It’s Monday. And like every Monday when I’m not on vacation, I was a little more stressed than I would like to be. You may have noticed that this didn’t come out around 7 or 8am like I normally try to do. Rather, it’s coming out around 11pm. It’s late, but what’s really important is that it’s out on the day I set out to post my blogs every week.
I like schedules and I like things done at certain times. As we all know, it doesn’t always work out that way. Rather than stress out about writing my blog first thing in the morning before I moved on to the other tasks I needed to do today, I decided to write my blog after I did my other work. Being able to shift around your tasks to a time when you’re better able to concentrate on them is huge if you want to be as productive and efficient as possible. Just thinking about moving my writing to a time when I’m less stressed created this huge wave of relief and I was able to be more productive than I probably would have been. I felt like I was making progress throughout the day rather than playing catchup, which was a huge weight off of my shoulders.
Realizing why you’re doing the task at the time you planned is the first step to getting done what you set out to do that day, week, or month. I like posting my blogs first thing Monday morning because I want my readers to have something motivating, useful, and/or interesting to read to start their week off right. And I want to stay consistent. This morning when I was stressing out about getting everything done I asked myself “does it really matter what time I post my blog today?” If I don’t post my blog first thing in the morning, will it throw off someone’s week? Probably not. Most people won’t even notice. It was just an arbitrary time that I set for myself and only I was holding me accountable to it.
Other people were holding me accountable for the other tasks that I had to complete, which made those tasks more important to me. At least today. Who’s holding you accountable for the tasks that you set time aside for? Are they important tasks or are they just urgent? My blog post is important but it was also less urgent than the other tasks that were also important for me to get done. When will you be in the right mindset to complete what you have to do to the best of your ability? I know that I don’t do great work (and it takes me longer to do it) when I’m worried about all of the other things I have to get done. So I chose to do those other tasks first.
I mentioned that I didn’t have anyone holding me accountable for posting my blogs on Mondays except for myself. And it’s getting done on the day I said it would get done on. For anyone who consistently let’s their plans slide because they don’t have anyone to report their progress to, a coach could be a huge benefit. Coaches are key accountability partners and many of the most successful entrepreneurs and business leaders have one to ensure they reach the goals they set out to accomplish. I’ve had multiple coaches myself. Reach out to me if you’re interested in learning how accountability could help you meet your objective.