I love this meme:
It’s hard to strike a balance between giving your all at your job, and finding time to work on personal goals. Usually when I get home, I’m tired and mentally spent. I think about that meme though and I don’t want to give in to the exhaustion.
I have a schedule where I steadily work on my personal goals throughout the week. However, this weekend, due to a couple of events I was playing catch up in addition to the things I already had scheduled.
I made a list of everything I wanted to get done. Even though I was thinking it would be unattainable I still included everything.
After staring at this massive list for a while, I came up with a strategy to use a few mind tricks to get my motivation going, then I dove in with an attitude of “what gets done, gets done and I’ll be satisfied with whatever the outcome.”
It was surprising how much I accomplished without feeling overly depleted and still working in some enjoyable and relaxing things. In fact, with the exception of one tiny thing, everything else on my extensive list managed to get done.
Here are the tactics I used.
Multi-tasking
I know, ugh! I hate this word too, but I made it into a game to figure out what items on my list could be done at the same time. For instance, I painted my nails and did a full body standing workout while they were drying. While waiting the twenty minutes for my face mask, I laid on the bed and went through a guided meditation. After applying scrub to the bathtubs, I created some Pinterest Pins for my blog posts while the cleaner soaked in and did its thing.
The Power of Three
I do the majority of cleaning the house on the weekend. I hate most of the chores associated with that, so to push through, I made a deal that after every three tasks I get to do something I like. So I dusted, put in a load of laundry and cleaned the toilets, then I played a game on my phone. After sweeping, unloading the dishwasher and folding clothes, I took the dog for a walk in the sunshine.
Just Ten Minutes
For some of the things on my list, the battle lies in just getting started. I’m working on a book, but I find it hard to just sit down and start writing. I decided that I’ll just write for ten minutes and if I’m still not feeling motivated, I’ll take a break. Before I knew it half an hour had passed and I had written a couple of chapters.
This tool works well with working out too. Once you’ve invested ten minutes, it just feels easier to do the whole thing.
Racing the Clock
On Sunday, I was meeting my girlfriends in the afternoon to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. I had been quite busy in the morning, but fell into a lull after taking a shower and getting dressed to go meet them. Per my usual, I was ready thirty minutes before I really needed to leave the house. So I decided to see how much of my list I could get done in those thirty minutes.
It’s similar to feeling when someone says they are coming over to your house unexpectedly. You race around and actually get more accomplished than you think you can in a short amount of time.
I used this method again later in the evening. My daughter was coming back from vacation and I needed to pick her up at the airport around 9PM. I usually go to bed quite early during the work week, so I was tired and lost my motivation to do anything else. However, instead of giving in, I set an alarm for when I needed to leave and tackled what was left on the list. Then it was a race to see to see how much I could get done before the alarm went off.
It was a super productive weekend for me. Obviously, I cannot be that productive all the time. Personally I find that after about three days of productivity, my body just shuts down. If I’m too ambitious, my body is there to remind me I need balance. Rest and relaxation are just as important as productivity.
Your turn, what games or methods do you use in order to get things done when you just aren’t feeling it? Share in the comments below.
This coming weekend I don’t plan to get out of my pajamas. Balance.
Traci
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