It’s a fresh new year, which means new opportunities and a clean slate. The possibilities are endless – what we could do, achieve, and change, in a given year. We all start the new year with a few new year’s resolutions, (at the very least, so that we can have a response when someone asks us that inevitable question: “What’s your New Year’s resolution?”) but we seldom stop to count how many of those items we have actually really accomplished over the years.
If you can’t remember the last time you’ve completed your resolutions, it’s time to re-evaluate your approach and make it a more pro-active one. Here are our top tips for getting things done in 2014:
Paper or digital: schedule it!
Get organized with a calendar, to-do-list, and daily planner. It’s so simple, yet I’ve noticed few people tend to use them. And guess what? They’re also the ones that are likely to forget to take care of those important tasks, or the ones that procrastinate the most.
Whether you find it best to use the traditional calendar and day planner, or feel a bit more comfortable with a paper-less iPhone app, creating an actual schedule past just the new few hours of your life is important to getting things planned out and accomplished for the longer term.
The best way to avoid any surprise events creeping up on you is to think in advance and jot down important events for the year on your annual calendar. Events can range from social events, to work events, deadlines, and important tasks such as completing your taxes. We recommend starting with a notepad – jot down important tasks that come to mind, then compile them and add them to specific days on a calendar.
Schedule time for the New Year’s resolutions…
Then, after all crucial events are jotted, make sure to schedule in time for those New Year’s resolutions. If you’re trying to complete a project, estimate the number of hours needed to do so, then spread these hours out into a realistic window of time, so that you don’t overwhelm yourself.
You can’t keep it all in your head.
Make note-taking a habit. When something comes up, don’t assume it’ll stay fresh in your mind. Chances are, you will forget it unless you use it or think about it a few times, so take a note, and later on compile your notes when you have the time to add it to your schedule or better yet, when you have the time to make it happen.
