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When you’re stressed or overwhelmed or disorganized — be smart and concentrate on one action: simply taking one step forward…
I am almost neurotically well organized. But some days my organization doesn’t lead to my getting very much done. I get distracted by email. A client calls with a major problem. I get stalled when trying to write a big report.
All of us encounter these types of roadblocks, and how we recover from them is what separates the real achievers from the wannabes. If you’re having a bad day, instead of either giving up or, worse, beating yourself up, concentrate instead on taking a single step forward.
For example, let’s say you need to write a year-end report that has to be about 10 pages long. Daunting, right? But here are a number of single steps you could consider taking:
- Prepare a mindmap
- Spend 15 minutes rounding up research you’ll need for the report
- Interview someone whose opinion will be important for the report
- Prepare a timeline for all the various tasks you have to do associated with writing the report
True, none of these jobs will actually finish the report for you, but they are all clear and demonstrable steps forward. (And, besides, after starting the task, you may uncover some newfound enthusiasm for it.)
Furthermore, identify one step forward — on three different projects — you can take on any given day and your colleagues will start calling you a “go getter.”