Prioritizing and Staying Productive

I’ve been self-motivated to accomplish the various ideas whirling through my head, yet around a year and a half I physically, mentally and emotionally was unable to complete what I wanted to. I’ve been taking care of my grandfather and most nights I never get a full night sleep because he wakes up all the time, hence the need to take naps, getting sick more often and overall feeling emotionally drained! 

How Can I Get Productive with My Current Situation

Through the last year and a half the only thing I’ve been consistent with is journaling. Starting there, I wrote about my 5 year plan, where I wanted to be, what experiences I wanted to have had, what projects I want to accomplish, where I want to live, who do I live with. I wrote about everything. I then worked backward and determined each year what I want to accomplish. 

Setting Deadlines and Prioritizing

This is where the switch happened, from just writing about what I wanted but never feeling the time or space to accomplish it, to actually making progress. 

I downloaded an app called Asana (it also has a corresponding website.) And I just started writing the tasks I wanted to accomplish, from weekly tasks to monthly tasks to tasks as far as a year out. I stopped at a year because I think that too much more would make me feel stuck. 

Magic of Deadlines

I can’t stress enough the significance of setting dates, physically seeing a time when you will accomplish a task changes your perspective. Sometimes we overwhelm ourselves, trying to accomplish everything on our two days off but when those days come we feel overwhelmed and end up doing nothing. When you set tangible deadlines you can sit down for 3 hours and focus without feeling like you have to do 6 things within 3 hours. 

My Advice

Journal, find out what it is you are passionate about and determine ways you can gift your love and talents to the world. Consider these questions —

What would make me happiest?

Where do I want to live?

Who do I want to live around?

What do I want to be known for?

What major projects or ventures do I want to have gone on?

How are you taking care of yourself and your body? 

Set tangible and realistic deadlines for the next year. Each week you can look at what you want to accomplish this year and find a few tasks you can accomplish this week that will move you closer to finishing your tasks within the timeline you set for yourself. 

Get Outside

Finally my best advice would be to go outside, spend time by yourself in nature and allow your curiosity and playfulness to come forward. There are physical, psychological and emotional benefits by spending time outside, so get outside whenever you can. Your life, your relationships, your perspective and your happiness will all drastically improve, I promise.

Much Love - Until next time,

Annabel