How To Accomplish More in 2012

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The first week of 2012 has officially begun.

Some have already started working on their new year’s resolutions and making changes in their daily routine… while many others, just started working and went back to their usual daily tasks.

Whichever type of person you are, it always help to have a plan on how to accomplish the things you need to do.

Regardless if you want to lose weight and save more money; or just wants to be more efficient at work and keep your life stress-free in 2012 – you can achieve success, be efficient and accomplish more by remembering these simple tips:

Stop doing a lot of things at the same time.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about getting things done – it’s that I tend to finish more tasks if I focus on just one thing and don’t start working on another one until I’m done.

This tip applies to eliminating distractions as well. For example, while writing this post, I’ve turned off the television and the radio, muted my mobile phone and told everyone in the house not to disturb me for about an hour.

Finish what you need to do in one hour.
Yes, all you need is one hour to finish a task. Doing it longer will diminish your efficiency, make you restless and probably stress you out.

But how can you, for example, finish a novel, in one hour? Simple…

Break down the things you need to do into “I-can-finish-this-in-one-hour” tasks
Of course you can’t finish a novel in under sixty minutes, but I’m sure you can write one chapter… or at least just one paragraph.

Remember that it’s you who’s making the rules, and nobody knows you better than yourself. Know your limits and challenge yourself to finish tasks within one hour.

Just one hour, everyday.
How do you eat an elephant? The answer is one bite at a time. And it’s the same for finishing big projects – you do it one task at a time… just one hour, everyday.

Do you want to start a business? Then begin writing your business plan, one part or one section at a time for one hour, every day. I guarantee you’ll have it complete within a week or two.

Do more, but only if you can.
After you’re done with your required one-hour task for the day. Feel free to do more, but only if you can commit to finishing it once you start – which probably takes another hour.

If you can’t, then perhaps you can just spend the time analyzing your “one-hour” tasks and see if you can combine some because they seem too easy, or break down others if they seem too overwhelming.

Accomplishing more in 2012…
In this time of social media, instant information and technological distractions… the real secret to getting things done is learning how to break down big goals into bite-sized tasks and having a finish-line focus in every step.

Do that this year and you’ll surely be able achieve more and succeed more.

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Photo credit: aepoc

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This entry was posted by Fitz Villafuerte on Monday, January 2nd, 2012 at 9:02 pm and is filed under Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. If it's your first time to comment here, they will be held for moderation. Off-topic responses may be deleted.