Sometimes the issue is not what projects to work on but getting your mind to focus long enough on what needs to be done in that project. When Angela asks me to clean I always go through this struggle. I just can’t figure out where to start. It may only take an hour to clean but it will sometimes take me two; one hour just to figure out where to begin.
Tip #4: Keep a To Do List
This works really well when used in conjunction with tip #1. Having a To Do list gets rid of the guess work or even the decision process. With a list I have already determined what needs to be done and in what order. Now all I have to do is “do it”. To do lists have saved me hours of wondering and remembering what needs to get done so that I can simply be productive.
I realize that working with a to do list seems pretty sterile to the creative process but when you are in a productive slump you need all the help you can get.
NOTE: Blogging is almost always on my “to do” list.
I love to-do lists. (And I actually put blogging on mine yesterday, too.)
My frustration with to-do lists are that mine tend to end up so long that I look at it and think, “I will NEVER get all this done!” Then I have a hard time prioritizing the items there, get frustrated, and go into shut down mode.
I found my answer though, my to-don’t list! It’s usually pretty short…
DON’T forget that you can’t do it all
DON’T get frustrated and throw things
DON’T try to do more than everyone else
DON’T forget that at the end of the day, you might not have made everyone happy, but they can’t eat you.
=)