Sometimes it’s not the major goals you haven’t yet achieved that weigh you down the most, but it’s the little day in, day out things that start anchoring you in place.
There are lots and lots of things you can do every day to lighten your load and to make the going easier. Getting enough sleep, eating right, keeping a positive attitude, and remembering the importance of gratitude are all important.
We have three additional tips that we believe rank near the top of things people can do every day to drive past obstacles to success.
GET UP EARLY
You can hit the snooze button over and over again until you have just enough time to run into the shower, grab a granola bar and go. However, you’re probably going to spend the rest of the day playing catch-up because you’ve set the tone for your day. Most people’s productivity doesn’t happen at the same time each day, but each morning you get a fresh start. Giving yourself a little extra time in the mornings means that you can have some quiet headspace before emails, phone calls and every other distraction under the sun waltzes into your day.
A few minutes to plan and prioritize can end up saving hours of wasted time later on. A little me time in the mornings never hurt anyone either.
HAVE A PLAN
Of course you can’t possibly know everything in advance that every day will bring, but most of the time you do have an overall big picture plan for your days, weeks, months. The only way you’re going to hit the goals you set out for yourself is if you plan for them.
Have a plan. Lots of plans. Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Then prioritize. Put the most important things you want to accomplish at the top of every one of those plans. Usually it’s easier to tackle less important things, so it’s tempting to reach for the low hanging fruit first. By doing that, the bigger, more important things stay out of reach and end up getting ignored day after day, while you manage only to accomplish the easy things you just do to get by.
Make a point of accomplishing the most important thing on each of your lists first and not only will you get where you’re trying to go faster, everything else will start to fall into place behind it. The other important thing about having plans, is sticking to them.
MOVE
Everyone knows how important exercise is for staying fit and keeping the pounds at bay, but it’s also great for clearing your mind, calming you down, diffusing stress and increasing energy. And for all those benefits, you don’t even really need to exercise. A few minutes off your chair (several times a day if possible) will provide the same benefit. Walk around the office, walk around the block. If you’re so inclined, do a few jumping jacks or see how close you can get to touching your toes. It doesn’t really matter what you do, the thing is to do something. Unchaining your butt from your desk will help unchain your mind and spirit.
By sweating these three small things everyday, you won’t lose sweat over the bigger stuff in the next lane.
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