How to Trick Yourself Into Tackling Those To-Dos
Let’s face it – as entrepreneurs, we are amazing at doing the stuff that excites us, energizes us, even challenges us, but put something dull and boring in front of us that has to be done, that’s a completely different story.
It’s funny the mental games we sometimes (read: all the time) need to play with ourselves in order to sit down and tackle that nasty list of to-dos. You’d think being grown ups that we’d be past the stage of whining about doing our homework, “But I don’t wanna do it RIGHT now!”
Evidently, we’re not.
It’s understandable that we’d rather do something that we find exciting or easy over the tasks that we find frustrating, difficult, or even worse, boring. It’s human nature. And thanks to our modern social world, it’s EASY to find a thousand other more gratifying, easy, and fun things to do (hello, Internet and your plethora of cat videos).
So what do you do when those to-dos need to get done? Trickery, of course.
How to Trick Yourself Into Tackling Those To-Dos
Set Deadlines
Start by drawing a line in the sand and promising yourself that you will get such and such done by this date end of story, no excuses allowed. Even if it’s a false deadline, get in the habit of not letting it slide, as that leads to all sorts of other bad productivity habits.
Focus First
Get in the habit of tackling the most daunting tasks first. It’s easier to get things done, especially the things you are less excited about doing, when you do them early in the day. It’s also a good idea to divide your day into what I call, Power Work Blocks, to get more done throughout the day.
Use Group Guilt
Organize an accountability group and use the power of peer pressure to your advantage. For some reason, we are less willing to let others down even though we knowingly let ourselves down all the time.
Create a Routine
Decide what needs doing the next day before you leave the office and then sit down with intention the next morning to get it done. Establishing a task routine ensures you have a productive day instead of frittering your time away deciding what to do.
Know Your Habits
Be honest with yourself about your personal productivity habits. If you know that you can’t pop into Facebook for a minute and not get sucked into spending 30 minutes idly browsing through the news feed, just don’t go there at all.
Shift Your Thinking
Stop thinking about your to-do list as a laundry list of anything and everything that you ever kinda, maybe, sorta, one day want to do. Instead, think of it as your “Will-Do” or “Must-Do” list for the next day or week. Just that simple mental shift will have you focused on checking things off instead of feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of things you know you will never get to.
Try Bribery
When all else fails, use what we all know works on our children: bribery. Promise yourself a relaxing day at the spa or an uninterrupted soak in the tub with a good book if you get that thing you are desperately avoiding doing done.
About Carla Young
Carla Young is a professional copywriter and business journalist who helps small- to mid-sized businesses connect with their target audience through educational content. An early adopter of social media, she coaches entrepreneurs and businesses on how to grow their online reach using basic principles of relationship marketing.
She shares her time management, motivation, and practical business tips for mom entrepreneurs, as well as the trials and tribulations of balancing work, family, and a little bit of playtime for mommy at MOMeo Magazine.com, an online resource publication for work-at-home moms, or as @CarlaYoung on Twitter.
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