1. Be motivated.
How you spend your time could be the difference between dreaming of the life you want and actually getting it. Big or small, you have to push yourself to do the things that bring you closer to greatness, even if you don't feel like doing anything.
The big picture of success, the glamorous snapshot that everything the world sees from the outside, is actually made up of small daily actions. This is why getting things done is so important.
So don't wait for inspiration to get started – do it now! If you need a boost, these 19 motivational quotes should get you going.
2. Start Sunday.
We've all had this Monday:the one where you sleep after waking up and leave the house in two different shoes. Even if you had time for lunch, your only option would be milk with a questionable expiration date. When you left your bus pass on the kitchen counter and hold the line frantically looking for spare change. It's Monday when you're greeted by a dozen Olivia Pope-level fires to put out at work, and find yourself counting down the weekend hours.
A few months ago, I noticed that I spent a lot of these Mondays. And although I greatly enjoy my job, a nagging sense of impending doom began to creep in on Sunday afternoon like clockwork. I would tense up, muscle by muscle, preparing for the potential irritations of the coming week rather than enjoying the few precious hours left of my weekend.
One particularly distressed morning, I realized that I had need a lien check. I reminded myself that I'm more likely to have a job that I love, a job that allows me to pay for things like rent, food, and shoes, and to have enough spare change to the bus – and I took it for granted.
From that day on, I decided not to let Monday kick my ass anymore. Much of it depended on adapting my Sunday routine, getting used to all the good advice I had received over the years from family, teachers and bosses (plus the lessons I had learned the hard way on my own).
3. Wake up early.
I've never been one to wake up early. Even on Christmas morning, I was the kid who shuffled up the tree, rubbing my eyes as we opened presents. However, it has become indisputable that waking up early makes you a happier and more successful person. According to Harvard Business Review, "a higher percentage of morning people agreed with statements that indicate proactivity, such as 'I spend time identifying long-term goals for myself' and 'I feel responsible for making things happen "".
Like most night owls, I have always dismissed these findings because they challenge my comfortable routine. But as a young adult trying to build better habits, I thought I'd try to turn myself into an early riser.
So for the past 30 days, I've been waking up earlier and incorporating some personal care in my routine. While I can't say I've achieved full early bird status, I can say my mornings are much more productive and enjoyable.
4. Hack your morning routine.
It's Monday and you're in a rush. You had a really fun weekend and you feel like it went too fast (as usual), which made it harder to get up when you wanted to. So because you hit the snooze button one more time, you're rushing trying not to forget anything before you rush. You want to kick yourself for not preparing for last week, but it's too late now. The week is already stressful.
If this is you, it doesn't have to be. You can take control of your days – make them happier, less stressful and more productive – simply by hacking your morning routine.
5. Get Organized.
I set aside about an hour every Sunday night to plan my week ahead. What am I going to focus on first thing on Monday? Then Tuesday, and so on. Who do I contact and why? What are my top priorities – no more than three – for the week, and what activities might distract me? The more detailed my schedule, the more prepared and focused I am. Engaging my priorities in words keeps me mentally focused.
Despite this, distractions can still derail you. I often find myself pulled in too many directions, reacting to phone calls, emails, and other things that pop up. This sorting method – touching things once and then moving on – keeps me from getting overwhelmed.
6. Prioritize.
Priorities are important things – I know it, you know it. But many of us are guilty of the habit of reacting to urgent things on and off our to-do list, rather than responding to important things.
Think about it:important activities should be highly priorities because they are the ones that contribute the most to our objectives. They have a longer term impact and should help us achieve our goals the most. Urgent activities are usually shorter in duration and may or may not relate to our overall goals, and they usually do not contribute significantly. Instead, squeezing us daily, they make endless demands on our time.
There is a constant tension between the urgent and the important. And because important things rarely need to be done today – and urgency almost always does – there is a critical need to learn how to set appropriate priorities so that our visions, goals and desires can be met more effectively. .
7. Focus.
Focus doesn't come naturally to most people. It is a skill that must be learned, perfected and practiced. There is a process you can follow to acquire it as a skill:
Realize the need to improve your concentration skills.
Make a conscious decision to invest the time and energy needed to improve.
Practice and train your mind to focus.
Implement your new skills and make them routine.
8. Develop discipline.
Discipline is the difference between having control of your future and letting your environment dictate your destiny. Discipline means freedom and happiness. It gives you the freedom to do whatever you want because you know you can learn to achieve any dream you set for yourself. Discipline teaches you to control your thoughts and be happy in any situation, visualize positive emotions, and trigger an optimistic mood. Discipline builds self-confidence, mental and physical strength and inspires you to grow as a human being. With growth comes the ability to enjoy life in a deeper and more meaningful way.
Anyone can develop discipline. It's a skill and it's not complicated - it just takes practice.
9. Stop procrastinating.
Before I started studying productivity and goal setting, I thought all procrastination was created the same way – it was just what you did when you were avoiding something else. But as I broke down my own procrastination techniques and talked to dozens of my clients about what got them on the right track, I realized that not all procrastination is created equal. And before you can eradicate or work around your delay tactics, you need to understand where they're coming from.
That's how you can identify the top three reasons for procrastination, along with simple ways to overcome it.
10. Work smarter, not harder.
You can accomplish anything with hard work, they say. You can make your business a success, get a promotion, master virtually everything skill… if you come to work hard .
Except working your butt is not always enough. Need proof? You can't inflate a flat tire by blowing as hard as you can, the same way you can't effectively mow a lawn with a pair of household scissors. No, you need the right tools, the right strategies, for the right tasks. You have to work smarter , no harder.
But how? By finding shortcuts.
11. Maximize the day.
Successful people make the most of every moment of the day, even those times when they feel they have nothing left to give. The good news is that this doesn't mean you have to dig into the ground or work your way through until you collapse. Instead, it means recognizing the flow of your energy and making the best use of what you have when you have it.
This especially comes into play towards the end of the workday. You owe it to yourself to maximize the day. But there's no point trying to germinate new ideas or hold important meetings when your best energy is spent and your mind is numb. Instead, there are a number of more useful ways to spend these moments, such as putting away the ends of days gone by and preparing a stellar plan for tomorrow.
12. Keep your energy high.
People are more overworked than ever. According to statistics from the United States Department of Labor, our parents and grandparents worked about 1,600 hours a year in 1979, up from 1,800 a year in 2007.
It can be easy and convenient to take a energy drink or a large soda when you feel tired. But cheap, fast energy sources will make you feel even more tired than you did when they wear off.
Try these natural, clean, and easy ways to boost your energy.
13. Don't lose hope.
Do you ever feel like you have nothing left to give to a project or task? Maybe you've been working on a book, a new business, or even a relationship, but the motivation to keep going through the struggle seems to be gone.
We have all been there. It's part of the process. Often, this is how creators and creators feel right before they find greatness.
A proven way to rediscover motivation is to repeat a mantra designed to inspire and rejuvenate you when you need it most.
