If you’ve been following my progress toward self-discipline, you would have seen by now that nearly everything that I have done is more about time management than anything else. Here’s where that starts to change…
After sorting out my priorities and all the things that I want, need and have to do I continue to come up against one obstacle. How do I discipline myself to do the things that must be done? It’s been pretty easy to do the things that I want to do and even a few things that are a bit unpleasant. The problem comes when I have things on my list that are unappealing to me. Some items are getting carried over from day to day to day.
Here’s what I’m doing to add some self-discipline and help me do the things I don’t feel like doing.
- First, I’m moving the least appealing things to the top of the list. They now become my first priority everyday rather than farther down the list. I look at my list and decide which one item do I least want to do. I expect that this will give me a bit of an added boost as far as getting them done.
- Second, I have scheduled a one hour block of time each morning when I will tackle my least favourite item. Because I normally get to the office at 9:00am, I’m blocking off the hour between 9:30am and 10:30am to attack my most undesirable task. Although that may not be enough time to complete the task, it will give me a good start.
- Third, I will not turn on my computer until after 10:30am. Of course that will only work if my first priority task doesn’t involve using the computer. I may have to modify this step depending on the particular task involved.
- Fourth, I can only get my daily latte if I work on my task during that time. While this may seem inconsequential, for me I really look forward to a latte in the morning. It’s the only coffee I drink during the day and I own a coffee shop. If I don’t get my latte, I save some money. If I get something done, I get my latte. It seems like it should be a win-win situation.
If you struggle with self-discipline, you might want to check out Steve Pavlina’s series.
If you’re still not sure why you need self-discipline, you might want to read this Washington Post article.
As always, I’ll keep you informed about how I’m doing. If you have any ideas or questions for me, leave them in the comments.
