The dreaded 3rd week of New Years Resolutions

At the beginning of the New Year many of us make resolutions. As I have written about before there are some studies that say up to 45% of people give up on their resolutions within two weeks of the new year.

Since we are in the dreaded 3rd week I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about productivity. You see if you are more productive with your time, then you become more efficient, and if you become more efficient then you are more likely to make time for your health goals. Thus you will never fall off the resolution band wagon. Here are a few ways to keep yourself productive enough so that you don’t slack off with your routines.

· Plan your day ahead – if you do it the night before even better. Planning a project will likely cut the time spent on the project by at least half. Do it step by step from start to finish.

· Use blocks of time like 25-45 minutes of no distractions (no email, no phone, no getting up)will get you to your goals faster than 8 hours of a normal workday.

· Know and understand the 80/20 rule- 20% of actions account for 80% of results. With that in mind, do the most important stuff first.

· Think long term. Before starting a task or activity – determine what the long term benefits / consequences will be.

· You must delay gratification and make short term sacrifices to enjoy greater rewards long term. Average people do what gives short term gratification. Great ones do what it takes to achieve long term goals especially if it’s not as easy or fun in the short term. The things that matter most must never be skipped over for the things that matter least.

· Time is going to pass whether you use it to move closer to your goals or farther away. Only you get to decide how you use that time and where you want to be in the future.

· There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do. – What are my highest value activities? What can you and only you do, that if done well, will make a real difference? What is the most valuable use of your time, right now?

· Challenges are there to weed out the average. Keep that in mind when you encounter them.

· One of the most powerful words in time management is NO! – You have no spare time, say no early and often to everything that isn’t high value.

· If you don’t schedule it – that means you don’t see value in it.

· Do the most difficult task first, start it first thing in the morning.