Too Much Work To Do? Think Vacation!
“Treat every day like it’s the day before vacation, and you will get more work done!” ~ Zig Ziglar
Have a deadline facing you? Or just procrastinating on writing or reading a book, doing your taxes (I filed an extension, did you?) or setting up your new website?
Follow these tips to help you treat every day like you are leaving on vacation tomorrow:
- Be organized. Make a list. Be organized in your work and in your life, as if you were leaving on a jet plane tomorrow! Make a checklist of everything you’ve got to get done today — then see exactly where you can fit in your most important tasks.
- Delegate. When you go on vacation, you probably leave other people in charge of things, like taking care of your pet or getting your mail. What time-consuming, non-work activities are you doing that you can delegate to someone else, a family member or an intern or colleague that could help you with things like research, website updates and other business tasks?
- Let the unimportant stuff slide. Don’t get sidetracked cleaning out the garage, shopping for a new swimsuit for your vacation – turn the 80/20 rule around (that 20% of your efforts will bring you 80% of your reward). Spend 80% of your time on the 20% of your activities that will bring you success.
- Do the hard stuff first. Face the stuff you don’t enjoy first – paying bills, editing your book, writing a report, reading a tutorial, for instance. Then, you can get to the more fun, creative work you love, for instance, writing a book or designing a new product.
- Unplug. It’s a good idea to unplug appliances when you leave for vacation and an even better idea to unplug from social media and your phone during scheduled work time. Complete your daily work goals before checking emails, returning phone calls and blogging.
- Get serious. Make a commitment to tackle your daily to-do list. If you were really coming to visit me in Hawaii the next day and wouldn’t be back for a week, you’d have to get it done, right?
- Meditate. Seriously, taking a 10-minute break to meditate will reduce stress, sharpen your cognitive skills and still your chattering mind to let inspiration flow in. To download a FREE 10-minute Chakra Meditation that will do the trick, go to www.http://www.thechakras.org/meditations.html.
Check your to-do list to make sure it’s doable, prioritize, delegate, and keep in mind the goal of lying in the hammock out in the sun after your work’s done.
When you do, you’ll not only get more done in a shorter amount of time, but you’ll also experience less stress and find yourself with more free time to do the things you want.
Becca Chopra, author of The Chakra Diaries
Chakra Blog 