task management – Annienygma

The Power of MicroProgress

How to accomplish big goals by using tiny steps.

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When you lead a busy life, it can be hard to find time to do things. Because of that, in many cases you don’t even start big tasks, simply because you don’t think you have the time to devote to it.

I’ve discovered a way to defeat that challenge, a way to achieve massive goals.

Instead of looking at that goal as a whole, break it up into teeny, tiny steps. The smaller the individual steps, the better. The trick here is to break it up into pieces that you can easily accomplish in just a few minutes.

I call these MicroTasks.

Once you’ve broken up your goal, decide to complete a single MicroTask each and every day. The best time to do this is in the morning when you first wake up.

This allows you to start your day on a triumphant note, knowing that you have gotten one step closer to your goal.

While it seems as if it would take longer to achieve a goal by only completing tiny sections of it, the fact that you do a tiny little bit each and every day means that you will actually accomplish your goal faster than if you wait for the time to complete big chunks, and even faster than if you waited for the chance to do the work all at once.

For instance, I now work on my writing for a few minutes each and every day. My goal is to write a single sentence when I’m writing, or review a single paragraph while I’m editing. By doing just this tiny amount every single day, I’ve already made a single editing pass on the book I wrote during my vacation and have almost completed the first draft of my next book.

And I’ve done it by making some MicroProgress each and every day.

To inspire myself, I place an X on the calendar every time I complete my daily goal. Watching that chain of Xs grow inspires me to do the work even when I’m not in the mood. It’s a small thing, but it makes a big difference.

If you have a goal that you want to achieve but think you’re too busy, try breaking it down into tiny tasks that you can do each day.

Because, as the turtle beat the hare, small bits of MicroProgress will help you win the race in the end.

~#~

If you happen to find this post helpful, would you consider sharing it with a friend or on social media? Thanks!

I’ve written a lot of books sharing my odd view of life in hopes of helping others. My most notorious book is titled The Shoestring Girl: How I Live on Practically Nothing and You Can Too, but The Minimalist Cleaning Method is pretty popular as well. You can find them at the following places:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iBooks
Smashwords (non-DRM)

Thank you for your support!

Big Task, Small Chunks

I have kept extremely busy over these past few weeks. Between my public job, volunteering, writing, and working on my house I rarely have a moment of downtime so I decided to take a break the other day and just curl up with a good book.

I had spent the entire day being lazy when it dawned on me: I really needed to make a trip to the laundromat. Of all the things I’ve accomplished lately, that was the one task I’ve procrastinated on. My laundry bags were overflowing and I needed clean socks for work the next day.

Nine o’clock at night I hauled my laundry around the corner to take care of business. It was rather late so instead of sorting out socks, underwear, and bras into their individual piles I stuffed them all into a single bag to deal with later.

I had to work my public job early the next day but I forced myself to put all of my other laundry away. It was after midnight by that time so the bag of socks and stuff remained unsorted.

I was exhausted when I got home after work the next day. I saw that bag on the table and cringed. I did not want to do all of that sorting. I did have a little bit of energy left so I did what I seem to do best: I turned it into a smaller task.

Instead of stressing over the entire project I dumped that bag out and focused on one thing: sorting out the bras and panties. Five minutes later those items were carefully sorted and placed away.

The socks were done the day after.

If I had continued to think about the entire task with dread it would still be sitting on my kitchen table. The thought of doing all of it at once was not only intimidating, it would have taken time away from the other things I needed to accomplish as well.

I could squeeze a five minute task into my agenda, however. Two little five minute stretches of time conquered the problem without putting a strain on either my nerves or my day.

We all have those things that we want to accomplish but we dread to start. The task just seems overwhelming. It can range from doing the dishes, spring cleaning, or completing a project for work or school. It doesn’t matter what it is; all that matters is that the task seems so overwhelming that we never get started, so we sit and stress over it while the problem just gets bigger.

Instead of allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed, if we break these large tasks into smaller pieces we can tackle them with ease. It might take several days to accomplish but at the end of each little step we can celebrate our progress. At the end of the final step we can pat ourselves on the back because we completed our goal.

Today I would like you to examine your life and find one thing that you need to do but haven’t finished. It can be that pile of dirty laundry, paperwork that needs to be filed, or a dream that you want to achieve. Take out a piece of paper and break that project into simple steps that you can complete in just a few minutes. The first step on your list should be this:

Plan the project. Mark it off your list when you’ve finished writing down your steps. Congratulations! You’ve already gotten started!

Every day, do one thing. Mark it off as soon as you complete it. If you feel froggy do another step but if you don’t that’s okay. You can do the next step tomorrow. The trick is to do one small step at a time until you’re done.

Then celebrate.

What project are you going to focus on? Please share your stories in the comments below.

Today’s List

Today is getting a late start.. the storms last night led to a rather restless sleep and I ended up taking a nap after my daughter hopped on the school bus. I am still a tad groggy but I have to get moving.

Sitting beside me is a simple notebook to jot down my things to do. It has a line down the center which makes it perfect. The left side will get all the things I want to accomplish today, and the right? It will get all the things that I’m leaving to the Universe to worry about!

I learned about that tip in a book by Jerry and Esther Hicks on Abraham. It’s the equivalent of putting your worries on a piece of paper and burning them. Each day the paper gets tossed, and so do your concerns!

It definitely feels good to take action, and to make a decision NOT to worry about something! When I started it at first the list was longer than my to-do list, but now it is rather short!

Life is good.