Trying to Do It All? Do What Matters! 7 Steps to Turn Intention into Action
I suspect you have often overwhelmed yourself with too many things that you want to do but hardly getting around to doing any of them: buying that book to improve some part of your life and not reading it, signing up for that new class but not starting it, arranging a time to meet a friend but cancelling last minute, wanting a career change but not completing those applications, wanting to start a new hobby but never starting it in earnest.
We can have the best intentions to start something new, but it doesn’t guarantee that we will. An intention doesn’t reflect who we are, it is the action that follows that does.
The Scottish poet Robert Burn’s said, “The best laid plans of mice and men (people) often go awry.”
So, what are the obstacles that keep us from acting upon our intentions?
We overestimate how much we can get done. This is very common. In most situations, we only accomplish a quarter to a third of the things we think we can achieve in a given time-frame. The same goes for our expectations of others. Triple the time-frame for any task, that way your expectations will be more realistic.
We haven’t considered the detail involved. Most of us see the big-picture of the finished product but few of the many actions to achieve it. We don’t take into account all the nuances and little things that add up to the end result and therefore everything takes much longer than we think.
We get distracted by short-term distractions and pleasures. We get caught up in all the other parts of our lives and distract ourselves with coffee breaks, toilet breaks, opening email and physical mail etc.
Our physical environment is unsuitable or not prepared for the task to be undertaken properly. You might not have the right tools for the task, you might be in a highly distracting place, or you might not be able to carry out all the involved tasks due to a lack of preparation. There are many aspects of your environment that may prevent you carrying out the task efficiently.
You suffer from perfectionism. Everything has to be just right before you move on, bringing you to a halt. You might not even start due to analysing and paralysing yourself from action through the worry of failure, or even success!
You see the mountain of tasks before you and procrastinate.
Everyone suffers from at least one of the above obstacles above from time-to-time.
7 Steps to turn intention into action:
Know the times when you work the best, when you are at your most productive. This might be the morning, afternoon or evening, but what are your exact time? I often get my most productive work done between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., then 6p.m. to 11 p.m.
Focus on three things you have to get done first in your most productive time. I personally like to get the thing I dread most out of the way first; however, it is best practice for people to tackle the easiest things first and build on their success.
Begin with the easiest learning or activity first and gradually increase the intensity. Just like exercising. You gently warm up, increase you load and then cool down with the lightest of tasks.
Cut down the number of items on your agenda. Prioritise into three categories: Something you must do, something that will benefit your wellbeing, and something you will improve you. Or, break into categories, such as work, health and learning.
Ensure there are no external distractions, from people interrupting you to digital notifications. Go to the toilet before you start, have that drink next to you, have all your tools at the ready, then start.
Have your environment pre-prepared for action. Set everything up before you start. If you need lots of documents, put them in a physical or digital file and make sure they are easily accessible.
Have a compelling reason for the things you choose to do. You can either sit on the sofa or learn that language with a goal to visit that country by a certain date. Buy your ticket now to add pressure to your goal. You can start knitting that jumper with the deadline of giving it as a gift to your relative by their birthday. Fix numbers as deadlines: specific dates, a specific amount of time, a specific number of repetitions, and remember that you likely need to triple your first choice of time-frame.
If you find no enjoyment at all in a task, it is not a necessity in your life, and it’s preventing you from getting on with other things, strike it off your action list or hire someone else to do it for you.
If you would like to learn more about organising yourself and taking action, please consider reading my book, “Be Happy more often”