you go to bed the night before, write down on a slip of paper one thing that you want to get accomplished. Make it something simple like: clean the bathroom, or weed the garden. Put this piece of paper on your bedside table.

Then, set your alarm for an hour later than usual – so you catch some holiday zzzs. The next morning, grab a cup of coffee, and do the thing that you wrote on the paper. You’ll feel like the most productive person in the world!

Then you can lay in a hammock all day -guilt free!