“Even easy tasks will always be easier NOT to do. It’s why procrastination lives. Success comes when you choose to override your ‘common response’ and just get to it.”
~ Michelle Cederberg
Since 1990 I have worked as a personal trainer, group exercise leader, lifestyle coach, educator, author, and speaker and if there is one singular challenge my clients, participants and students have had difficulty overcoming it has been without a doubt not being able to get to all the things they want and need to do. Whether plagued by lack of time or lack of motivation, we’re putting our dreams on the shelf telling ourselves “I’ll get to it when I’m not so busy – tired – overworked…”. The dreams include anything you wish you could spend more time doing – exercise, eating right, building a business, writing, leisure activities, time with family and friends, hobbies, saving money for travel, even sleep – and feel you have no time, energy, or resources to get to. Forget finding enough time, you just need a little time every day.
What do you want to get to more often? Why not begin today? You have nothing to lose but another few years of lost progress waiting for the ideal circumstances to arise, so the choice should be easy.
Get Over “I’ll get to it when…”
When life gets busy it’s easy to delay the good things in favour of putting out fires and dealing with ‘to do’s’. You probably say to yourself “I’ll get to it when it’s not so crazy at work” or “I’ll get to it when I’m not so busy putting out fires at home” or “I’ll get to it when I’m not so darn tired!” It’s common for busy people to rationalize that work and home ‘to do’s’ come first. Unfortunately, in the process of taking care of everything and everyone else, health and enjoyment of life get neglected. If this sounds familiar, perhaps it’s time for a priority shift? No matter how busy you are, you have the right to grab hold of a portion of each day where you put yourself first. Get over “I’ll get to it when…” by simply making a commitment to begin. The clincher is you needn’t go big to experience success. Remember these two truths:
- It’s not the doing that’s tough, it’s getting to it!
- Doing on any level is better than thinking about going BIG.
Once you commit to spending even small amounts of time on exercise and health as part of your day, you’ll find more energy and productivity to put towards your career growth. Create the habits that align with these practices, and be ready when the momentum of your actions starts to pull you toward amazing opportunities days, weeks, or months down the road. It will happen, and I promise you, it is wonderful.
Shift Priorities
Have you ever thought about where all your time goes? I mean really broken it down? Below are four categories that can easily sum up how you use your time. Read the descriptions and in the matrix below, jot down what you do in each category day-to-day. Pay careful attention to what you do in the categories of ‘Distraction and Deception’ and ‘Waste’ as they are areas where we fritter away a lot of time. Your goal is to eliminate some activities in those areas so you can shift time toward growth.
Obligation: includes emergency circumstances and pressing deadlines. If you’re bound by a strict schedule such as catching a flight, it takes precedence over going for a run. If you have to pick up your child from school it supersedes spending time reading or working. If you have a ‘drop deadline’ on a project at work, it comes before dinner out with friends. If you don’t take care of these obligations, life will become very chaotic indeed, but if obligation is ruling your time, you may need to make some changes.
Growth: includes all the things you long to GET TO. Everything is this category will help you get ahead personally and professionally. Personal growth practices include exercise, eating right, getting enough rest, finding better life balance, enjoying leisure time with family and friends, travelling, learning a new hobby. Professional growth practices include business development, taking a course, returning to school, creative work, organizing your desk or systems, financial and business planning. All of these things will improve your life yet so often they remain undone, as you tell yourself “I’ll get to it when …”
Distraction and Deception: It’s here where you’ll distract yourself with low priority, ever present tasks like unimportant emails, phone calls and ‘to do’s’. You jump to them because you think they’ll only take a moment, or you want to avoid the high priority, often more challenging tasks up in ‘Growth’. This corner is deceptive because tasks here come off as busy work, and you can fool yourself into believing you’re actually being productive. Before you know it, you’ve spent an entire morning ignoring high priority tasks for low priority distractions – inevitably cutting into ‘Growth’ time.
Waste: Let’s face it, all of us need some time to sit and stare into space and tune out, but the amount of time you spend on time wasters like television, internet surfing, video games, some magazines, phone calls, and emails, will impact your efforts to GET TO ‘Growth’. If you tell yourself you don’t have time for exercise or other good things, check in with how much time you spend here.
Jot down what you do in each category day-to-day
Your goal is to GET TO GROWTH. I sometimes re-title the ‘Growth’ category ‘I’ll get to it when…’ since we’re always pulled away from growth to tend to fires in ‘Obligation’ and ‘Distraction and Deception’. Once the fires are out you likely drop onto the couch into ‘Waste’ telling yourself you’re too tired to get to exercise, or any of the other fun and important items in ‘Growth’. Remember this! You have to act on the growth tasks. They won’t act on you. Where obligation and distraction and deception draw you in by default, you have to make a conscious plan to get to growth.
Sometimes success needs a little help! If you want daily guidance with your goals email Michelle at info@michellecederberg.com to order a copy of her Accountability Journal: GOT TO IT! 365 day journal for getting to the good things
Every day accountability to help you switch “I’ll get to it” to GOT TO IT! Have better work-life balance, finally fit in fitness, increase your energy, and love your life – one day at a time.
By mentioning this article, Michelle will extend a $4.00 discount on every journal you purchase.
Michelle Cederberg, MKin, CEP, Speaker, Consultant, Coach, Author
Helping Individuals and Organizations do MORE with Less
Life Balance, Stress Management, Increased Productivity ? even with a busy schedule!
http://www.michellecederberg.com
Phone: 403.850.5589