If you want to get fit, gain a qualification, or learn a new skill, no matter what the thing is that you’re trying to accomplish, it takes more time than we’d like to get it done. So here are a few ideas to help you achieve your goals faster:
1. Focus on one task at a time. Silence your phone and flip it over so you can’t see any notifications. Close your email program. Reduce all non-essential windows. Close the door. Move everything else out of the way. Clear your desk. Whatever is going on near you that could in any way distract you from the task at hand – make those things go away so you can focus on what needs to be done. Taking the time to do one thing correctly and effectively will save you time in the long run. Why? Because you don’t have to do it over, or revisit it, or leave it on the ‘to do list’ because you only did part of it.
2. Take a few moments to plan it out. Decide, in advance, exactly what you want to accomplish. Don’t miss this step. How can you arrive at your destination if you don’t plan how you’re going to get there? Whatever you’re going to do, plan it out first.
3. Decide what the “end goal” looks like. Or as Steven Covey said “start with the end in mind”. What do you need to complete and deliver to call the task “done”.
4. Touch things only once! If you start a task, finish it. If you open and read an email or letter, handle the task or response it requires and then file it, recycle or delete it. This simple step in itself will drastically reduce the items you need to complete.
5. Get things done, but know when to quit. This doesn’t mean that you plan to do a bad job, or you accept mediocre results, or that you lower your standards and ultimately affect your reputation by delivering poor work. Instead, it means that you don’t let perfectionism keep you from delivering. Nine times out of ten, getting something 85-95% “perfect” is all you need to call a task complete. Call it good, then check it off.
In summary be very aware of how much time your concentrated focus will save you in the long run if you dedicate your complete attention to the important things on your list.
