Boost Your Productivity TODAY with this One Tip

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How Setting Goals has improved my Productivity

Listen…big ideas scare me—they always have.

They send me straight into shutdown mode.  It’s just my personality—a part of it that I’ve been fighting my whole life.

I can remember when I was a kid and my mom would tell me to clean my room (which was always messy) and the thought of starting such a huge task would literally put me out.  As in, I would get into bed and go sleep.

And if I’m honest, I still battle that urge to this day.

The thing of it is—I’m a dreamer!  I have big ideas and big plans for my future—business ideas, ministry plans, career plans, family plans—all kinds of plans!!  God gave me a sense of wonder and an absolute certainty that I was made for more.

My only challenge is finding the drive to implement these gifts.

For many years, I let my reluctance to act define who I was—I was just LAZY.  That had to be it.

So that’s what I told myself and it filled me with guilt and shame.  I would see my friends and family (who mostly all thrive on BIG PLANS and DETAILS) breeze through their lives, succeeding at multiple things at the same time.

I could easily be consumed by jealousy—and a lot of the time I was.

But guess what I have learned in the past couple of years—I have learned that I can do all of those things too! It just looks a little different when I do it and it probably will take a little longer too.  But that’s ok.

The one thing that has helped make me more productive is simple: I set goals.

It sounds so basic, but if you struggle with keeping all the details straight and organized then just try it.

Setting Goals: The Easy Way—

1. Be Realistic (Make the goal one you are actually capable of achieving)
2. Be Specific (Don’t just say you want to lose weight, say you want to lose 20 pounds)
3. Write them down
4. Break large goals into smaller goals
5. Have an end date
6. Review goals regularly

Let’s use losing weight as an example:

Instead of saying, “I want to lose weight, I’m going to start a diet right now.”

You should say, “I want to lose 25 pounds by Christmas so I’m going to start my diet on Monday. I am going to make a meal plan and go to the grocery store on Saturday and sign up for a gym membership on Sunday.” I would also write everything down and set smaller weight loss goals along the way.

There is one thing you must not leave out here—

In my opinion writing it down is the most important step.  I know when I write things down, they are more likely to get done.

When there is something that I have to do and it feels too big—I will literally break it down into daily goals on paper in order to complete the big picture plan.

Setting goals has seriously changed me from a scatterbrain that can’t complete a project into a person who can be counted on to get things done.

I’m still a work in progress—but it is progress nonetheless.

Setting goals will help you improve your productivity, I can promise you that.