scheduling

An hour a day

Everyone is busy. Busy with work, busy with assignments or just busy having fun. No matter how pack your schedule is, I'm quite sure you can at least reserve an hour daily for a little me time. Use this hour to do something that will get you closer to your goals. You could start blogging to improve your writing skills or pick up some dancing lessons to impress your partner.

Sixty minutes daily is long enough to do something significant yet short enough to be easily allocated. I used the time I spend watching TV series to blog instead.

Once you get used to it, you got yourself a healthy and productive habit. You might even decide to spend more time in improving yourself. Start with an hour and see how it goes.

Set a deadline

If you have trouble getting things done, consider setting yourself a deadline to complete it. Done right, this can motivate and focus your mind on things that matters. When you have a deadline, it narrows your focus. You are now focused on getting that one thing done. It makes it easier to start and easier to achieve. Software companies like Atlassian organize 24-hour code fest (named Fedex day) to get new product ideas.

The time constraint you imposed on yourself can also help you keep things in check. Because there is limited time available, you are forced to do things that are really needed. 37signals used constraints to prevent their software from having too many unnecessary features.

The deadline itself should also be seen as a motivator. Sales and deals have a deadline for a reason. It gets people to act and over time, meeting deadlines itself can be a reward. But try avoid those deals if you can.

Obviously, none of this will work if you don't enforce the deadline. You could try set up some punishment for missing it or reward yourself for meeting it. Either way, tell yourself that you need to meet the deadline one way or another.

Start setting deadlines and maybe you can get more done.