6 Roadblocks to Getting Things Done

Sometimes what you aren't doing, is just as important as what you are doing.

Here are the 6 biggest mistakes I see people make who are trying to be more productive.

1 - You rely on your memory to keep track of things. You can only hold 3-4 pieces of information in your working memory. That's why you say phone numbers in 3-4 number blocks. Don't believe me? Say your mobile number out loud?

2 - You are getting distracted. Every time you get distracted from a task it adds 30% time to completion. Design your work environment to minimise distractions.

3 - You don't have a system. James Clear in his excellent book, Atomic Habits, reinforces the importance of a System, rather than Goals. A goal tells you what you want. A system tells you how you will get there. How > What.

4 - You wait for the perfect time to start. Newsflash - there is no perfect time. For anything.

5 - You multitask. Multi-tasking is not effective at getting things done. If you don't believe try listen to two conversations at once. Focus 100% on one task, then move to the next.

6 - You confuse checking emails with being productive. Reading and writing emails gets you more emails. It won't move you towards your big goals. Don't trick yourself into being "busy".

Are you making any of these mistakes?

If so, I'll show you how to overcome them in the next post.

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