Taking Action. Should You Want To?


Question :

"My biggest problem, is getting out of thinking mode and into action mode.
As much as I read and make lists.....nothing ever seems to get done 'today', and by the 3rd tomorrow, I am disheartened. What , I ask you, is that!!!"

Answer:

The key here is NOT to make a big 'to-do' list!

Seriously.

I personally find 'to-do' lists quite de-motivating.

Of course...for some people they work fantastically well - but, for others, they can be worse than having a list at all!

So, what do you do about it?

Well...is what you are writing down on your list something that you WANT to do...or is it something that you SHOULD do?

There's a difference.

If your lists are cluttered up with SHOULD-dos, then you will certainly struggle to get things done.

Here's some examples of SHOULD-dos...

- Accounting/taxes
- Cutting the grass (my favorite)
- Painting the house
- Clearing out your garage
- Writing your book

Of course - some of these would be on the WANT-tos of many people - yet for some people - they seem to stare up at them from the page - day after day...constantly niggling away.

Remember - this is the stuff that you SHOULD do (and may even have a deadline for), so you are hardly going to be inpired and motiavted when you think about doing them.

So...don't have them on your list!

Why? Well...in some cases, like taxes, you KNOW that, eventually - you will HAVE to do them (and WILL do them).

Others can perhaps just go on a SHOULD do list that is separate from the more exciting WANT to stuff.

So - your SHOULD do could be to write a book...but you can easily WANT to try to write an article every week for a year...or 500 words a day...or a chapter a month.

Other stuff you may WANT to do...

- Applying just ONE principle you learned from a personal devlopment book.
- Make ONE phone call to someone who could put business your way
- Spend time with your family
- Spend 15 minutes taking notes from the last book you read
- Taking only the FIRST step on your new project

Even though some of these may not be the most EXCITING things in the world that you would WANT to do - it will be so much easier just to do ONE thing - because you KNOW that it will help you get to where you really want to go.

Plus...if you make your tasks small things that don't take up too much time - you will stand more chance of completing each one EVERY day, and not carry any over until tomorrow.

Once you get your momentum going - you can make the tasks longer or more stretching...but, at the start at least - just START something...and everything else will become easier once you do.

And...what about those SHOULD-do tasks?

Well...whether it takes you six days or six years - EVENTUALLY you will get them done when it comes down to the timwe when you HAVE to...whether you like it or not!

But...at least in the meantime - they're not getting in the way of what you really WANT to do!