If the period spent in lock-down has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t blame a lack of time for not getting things done. Prior to lock-down, we would accuse the chaos of everyday life of disabling us to reach our goals: “I don’t have time to write that book, I have a full time job” we would complain, or “I’ve been wanting to learn Spanish for ages but life is too hectic!”.
Then overnight, with little to no warning, many of us were relieved of the mundane need to commute to work every day. We had no choice but to stay at home and finally had time in abundance.
A few months later…. has that book been written? Have you taken time to learn Spanish? Now this isn’t to trigger or shame you, but to emphasise that a lack of time is not to blame.
Here are 4 reasons why you’re not getting things done.
- You don’t know your why.
The irony of this blog post is that this should have been released weeks ago! However, this post couldn’t make its way from a recurring item on the top of our to-do list to your screen, until we identified why it needed to be done.
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.” — Zig Ziglar
You can’t rely solely on motivation, because it is seasonal, whereas the reason for doing something rarely changes. Knowing your why gives your goals meaning and gives you a sense of direction.
This is why companies make mission and vision statements: at Tupear, our mission is to motivate, inspire and create a global community of learners, so we know every task we set is in support of this.
What is your why? Having a clear reason for completing a task can be your driving force. So, the next time you want to get something done, ask yourself the following questions:
- What do I gain from doing it?
- What do I have to lose if I don’t?
- How will it benefit my overall goals and objectives?
Once you have answered these questions, you will be able to prioritise which tasks are urgent and important and will therefore benefit you most. The next time you’re close to procrastinating, you will remind yourself of the achievement you’re missing out on.
2. You don’t enjoy it.
If you have a choice, do what you enjoy! However, not everything that needs to be done is ideal or enjoyable. Enjoying what you do daily is a luxury that not many of us can afford.
However, the art isn’t in having enjoyable tasks, but it is in making these tasks more entertaining, so that when you go back to it, you have psychologically associated the task with positive emotions.
This advice has been adopted to even make vacuuming an enjoyable experience! My vacuum playlist has seen me through multiple spring cleans and encourages me to clean more often. Many people struggle to stay engaged, so if you find yourself bored while completing tasks on your to-do list, here are some ways to make it more fun:
- Race the clock.
- Do it with friends or study partners.
- Reward yourself after it!
- Daydream and meditate during the task.
- Go to a welcoming environment (e.g. outside, room with candles or set an ambience)
3. Your tasks seems overwhelming.
If you haven’t done so already, break down your task!
Going back to the original example: if my brain saw “write a book” on my daily to-do list, it would be screaming — and rightly so. Large tasks can appear daunting and unachievable. So, break it down!
Take time to think through the steps needed to accomplish the goal. Each task on your list should be achievable within a week. If you have broken it into sub-tasks that will take a month to accomplish each time, break it down some more!
At Tupear, we provided our community members with a handy progress tracker for this very purpose. We knew that breaking tasks into small and achievable steps make it easier to track progress and develop a sense of accomplishment for every tiny breakthrough.
You want to make yourself feel good. So rather than knowing you must write a whole book, your first step would be to write a paragraph summary of that book. This may be done in one sitting. Once completed you will tick it off your list, pat yourself on the back, progress to the next task and so on. Before you know it, you will have a fully published book in your hand.
4. You have no-one to be accountable to.
Did your mum ever ask you — “If your friend jumped off a cliff would you?”.
I’m sure the answer to that question was a harsh no! Of course, you knew better than to follow your friends into dangerous and harmful actions.
However, what she should’ve asked is: “If your friend bought a gym membership, would you?”, “If your friend read 5 books a month, would you?” or better yet, “If your friend accomplishes the things you’ve been trying to, would you?”. I’m sure you would’ve reacted differently to those questions, because the answer is yes — well at least, you’ll try hard to.
Good and bad behaviours are contagious; therefore, it is important to surround yourself with people that have work ethics and natures you can be positively influenced by. These can come in the form of friends, family or accountability partners.
“partnering around tasks can provide a sense of companionship and accomplishment” — Melissa orlov
Find an accountability partner that can keep you motivated, if you’ve made it this far into the blog post, you may realise that you are partly to blame, so you need someone to help you.
You can choose to make tasks more enjoyable by working with this partner or just keep each other up to date with your progress. Naturally, you won’t want to let your partner down, so you’ll peer pressure yourself into achieving your goals.
At Tupear we’ve caught onto the need for accountability partners, particularly when it comes to studying. We agree that learning shouldn’t be lonely, so we’ve created a platform that connects students to their ideal study or accountability partner. There are limited ways to find these amazing people, so we do the work for you. If this resonates with you, make sure to check our website Tupear.co .
Summary
You may be wishing that you knew this before lock-down started, and now that it’s easing, you may feel like you’ve lost your golden opportunity. But don’t worry, it’s not too late, time is not the number 1 culprit!
Go back to the goals you have set and do the following:
- Ask yourself why these goals are important.
- Implement creative ways of making tasks more enjoyable.
- Break your tasks into small achievable steps.
- Find an accountability partner or sign up to Tupear!
