Some days, it’s really hard to dig into work. You’re tired, you’re demotivated, and you’re dreading your to-do list. One way to always make getting started easier is to stop your work in the middle of a task the day before.
Photo by kaboompics.
Over at Harvard Business Review, author Joseph Grenny offers a few tips for getting work done on the road, and this is one you can just as easily apply to the office:
When I have long tasks to complete — ones that will require multiple work sessions — I’m careful to stop my work at a place that makes it easier (and more pleasant) for me to pick it back up later. For example, if I am in a groove and have a story going that I am enjoying writing, I intentionally stop before I finish it so I can look forward to jumping back in…I only committed to “outline” this article. I find that this is the piece I procrastinate most on. But once I finish an outline I savour fleshing pieces of it out. So I limited my appointment to finish the hard piece so that I’d feel enthusiastic about picking it up again later.
The idea is to stop where you can easily start again: it’s a lot easier to pick up where you left off than it is to start something new. In doing this, you make it easier to start your day productively, too, and then you can feed off that momentum to get more done.
Check out Grenny’s other tips at the link below.
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