How to get things doneis the focus of this article.
Maybe its a project or a goal?
But whatever it is we sometimes find ourselves in a place where that thing we wanted to do gets forgotten or we just keep on telling ourselves that we will do it tomorrow.
Then tomorrow comes and we still find a way to avoid what we have to do.
With that in mind, let's look at some ways to get things done.
Whatever it might be.
Maybe its something big or maybe its a new habit you want to adopt into your life.
Whatever it is it can be done.
So let's take a look at 11 things you can do to take control and get it done.
How To Get Things Done
.
(1)Stop Over-Planning.
Over-planning and being prepared is different.
Planning is great!
But life is what happens after planning.
Then Murphy's law shows up.
A lot of people get lost in the planning stage and they use it as a buffer that stops them from taking action.
It becomes an excuse for why they still haven't started executing on their goal.
The reality is that for most people planning becomes a form of procrastination.
Sure do some planning.
But then just start.
Give yourself a time window of for example 24 hours.
And then you have to start no matter what.
Remember nothing changes in this universe without movement.
Stop trying to be perfect, instead go after excellence.
(2)Don't React, Respond.
Don't go into a flight or fight response.
When you start taking action on your goals or your mission things will happen.
Sometimes the unexpected shows up when you least expect.
The natural reaction for most people is to just react without thinking about the situation.
There is a difference between reacting and responding.
Reacting is usually an emotional irrational action that takes place when bad things happen.
A response is when we see something happen and we pause.
We take a deep breath and give it some thought.
And then we respond.
So stop just reacting and start responding.
(3)Start Seeing the Humor in Adversity.
We are going to die.
Nobody is getting out of here alive.
However serious your current situation is there will be some humor in it if you allow yourself to find it.
Try to see the humor in it.
Humor has a way of putting things in perspective and making us relaxed in very stressful situations.
The military and especially the special operations community has a crazy sense of humor.
Not because they think the job is funny but because the dangers of their job are so overwhelming.
So they joke about things to get more relaxed and composed in the most stressful situations imaginable.
Laugh a bit on the absurdity of some situations.
Take a deep breath.
Then focus and start executing on your goal again.
(4)Replace Your Worries With Positive Dreams.
Nothing you can imagine is impossible.
If you can think it then you can do it.
When it comes to goals what is true doesn't matter.
Only what you believe is true matters.
We as humans tend to worry a lot about things.
But the truth is that 95% of the things we worry about never comes true.
What about flipping the script and start “worrying” about everything going perfectly well?
Start “worrying” about how great you are.
Start dreaming about how great everything works out for you.
If you re going to be thinking you might as well think big.
Start building the habit of thinking about positive dreams.
It's not an easy habit to build but one that is very powerful once you start regularly practicing it.
For example, you want to build a great body.
Instead of thinking how “weak and unfit” your current body is flip the script.
Start thinking about how powerful you are.
Start dreaming of you lifting heavy weights.
Start dreaming of you looking great and powerful.
Start dreaming about how you easily run 3 miles.
Use the massive power of your mind to uplift your reality.
Negativity has no value for you and its something that is so common in society that you don't need to create it for yourself.
Instead, start “worrying” in a positive way.
Start believing that the thing you want is already happening.
(5)Focus On the Next 5 Minutes.
Long term goals can seem overwhelming.
So forget about the mountain ahead of you and start small.
Build small victories.
When Special Operations soldiers start their long brutal training the reality can seem overwhelming.
When they stand at day one and start stressing about getting through 1 year of hell it leads to many giving up and quitting.
So they get encouraged to forget about the months ahead.
Instead, they get encouraged to think about the next 5 minutes.
Or they set small goals for themselves.
For example, if its 7 am they can tell themselves “Make it to lunch”.
When the day seems overwhelming.
Break it down.
Make if from breakfast to lunch.
Then regroup and make it to dinner.
Then the next day have a fresh start.
Start again with a small win.
Start building these small wins and forget about the mountain that is in front of you.
For example, if you have a marathon to run dont think about the 26 miles.
Just think about running the next 5 minutes.
Then regroup and do another 5 minutes.
(6)Don't Quit Today.
If you feel like quitting then don't quit today.
Do it tomorrow.
And when tomorrow comes tell yourself the same.
Keep postponing on quitting.
I get it!
Saying never quit and not quitting are 2 different things.
It's easy to say “I will never quit”.
But if you feel like you can't move and can't do it anymore tell yourself this: “I will not quit today”.
Then finish the day.
Then the next day tell yourself the same.
Trick yourself into postponing on quitting.
Then just keep on moving forward and never give up.
The mind is a complex animal and you should use any way to trick it into doing the hard yards.
How to get things done starts with not quitting.
(7)Reject Dark Emotions.
All stress is self-induced stress.
Stress is a choice.
You do it to yourself.
It's in your mind.
It's a bag of rocks you choose to carry with you.
At any time you can put down that bag and let it go.
It's your choice.
So put it down.
It is the same as guilt.
The same as fear.
You see fear and recognize it.
But you choose to do the things that scare you anyway.
You move past fear.
You only feel the amount of stress you allow yourself to feel.
Negative emotions never lead to anything positive.
Feeling Fear is OK….but don't panic.
Panic and fear are contagious.
But so is calm.
This is how you lead.
By choosing good emotions to focus on.
Same with mistakes.
When you make a mistake do you start dwelling and obsessing about that mistake and let it hold you back?
Or do you acknowledge the mistake learn from it and move on?
Guess what?
If you focus on mistakes you tend to make more mistakes.
So see stress,fear and regret and move past it.
(8)Shut Down The Noise.
We all need to communicate important things.
But most chats, emails, calls, texts, and comments are just noise.
Shut off the noise and stop all the talking.
Things like chats and comments on Facebook are most of the time counterproductive.
Its a waste of time and a distraction.
Noise is most of the time meaningless.
People talk without communicating.
There is a difference between talking and communicating.
Never pass up the opportunity to shut up.
As an entrepreneur, I'm part of many Facebook groups for many different businesses.
And in all these groups there are always a handful of people that has one thing in common.
This one thing is that they are addicted to the noise.
And by the noise I mean they like talking as a tool to distract them from taking action and getting things done.
They all like talking about what they are going to do.
They like talking about what might go wrong when they take action.
They like asking questions about what might happen when they take action.
They like asking questions about trivial things that don't matter.
But then months later they are the ones that haven't taken any meaningful action.
They are noisemakers.
Avoid this at all costs.
Its a buffer to taking action.
If you need to communicate then do it.
But avoid the noise.
Stop the pointless meetings, emails, phone calls and texts.
Its a waste of time.
Take action that is all that matters.
(9)Do Everything Like You Do Anything.
Do everything like you do anything.
Complacency is dangerous…it leads to failure.
Success leads to complacency.
When we get some success we lose intensity and our standards drop.
You need to have a high standard of how you do things in life.
Always do everything you do mindfully.
That means you have standards of how you do things.
Always be delivering at a very high standard with everything you.
We can't be perfect but we can reach excellence in everything we do.
Set excellence as your standard for doing anything.
And then do everything like you do anything.
(10)Go To War With Yourself.
When you go into a challenge remember this:
You are about to go to war with yourself.
The enemy is all your doubts and all your fears.
When you start taking action on important things you will face resistance.
This resistance will mostly come from yourself.
There is a part of your brain that will come to the surface when you start doing big things in your life.
When you start executing all your shadows will start appearing out of nowhere.
They will start talking to you and try stopping you from doing what you have to do.
You have to face these fears, recognize them and then move forward anyway.
We all get scared and feel fear.
But we don't get paralyzed by them.
Recognize your fear and then move past it and execute on whatever you have to do.
(11)Your Age Is Irrelevant.
Forget about your age.
It doesn't matter how old or young you are.
Remember you are as old as you have ever been.
And you are as young as you ever will be.
I get emails from guys who are 18 and think they are too young to do something.
And I get emails from guys that think they are too old to do something.
Age is something in your mind.
If you are physically in good health and your heart is beating then start doing whatever it is what you have to do.
And even if you are not in good health then change that condition and start getting healthy.
Then you can start doing whatever it is that you want to do.
Age is another one of those excuses for not getting things done.
Stop bullshitting yourself.
Yes, we all are going to die.
If you are 18 you might die tomorrow in a car crash or you might live until 90.
If you are 45 you might die tomorrow in a car crash or you might live to be 90.
In both cases stop bullshitting yourself and start taking action.
The clock is ticking.
Your life starts today
Now you know how to get things done.
Start now!
