Time Management Course : Lesson 4_Rob Rawson
So you should have your list of everything that has been on your mind. Now it’s time to start organizing the list so that you can get it off your mind, and start getting to a place of peace and relaxation in your life. One of the funny things that you will notice is that the things you feel most stressed about are usually the things that you are just thinking about a lot but not doing anything about! Once you start taking action, the stress starts to disappear.
This organizing process can take some time. It’s best to give yourself 2 hours for this process. So if you don’t have 2 hours right now, think when in the next 2 days you will have time to do this. Write it down in your diary, and set a reminder to go off at the exact time you plan to do this. Make sure to plan the EXACT time that you plan to start on this organizing task.
“What outcome do I want here?”
“What is the next action step I need to take towards this outcome?”
Sometimes it will be easy. For example you want to write a book but you haven’t started, the outcome is a book you are proud of and the next action step is to go to the library and research on the topic of the book.
So as soon as you come up with the next action step, you can tick off that item on the list and start a new list that is JUST actions steps. We will call this the “action steps” list. These actions should take you less than 1 day to complete usually. If the action will take more than 1 day to finish, please break it down into a smaller action step that will take you less than 1 day to complete.
Now work through your list of everything on your mind and tick off all the items you can as you think of the next action step. Sometimes if it’s something simple, you might not need to change it and can just move it to the “action step” list. For example “read my mail” is really an action step in itself and you don’t need to break it down further.
If you get stuck on an item for more than 2 minutes (you are not sure what is the next action step) then set it aside for a minute and move on to the other items on your list.
Now when you are finished you should have a list of “action steps” and then a few items where you are not sure what the next action step is or maybe not even sure what the outcome is.
Let’s work a bit more on these items where you are “not quite sure”. Consider each item and think, “What is the outcome I would like here?”. Try to write this outcome in positive language. For example, let’s say you wrote down “my partner keeps nagging at me”, then don’t write down the outcome “my partner stops nagging at me”. Instead write down, “I had a wonderful conversation with my partner”.
Now once you have the outcome, think what is the next step you need to take towards this outcome. The next action step should again be something you can do in 1 day or less. If not break it down into smaller steps. Is there anything stopping you from taking this action today? If so there must be another action that comes first, and write that down as the next action step. An action step is obviously something that you can do, and not something that is dependent on another person.
Still stuck with some of these items? The next step is to find someone who can help you to come up with some ideas. You will want to ask a friend who has success in the area that you have the issue with, and see what they recommend. If you can’t find someone who has success in that area, look for a book that is from someone that had the same issue as you and has succeeded in that area of life. In fact that can be your next action step, “Contact my friend” or “Read xyz book”.
The final step! Ok now we are ready with our list of next action steps. Take this list and select the top 4-8 items only to work on tomorrow. Think what is most important to you in your life, and which actions will help you most in this important area of your life.
Now you are ready with your list of things to work on today! (Or tomorrow if you are doing this exercise at the end of the day). Now imagine yourself completing the first action on the list. See exactly what you are doing, are you sitting, reading, talking to someone. Imagine exactly what you are doing to complete this action. If you can’t imagine exactly what you need to do then something is wrong! Think through this action step again and get more specific about what you actually need to do. For example if you’re action step is “find a way to get my book published” … you have a problem! That’s not an action step. It’s too vague, not specific enough. Instead an action step could be, “Spend 30 minutes online researching self publishing methods”. Or, “Check the yellow pages and online and make a list of all publishers that specialize in my niche”.
Great, have an awesome day, the next lesson is going to easier I promise and fun!
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Reference :
- http://www.TimeManagement.com
