In order to beat procrastination, first of all, pick just one important task you are procrastinating on. Then use the following 3 techniques, and I personally guarantee you that you will stop procrastinating and start working on the task immediately.

1. Explore and map the task

Procrastination is often related to fear. We are often afraid of unknown work. After all, it might be too much work, or we might be unable to do it. The easiest way to reduce this fear is to explore, map and research the task.

So, how do you explore a task? Well -

Just break the task down into subtasks! This is the best way to “explore” it, unpack it and see what’s really going on.

If you use Swift To-Do List, to break a task down into subtasks, simply select it, then start adding subtasks with all the steps necessary for completing the task.

Add even all the small steps. Try to order the subtasks roughly in the sequence they need to be done.

While you are adding the subtasks, pay extra attention to all the “research” actions – steps that require you to gather extra information and data in order to move forward. These “research” actions are what you want to do first, because doing them will help you to unpack the original task even further.

Once you break the task into subtasks AND start gathering all the necessary information, materials and data, and possibly discuss it with your co-workers or boss, the fear of unknown will diminish, and as a result, you will be able to start doing the task right away without procrastinating anymore.

2. Find the smallest possible next step – then do it!

When we procrastinate, we often feel that we are simply unable to do the task. However, when you identify a tiny easy action to get started on the task, you will be absolutely confident that you can do it.

For example, you might be procrastinating on this task: “Write the 70-page Q3 report”

So, you quickly think about what you actually need to do to get started on it, and determine this smallest possible next step: “Open MS Word and write a rough half-page outline of the Q3 report”

Can you open MS Word and write a rough half-page outline? Of course you can! You know you can absolutely do it. You are confident. So there is no reason to procrastinate anymore. You can just do it. So you do it.

And once you do it, you can simply repeat this process – what is the next small easy step?

3. Schedule fun and limit the work

This technique might seem counter-intuitive at first, but it’s extremely effective. It uses powerful reverse-psychology.

Get this -

Another big reason for procrastination is the fear you will miss out on all the fun and pleasant things in life.

The solution is ridiculously simple: Guarantee the fun first. Then limit the time you have available for work.

Simply schedule some fun! Plan and schedule a night out. Or, schedule any of your favorite relaxation, entertainment, sport or fun activity that you just love.

Ideally, schedule this pleasant activity right after work.

Next, limit the time you have available for your work. Give yourself a hard time limit that forces you to stop working at a specific time of the day. Absolutely no overtimes allowed. This will motivate you to stop procrastinating and get to work, right now.

Tip: When scheduling the fun activity, ideally pick an activity right after work that involves other people. You will know that you HAVE to be there because of the other people, so you will know that there is a very real time limit on your work today. This will strongly motivate you.

As an extra bonus, the fun activity will help you recharge your batteries and sharpen your saw, so the next time you get to work, you are strong. Obviously, this also makes you immune to burnout.

How procrastination works

If you want to learn more about how and why you procrastinate, you will love this.

Here’s my summary of The Now Habit, which is probably the best book on procrastination ever written.

This summary will give you the most important insights from the book in just a few pages.

In the summary, you will also learn additional causes of procrastination (perfectionism, fear of judgment, fear of success, and more).

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3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

“Yeah, being organized is very nice, but why should I care? Why should I care about productivity at all? Does it even matter? Isn’t it enough to just show up? If I don’t do something today, well, no big deal, I can do it later – right? Being organized is for boring uptight perfectionists.”

Well, here is my answer -

Being organized and productive does matter. In fact, it matters a great deal – way more than you might think. In the long-term, it’s especially important. In fact, not being organized/productive can have disastrous consequences for you. Let me tell you why.

If you need motivation to finally get (and stay!) organized, you are at the right place. Just as organization is key in life, many businesses and event spaces prioritize safety and preparedness, which is why some turn to Fire Watch Services in Virginia Beach to help keep venues monitored and secure.

When you become organized and productive, these 8 things happen:

1. You will eliminate stress. Stress is not just about unpleasant workdays. If you are stressed, you won’t sleep well at night and you risk high blood pressure, ulcers, heart attacks, stroke, cancer, immune system impairment and nervous breakdown. It is well established that stress is very damaging to our health. In fact, in Japan, there is a term “Karōshi” which can be literally translated as “death from overwork”. The Wikipedia says: “The major medical causes of karōshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress.” Karōshi happens even to people in their prime years. By eliminating stress, you will sleep well at night, greatly improve your health, and increase the quality of your life and probably the length of your life as well.
2. You will become efficient and advance in your career or grow your business, make much more money and become wealthier. By becoming one of the most valuable, reliable and indispensable people in your company, it is unlikely you will ever get fired. In fact, you will probably get promoted – and repeatedly. If you are a business owner, you will be able stay in business and prevent bankruptcy – and eventually double or triple your business or go even beyond that.
3. By reducing overtime and needless overworking, you will have more time for your family. You will be able maintain happy, healthy and deeply fulfilling relationships. Because you will have enough energy left and be able to spend high-quality time with your spouse, your intimate relationship will flourish. If you have kids, you will be able to spend more high-quality time with them as well. Also, your spouse won’t leave you, which, statistically speaking, could easily happen – think of overworked husband who comes home late, drained, slowly becoming alienated from his wife and kids. Well – that won’t ever happen to you. Instead, you will be able to give and receive all the love you need and want.
4. You will have good close friends. Because your work won’t drain you, and you will have more time, you will be able to spend and have great time with your close friends and enjoy their company in your life. Stress elimination helps here as well, because by definition, stress prevents you from being happy. And if you are unhappy, how can you possibly make others feel good?
5. By becoming productive and reliable, you will be admired and appreciated by your colleagues or business partners; and prevent becoming insignificant and irrelevant in your company or industry.
6. By being able to actually do what you want to do, you will have the power to influence others and create the life you want; and prevent becoming powerless to change your circumstances.
7. You will be deeply satisfied with your life and happy. You will feel great about yourself, as you will know that you are fulfilling your potential.
8. You will have the opportunity to actually make a difference in your world, advancing a cause or helping community you deeply care about.

It’s good for your health. It’s good for your career. It’s good for your finances and wealth. You’re informed about the best junior ISA. It’s good for your family. It’s good for your relationship with your spouse, kids and friends. It’s good for your self-esteem, status and happiness. It’s good for your influence and power. It’s good for the world.

And it prevents some truly horrible things that could happen to you.

Need I say more?

PS: Download Swift To-Do List and get organized in 5 minutes. Heck, it’s even fun – I promise. Many people would agree.

Citation: https://www.indiatimes.com/igaming/non-gamstop-casinos-647736.html

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“Why should I care about being organized?” is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

However, with the right approach, you can easily overcome resistance. All you have to do is to use your mental resources efficiently. Just a little bit of the right mental effort can get you happily cranking on that horrendous task in just a few minutes.

As I’ve been experimenting with various productivity techniques over the last 7 years, I’ve discovered 3 extremely efficient techniques that I am using to this day. I am going to share these with you. I will also give you a fourth supporting technique, and show you how you can combine it all for maximum power.

1. Break it down

Break the dreaded task into the largest possible amount of sub-steps. Write it all down. Also write all related thoughts and notes that will occurr to you during this process.

After just 5-10 minutes, you can be a proud author of “How to do task X for dummies”. With such a how-to guide in hand, there will be little else to think about. You will just do it.

The magic of this approach is that the breakdown is an actual work on the task! Thanks to the breakdown process, you will think the task through and discover possible pitfalls. You will create a mental map of the unexplored scary territory which was causing the resistance.
This technique usually completely dissipates any resistance.

2. Discover the smallest possible next step you can do

Don’t confuse this with the “Next Action” principle from the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology. Next Action in GTD is the next specific action you can take to move certain project forward. The problem is that this very action can be the one causing the resistance.

However, there is a simple algorithm which you can use to discover a next step that you will actually want to do, and feel no resistance to.

Let me give you an example from my own life. I am writing a book, and one day, it happens that I will feel enormous resistance to writing. However, with the following dialogue, I can go past the resistance and start writing in just a few moments.

It goes like this – this is the inner dialog I have with myself:

Q: Can I write a book right now?
A: No!

Q: Ok… how about a single chapter? Can I write a chapter?
A: No!

Q: Well how about just one page, can I write one page?
A: No.

Q: Well, can I at least open MS Word?
A: Yes, I can do that.

So now I have Word opened, and the process continues:

Q: Can I write something?
A: No.

Q: Can I read a few random paragraphs I’ve already written?
A: Yes, I can do that.

So I start reading, and sure enough, I will want to edit some of the things I wrote during the previous sessions. I edit them, and sure enough, before I know it, I am writing new text. Once I run out of things to write, I take a break, and then I continue the dialog with myself like this:

Q: Can I write some more?
A: No.

Q: How about some freewriting, writing completely random stuff at the end?
A: Yes, I can do that.

So I start writing random things at the end of the book, whatever is on my mind (Freewriting), clarifying my thoughts, playing with ideas – and sure enough, before I know it, I am yet again writing valuable new content for the book.

As you can see, I am always trying to find the smallest possible next step I can take. Sometimes, I do this dialogue on paper (or on a computer). You can experiment with that, too. This technique works like a charm. It is simple, yet powerful.

Once I discover the micro-step I am willing to do, and actually do it, I usually have no problem going forward with further action on the task. If it doesn’t help, I start looking for another micro-step I can take.

3. Set a time limit

Kitchen timer or any other kind of timer can be priceless. Pomodoro works great, but sometimes, even 20 minutes limit is too much to make us feel like doing something. So, why not try 5 minutes? Or 2 minutes? Still too much? How about 1 minute? Or 30 seconds. Seriously, why not?

Are you willing to work for 30 seconds on that terrible task? Yes? Great. Set the timer and… go! The rest will follow, starting is half the success. If not, do another time block, and gradually make them longer.

You can learn more about this in my previous post Overcome procrastination with new Swift To-Do List.

4. Discover the hidden cause of resistance and solve it

Sometimes, all you need is a few minutes of contemplating with a pen or a keyboard. Think about why you don’t want to do the task so much. If you can discover the hidden cause of the resistance, you can oftentimes easily solve it. The causes are usually very specific and individual. Try to look at it from multiple perspectives.

For example, you might not want to start with some big task because you are afraid that you will have no time for fun if you start working. So the solution could be to schedule some fun activity with friends for the evening, then happily get to work, knowing that the fun is already guaranteed.

The Now Habit is a wonderful book on procrastination. It explains all the possible causes of procrastination in detail, and it provides strategies to overcoming them.

It might be also helpful to remind yourself that you don’t have to do it. In life, everything is voluntary.

Combine the above

For maximum effect, you can combine all the techniques above:

1. Think about the reason you don’t want to do it, and if you discover the possible cause, try to solve it.
2. Break it down into a list of sub-steps (write your own “for dummies” how-to guide).
3. Discover the smallest micro-step you are willing to do
4. Start a timer and work on it for 2 minutes

Here is a final tip for you: When it comes to success in life, the speed of implementation is critical. You should use what you’ve just learned immediately, right now. Pick some task that you feel especially large resistance to, and engage it. Now you know how. Tomorrow, you probably won’t – unless you do this, right now. Get cranking.

PS: Download Swift To-Do List, a task and notes organizer for Windows which will amaze you. It’s just a few clicks away. Can these few clicks revolutionize the way you work?

- By Jiri Novotny+, the obsessed author of the number one to-do list software for Windows, Swift To-Do List. Jiri’s life quest is to become productivity and achievement world-class expert to empower others to achieve their full potential. If you liked this post, then definitely follow this blog on G+.

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How to Overcome Resistance to Work – 4 Techniques is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Are you genius at wasting time, fooling both yourself and others?

The common sense is that you are either procrastinating, or you are not. And if you are procrastinating, you always know it.

Well, I don’t agree with these statements.

There are multiple levels of procrastination.

But I plead you to stop reading this if you know that you are currently procrastinating. Do yourself a favor and go fix your procrastination issue first. You are lucky because your procrastination is NOT hidden. You can absolutely fix it. You can start by reading my detailed summary of The Now Habit, which is one of the best books on procrastination. Spending more time on proactive tasks instead of reactive tasks also helps. Fooling yourself into working works, too.

OK, with half the audience still remaining, let’s get back to the original question: Are you a genius at wasting time?

You probably had the experience of joyously cleaning/polishing/organizing stuff instead of doing THAT important task. That is the regular garden variety of procrastination. But what I am going to suggest here is that there are multiple levels of procrastination.

Sometimes it might feel like you are working and being productive, but the reality might be that you are, in fact, procrastinating – and you don’t even know it!

It works like this -

“Hidden procrastination” is wasting time in an elaborate way. It might be actually productive (albeit less productive than THAT task), or it might be just pseudo-productivity.

You might object: “HEY! If I am working on something important, then I can’t be possibly procrastinating!” Good point sir, thanks for bringing that up! Well, you might be working on something that actually is important – but if there is something else that you know to be more important, then it can be helpful for you to think of what you are doing as procrastination. Why? Because you can use the same approach to fix your “prioritizing” issue as you would use to fix a blatant case of procrastination. E.g. you can apply the techniques from The Now Habit book.

Detecting hidden procrastination

Sometimes, you just need to take one step back and ask yourself:

Is this the most important thing I could be doing right now?.

And:

What am I missing here, in the grand scheme of things?

Sometimes, these questions will help you discover where you stand, and sometimes, they will make you drop what you are currently doing and make a quantum leap to an entirely different level. If you spend most of your time zoomed in, you need to zoom out from time to time – just to make sure what you are doing still makes sense.

That’s it. This is the most important thing I wanted to tell you.

More on pseudo-productivity

In case of pseudo-productivity, you might absolutely convinced that you are doing something important, and you might very well convince others as well, but it might be entirely irrelevant a month from now.

The signs that you are possibly pseudo-productive include:

• You are not working on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd most important thing.
• What you are doing now won’t matter 1 year from now (And if it won’t matter 1 month from now on, I think you should reconsider your long-term strategy!)
• You should’ve already moved to the next task, others would confirm that when asked.
• You are obviously over-delivering with only an abysmal chance of payoff.
• You are over-worked, tired, or daydreaming a lot.
• You are having trouble staying focused.
• Excessive organizing or planning.
• You are eternally grateful for any external stimuli or distraction that prompts you to do something else, and you’ve mastered rationalizing how it might be useful or important.

Oh, and if your environment forces you to spend more time on bureaucratic tasks than real tasks, then the whole environment has systemic problems. Change the environment – either transform it or leave. You can’t possibly be happy in such a place.

Traps of complex organizing tools

Pseudo-productivity is often related to over-organizing, over-planning, and thus, your task management software. Such tools can be so complex that you fiddle with it all the time instead of doing the actual work.

The sole purpose of your organizer is to allow you:

1. Always know what to do next
2. Capture everything – tasks, ideas, notes (task details), knowledge snippets, and maybe even related documents and emails
3. Delegate and monitor tasks – even if you are not a manager, you will be responsible for tasks that require work of someone else, and you need to stay on top of such delegated assignments.
4. Do some basic planning

Everything else is just more or less a waste of time. You don’t need super detailed plans that include toilet breaks.

The purpose of always knowing what to do next is to ensure that you are working on the most important thing, and that your work is friction-less and focused.

The purpose of capturing is that it frees your mental RAM. You take it out of your head, and put it into the organizer. Then keep working on THAT thing.

My experience is that my organizing needs vary a lot in time. Sometimes, a single sticky note might be enough to keep me organized for a day, and sometimes I really need to overview hundreds of to-do items and write notes for some of them.

In case you didn’t know, I’m the author of Swift To-Do List, a task/notes organizer for Windows.

Perhaps you don’t even use Windows – but let me quickly tell you about some of the things that I think are important in task management software in general, and that I’ve implemented into Swift To-Do List. It might help you find the perfect tool for you.

When it comes to prioritizing, you can just drag and drop tasks around, or sort them by multiple columns at once (First by Due Date, then by Priority). Color codes for priorities help me to highlight THAT important tasks.

Capturing is also thought-of in Swift To-Do List. Not only you can write rich-text notes for each task, but you can create task-independent notes and organize them in the hierarchical tree along with to-do lists. Having that integrated with task-management is invaluable for me. Also, you can attach files and emails to tasks, and even embed the files directly into the database. A killer feature is ability to drag & drop emails from email clients (such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Lotus Notes, The Bat) into Swift To-Do List to instantly generate tasks from them, complete with the attachments.

Delegating is handled simply using the Assigned To field, plus the ability to email the task directly to the assignee right from the program.

When designing Swift To-Do List, I’ve put into tremendous effort into customization and flexibility. When I don’t need some features, it is very important for me to be able to hide them. In Swift To-Do List, the whole GUI changes based on what columns you use (Start Date, Due Date, Priority, Context, Type, Assigned To, Time Estimate, Time Spent, etc.) This keeps things simple.

Wrapping this up or TL;DR

1) When you are not working on your most important tasks, it is helpful to think of it as procrastination. It allows you to correct the problem by utilizing the existing infrastructure of procrastination solutions (books, techniques, tools, experts).

2) Sometimes, you just need to take one step back and ask yourself:

Is this the most important thing I could be doing right now?.

And:

What am I missing here, in the grand scheme of things?

3) Make sure your organizer is actually helping you to prioritize, capture everything, and stay on top of things.

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Hidden Procrastination is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Do you need to get motivated again? I’m here to help.

If you realize the following 10 things, it might not be so hard to get back on track.

Let’s get started.

1. You are GOD!

You are creating something from nothing. In my book, you are a god.

As Megaherz sing in their tune “Gott Sein ’04″:
Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein.

It means: It is not easy to be a god.

But damn, it is worth it!

2. The sky is NOT the limit!

In the grand scheme of things, you are literally building the universe. You are accelerating the process of evolution.

There is nothing more noble than making the world a better place. For you, for me, for everyone and everything.

3. I love you

Sometimes, it might seem like no one can appreciate what you do. It might seem like no one cares.

But know this: I do care. I have a deep admiration for all builders. I love you. You are the reason why life is great. I’m your raving fan in the first row, chanting your name, even when the hall is empty.

You are the DJ in this galactic party. If it weren’t for beings like you, there would be just rocks and stupid bored amoebas sucking the rocks, all covered in dust and darkness… or something like that :-)

4. Don’t forget to be grateful

Be grateful for what you have, whatever it is, because if you would’ve behaved like a quitter in the past, your life would completely suck now. I guarantee that.

It is easy to forget your past successes. But just stop for a moment, and think about all your past achievements. You’ve probably forgotten the excitement that came with each milestone in your life, but the excitement still lives inside you. Find it, and bring it out.

Sometimes I wish I could go back a couple of years, hug myself, and say to myself: “You are awesome. Thank you so much for clenching the teeth and spilling the sweat and blood when things got tough. My life rocks now – and I owe it all to you!”

5. Already given up? Bullshit!

If you think that you’ve already given up, I’m telling you: That’s bullshit!

The fact is that you’ve just paused for a while. We both know that you are now ready to resume rocking!

6. Figure it all out

If you need to catch your breath and figure things out, then do that. Take the time to think your life through. Make sure that you really want what you are striving to achieve.

Pen and paper (or a word processor) is the best friend of your sanity. Use them. Think on paper. Resolve all the lingering issues and insecurities, then recommit fully to your goal.

7. It is worth it

When you struggle, repeat this like a mantra: It is worth it. It is worth it. It is worth it

The pain and emptiness will always go away. It is worth it.

8. Shut the world off

When everything is screaming into your face, demanding attention, it’s hard to focus.

But you can always either make the distractions go away, or go away from them yourself. Letting the world spam your mind is entirely optional.

9. Grind on

However hard it is, you can always grind on. You may crawl like the tiniest worm, but crawl. Do the tiniest baby micro-step towards your goal, but freaking do it! And do it now.

10. Never stop dreaming

Never stop imagining how great your life is going when you achieve your goal.

Day-dreaming feels great. It can quickly pull you up from the dark cold reality.

Imagining the end brings you closer to it.

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10 quick fixes of motivation is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

But let me make one thing straight first: This incredible goal achievement technique is not for the faint of heart. If you are scared yet, better go away now. There is no turning back ;-)

You’ve probably heard that the bad boys (or Klingons) always get the girl, and nice guys are left wallflowering on the sidelines.

Well, it’s the same with goals. Nice goals finish last.

The nice goals are rarely achieved, but bad-ass goals that will make your life hell, unless you accomplish them, will get accomplished. It’s not like that there is any other option, really (unless you like living in hell :-).

“Whoa, OK, buddy, wait a minute… What are you talking about?!”

I’m talking about my beautifully simple and scary-effective way of accomplishing worthy goals.

The truth is that whenever I’m fighting with my willpower, I usually lose. I have only precious little amount of willpower available to me every day, and I use it to outsmart myself. The technique described here gives me an incredible leverage.

When I want to get from nothing to something great, this is what I do. You just need to:

1. Choose a worthy goal.
2. Double-check that you really, really want it.
3. Commit to it like a madman. (Read on!)
4. Plow through like a Klingon. No looking back.
5. Celebrate.

BUT! The tricky part is the point 3 – the commitment. I’ve discovered that’s where 99% of the trouble lies whenever I want to achieve any goal. I’ve been experimenting with various forms of commitment, and I’ve drawn a conclusion that it is the commitment will make or break your goal.

The “commitment” we usually do is something like „So, OK, I’m going to do this. Maybe. One day. Hopefully. Anyway, what’s on the TV?“

Sounds lame? It is. What works much, much better is: “Yes! I’m going to do this, no matter what. And I will make sure that my life will be a total hell if I won’t. That’s how committed I am! In your face, laziness!” (Following that by a raging Klingon battlecry and frantically throwing the TV from the window is entirely optional).

Whenever I use this technique, all I need is to want the goal badly enough, so I don’t mind that it is so freaking scary to commit to it like a madman. Once that little hurdle is solved, the rest will take care of itself.

Let’s go through the “5 rules of achieving goals like a mad Klingon” now. The rule 3 is the most important one, as it contains the super powerful “madman commitment” technique.

Rule 1: Worthy Royal Goals

Crappy goals should be dropped. How about the noblest blue-blooded audacious goals of the awesome breed? Now we are talking!

Worthy goals are goals that can change your life for the better, forever. Building a new business to the point it can provide you with a financial freedom, shedding weight, gaining weight, learning a new language (or two), writing a book and getting it published, creating a successful blog with 30.000 readers, making your first successful iPhone or Android app – you name it. No one else can name it for you, anyway. It’s your life we are talking about here.

Your goals must be worthy of you – your time, your effort, your energy, your mind.

For example, some goals that were worth my time in the past were: Achieving financial freedom by creating the best to-do list software for Windows and building a successful business around it, creating the habit of exercising daily, attaining excellent health by eating right, building and furnishing my dream home, learning to understand women (no easy task, trust me ;-), etc. And I’m freaking glad I’ve accomplished these goals. I’m getting a warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about them now.

I always make sure that the goal is a perfect match for me. It should be focused on the area where I need to grow the most.

And most importantly, the goal must make me happy. Just thinking and day-dreaming about it should make me happy. Remember: It’s our own happiness that should ultimately guide us.

Rule 2: Double-check that you really, really want it

Here is a quick mental check list that I always do before committing to any goal.

Quick checklist:

• How badly I want it? (Nothing less than “Real bad” won’t cut it!)
• Do I want it, or it’s my boss, spouse, or parents that want it? If it’s not I who wants it, full-stop! I’ve recently finished reading the great classic Atlas Shrugged, and I think it’s no coincidence everyone who wanted to live in the Atlantis valley (while the world was falling apart) had to make this oath: “I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
• Do I actually want it, or do I want to want it? This happens to me when I’m scared to get out of my comfort zone in a particular area of my life in order to grow in it, so I’m choosing goals in safe areas where I’m already getting good results.
• Can I accept the consequences? If it’s a big goal, my life will probably be quite different once I accomplish the goal. Am I ready to accept all the consequences?

Rule 3: Commit to it like a madman

When I complete the two previous steps, I am 100% sure that I want to achieve my goal. Time to bring the heat up. The goal is on fire, we don’t need no water!

I can now fully commit to it. The word “fully” here probably means so monstrous commitment, that all other commitments you have ever made to yourself look tiny, like the human-ants running around the Discworld on the back of a giant turtle Great A’Tuin. *Gulp*, indeed.

What doesn’t work

Just before I give you the ultimate madman commitment technique, I would like to pin-point what doesn’t work. The usual ways we commit to goals just don’t work. All of the following is not a bad advice, but it’s not very effective:

• Make the commitment to yourself. Tell yourself that you will achieve the goal, and that you are ready to pay the price.
• Print the goal in a huge font to a sheet of a paper, and post it to a prominent place at home.
• Edit your PC wallpaper in MS Paint (or other graphical editor), and write your goal all over it.
• Create a small card with your goal, and place it in your wallet as a constant reminder.
• Publicly announce that you will work on your goal, and that you are going to post regular daily or weekly updates regarding your goal. Announce it on Facebook, Twitter, and tell this to everyone you see regularly, etc.

All of these points make sense, and I usually do them anyway, but they are nothing compared to:

THE MADMAN COMMITMENT!

The madman commitment works like this:

1. You make a deal with a partner you can trust. It can be your friend, your roommate, one of your parents or grand-parents, or one of your other family relatives.
2. You tell them exactly what goal you want to achieve, by what deadline (if applicable), how are you going to measure the progress, and how are you going report to them (eg. by sending them a text message every day, by messaging them on Facebook or emailing them every day, or by calling them once a week, etc).
3. If you fail to work on your goal the way you plan to, promise that you will do something that is going to be hell for you – like giving them $5000, or cleaning their toilet once a week for a year. Be creative – it should be something great for them, and hell for you.
4. Their duty is to hold you accountable and demand that you fulfill your end of the deal, shall you fail to work on your goal as planned.
5. If you ever forget to report to them as you’ve agreed, they should call you to check your progress.

Before I tell you why it works so well, let me give you an example:

Let’s say that you want to build a new online business selling Android apps. You want to release your first app and have it in the Android Market in the next 6 months. You might not know much about the development of Android apps, but you know if you put in the effort, you can definitely make it. So you make a deal with your best friend:

“I will work on my Android app at least 2 hours every single day for 6 months, or until the app is released. Every day, I will send you an email report of what I’ve learned or accomplished that day, and how many hours I’ve roughly worked. If I skip a day, it’s OK, but if I ever skip two days in a row, I will give you $2000, and do your laundry and clean your windows every week for the next 12 months. You are to hold me accountable, and demand that I hold my end of the deal. If I ever forget to send you an email, you are to call me and ask me about my progress.”

Want to make it extra serious? Put that in writing, and both sign it.

Suddenly, there is no place for excuses. Hell or achievement. Pick one.

Why it works so well?

Just imagine that you made the example deal above, and that you’ve additionally decided to work on your app in the morning.

Your typical day will look like this: You wake up. You think: Should I work on my Android app for 2 hours, or wire my friend $2000 and be his housemaid for a year? Achievement or hell? You will always choose to put the work in.

You even do not have to think about it! It doesn’t even require your willpower! It is a done deal! You are simply choosing the more pleasant option, like we humans tend to.

Now imagine that you have not made that deal with your friend, and made a commitment only to yourself. Your typical day will look like this:

You wake up, and you think: Should I work on my Android app, or sleep some more? Well, I guess I will sleep some more. It can’t hurt. 45 minutes later, you get up, and think: Should I work on that Android app, or check the Facebooks, the Twitters, and the Wonderful Worlds Of The Internets first? I guess that Facebooks it is! And so on.

Without the madman commitment, your choice will always be: Work or some random pleasure? You will tend to choose the more pleasant option. A lot. Yes, sometimes, you might work on your app a bit, because you really want to or it’s fun, but you won’t push yourself too hard. You will take it easy. Time will fly by, days will get wasted, time lost, and in 6 months, you might not have more than a crude prototype, when you could already had an awesome polished app released, first sales, and another app under-way, thanks to the ultimate power of the madman commitment.

Another part of the magic is that what gets measured, gets done. Just the fact that you are systematically tracking your progress (and reporting it to someone) will make you infinitely more likely to accomplish your goal.

Rule 4: Plow through like a Klingon

Putting in the actual work is usually the hard part, but the funny thing with Mad Klingon Goals is that this is the easiest part. As illustrated in the example above, doing the actual work will be ridiculously easy. The hard part is making the commitment.

Every day, you are like an angry Klingon that is choosing between a glorious battle or exuberant humiliation. You just don’t have to think about it. It’s a done deal. Glorious battle it is, from the moment you wake up.

Rule 5: Celebrate

Once your goal is achieved, throw hell of a party. Or don’t. You can now bend matter to your will. You deserve it all. The reality is your oyster.

Think about the possibilities…

Powerful, powerful stuff, right?

A tiny bit of willpower to make the madman commitment is much more effective that battling yourself every day to do the work. You can just pre-decide all the battles – all that is needed is the madman commitment.

Leave a reply below. What has helped you the most when achieving your goals? Has this inspired you? Can you imagine making such a commitment? Have you ever made any similar deal with someone?

If you have a business, would you be scared if your competitors were using this technique?

Shameless plug: I’m the author of Swift To-Do List for Windows. If you want to get your stuff organized and have all your notes, tasks and reminders in one place, Swift To-Do List is the tool for you. I use it myself every day. I love it, and I’m not alone.

You might also enjoy my post 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work. And if you do not know what goal to set, then the post Raise your awareness of your life might help.

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• 10 best tricks of fooling myself to work
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Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

UPDATE April 29, 2011: There is a new post Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon if you want to trick yourself into achieving goals.

In order to be successful, we have to work hard, no matter what. We can’t always be at the mercy of our motivation.

I am lazy. But that’s okay, because I have some tricks for fooling myself into working, every single day. Actually, I’m quite productive thanks to these tricks. I’m going to share the tricks with you now.

I will mention my own software, a task and notes organizer Swift To-Do List, in 2 of these tricks, but these tricks can be done with other programs (or pen and paper) too.

1. The ultimate trick

When I really don’t feel like working, and it would take a superhuman force to get me working, this saves me. Every time.

Actually, I think what follows is the best way of fooling yourself to work, because it works so well. It’s scary-effective.

So what’s the trick? Well, when I have a “Task X”, and I don’t feel like doing it, and I would much rather do anything else, but I know that doing this particular task is the best choice, I do this:

I tell myself that I will merely write down the steps needed to complete the task. Just a rough draft, at first, and that’s it. Maybe just 3 steps. I then add more steps, breaking the 3 steps into smaller sub-tasks. I then add some details, and thoughts, notes of things that I shouldn’t forget when doing this task. I just think the task through and write everything down. After a little while, I will be a proud author of “The Complete Guide To Finishing Task X for Dummies”.

(The actual way I do this is that I open my Swift To-Do List and fill the notes of the task I want to accomplish with all the steps and thoughts.)

Now, for some unknown reason, when there is nothing else to think about, and there is no way to screw this task up, because everything is laid out in front of me, I just start working on the task automatically. I might do just the first baby micro-step at first, but that’s OK. It follows to the next, and to the next, and before I know it, the task is finished.

When I am thinking about how to accomplish the task, I am already actually accomplishing it. And once I think it through, it seems ridiculously easy.

2. Not eating at the computer

I don’t know about you, but I have never accomplished *anything* while eating at my desk. I usually just read articles, or gaze at the code in Visual Studio while day-dreaming, at best. What’s worse, I even don’t enjoy the food that much this way, as my mind is split among 5 different things.

Oh, and did I mention that my keyboard used to be a huge mess? I swear that there was a delicate living ecosystem inside it. Even if I am really trying to be super-neat, some of the foodstuff will fall into the keyboard. It happens to the best of us.

So what I do now is that I always sit to an actual table, like a civilized man, and enjoy my meal without staring at the addictive hypnotic evils of my computer screen.

Now, while I am enjoying my food at the table, I also kinda miss the computer. I’m eager to return to it and do some real work. The fake feeling of productivity while eating at my computer is eliminated.

3. Rudder of the day

When I sit down to my computer for the first time in the morning, I immediately start working. Because my brain is still half asleep, he doesn’t fully realize that I’m actually working, so he won’t protest. Poor little bugger.

Whenever I begin the day this way, the whole day flows in the productive-tone. But if I start by messing around on the social networks and reading news and articles, the whole day seems lazy and I accomplish a lot less in the end.

This trick has probably the biggest ROI (return on investment) of all of these. What’s the investment? Well, it takes just a little spark of my willpower to start working in the morning. This little morning-spark can ignite an enormous day-fire of productivity.

Being the navigator behind the rudder is easy in the morning. Much harder during the day.

Whatever you do, start working when you sit at your computer for the first time. Even if just for a couple of minutes.

In my opinion, any work done “first thing in the morning” counts triple.

4. Real relaxation

Fake relaxation sucks. When I need a break, I do not eagerly launch Facebook, ICQ or solitaire, but I actually get up and get away from the computer! :-) I can go for a walk, read a book, prepare myself a fruit snack/smoothie/juice, take a nap, do some yoga, chat with a co-worker, or just generally chill out without looking at the darn computer screen.

When I return, I don’t do some random thing on “The Internets”. Oh no. I open my Swift To-Do List, see what’s next, and immediately start working.

5. “Back to work” mantra

I’ve learned this one from Brian Tracy’s Time Management and Maximum Achievement programs. I just keep saying “back to work”, whenever appropriate, until it starts humming in my mind automatically whenever something distracts me.

Completed a small task? “Back to work.” Someone interrupted me? “Back to work.” Answered a call? “Back to work.” Had to reboot my computer? “Back to work.” Velociraptor looking at me behind the window, then leaving? “Back to work.”

“Back to work” is my Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. I just feel great every time I tell myself “Back to work” and resume working.

6. Always knowing what to do next

Whenever I finish a task of any size, and I do not know what to do next, my productivity goes to the drain. So, I’ve come up with an easy way how to avoid this.

Whenever I need to know what to do next, I just bring Swift To-Do List up using a system-wide hotkey and I immediately see what’s next.

Not having some productivity software associated to a system-wide hotkey is like riding without a steering wheel. You will get somewhere, but not where you want to go.

I have many separate to-do lists (a couple for each project), and I’ve created a new Priority called “Next”, highlighted by a bright green color. I assign this priority to tasks that I want to accomplish next.

View modes, filters, sorting etc make this really easy. I can also manually reorder the tasks (see a video) to decide the exact order of my tasks.

7. Sheet of paper with the most important task

Although Swift To-Do List is awesome ;-), good old physical paper has an intricate quality that no software can offer: It exists outside of your computer.

When I have 1-3 super-important tasks, I often write them down on an actual physical paper, and put the paper in front of me. It will be a constant physical reminder of what I want to do. Works like a charm.

And don’t forget the exquisite pleasure of physically checking the tasks off, and joyously manufacturing a paper-ball as a token of your greatness.

This has the biggest effect when you prepare such a paper before leaving work or going to bed, because it will be the first thing you see when you get back to work the next day.

8. Eliminating distractions

It’s a fact of this age that focusing is nearly impossible if you do not have some personal distraction-management strategy. I’ve ellaborated on this topic in one of my previous posts Create more productive environment at your desk (10 tips).

9. When falling asleep…

When you are falling asleep, think about the most important task for the next day. Your subconscious mind will do half the job for you during the night.

This might sound bananas to you, but I swear that it works. Your mind is busy during the whole night anyway (we all have dreams), so why not give it something productive to ponder on?

What’s your trick?

I lied. There are only 9 tricks. However, here is the Captain You to save the day!

See that comment box below? I would love to hear your tricks of fooling yourself to work, or any other comments.

Bring it on. How do you fool yourself into work?

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• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals
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• Double your productivity, stop procrastinating and master your habits with new video training
• 3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating

10 best tricks of fooling myself to work is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

1. Log off from Facebook and other websites where you waste time. Seriously, checking it once (or twice) a day is enough. You do not have to be constantly logged in. When you log off and then go to www.facebook.com during your workday when you are procrastinating, you will have to log in again – this will remind you that you in fact do not want to spend your time on Facebook now.

2. Remove all shortcuts and links to useless websites, games and programs that waste your time. That’s easy to do – but you still need to relax. That’s why you also need to discover and start using new ways to relax – ways that actually help. Taking a walk is the time-proven favorite of numerous geniuses and great minds. Or consider taking a short nap. Resting by staring in the screen some more won’t help at all. (See older blog post Prevent Repetitive Strain Injury for some extra tips about what to do on your work-break.)

3. If you use a tabbed browser, close all old tabs. If you keep websites that you want to return to later in the browser tabs, then bookmark them instead, but close the tabs. This will make it much easier to focus. Also, clear your browsing history, so it’s harder to go to websites where you waste time – you will have to type the website addresses manually again.

4. De-clutter your work desk. Ideally, only things related to your current task should be located on your work desk. Put everything else away – if there’s no place to put the stuff, get some drawers. Just put the stuff away.

5. De-clutter your Windows desktop as well. Remove old programs and files that you don’t need anymore.

6. Are there any popups or notifications jumping in your face during your workday, demanding your attention? Disable them. Close all programs that display them. You can’t work like this – it’s impossible to focus when you are bombarded by infinite stream of distractions and demands. (For example, Twitter supports RSS – why not use that instead of real-time notifications?)

7. Close all programs that are not relevant to your current task. This is crucial. If these programs start automatically with Windows, disable it. (The easiest way to do it is: Press Win+R, type in ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes), hit Enter, and then go to the Startup tab and disable all programs that you do not need automatically started with your system).

8. Can you ergonomically improve your work place? New chair, better keyboard or desk – things like this matter. Is there any aspect of your working environment that could be more comfortable? Improve or fix it.

9. Turn your LCD display sideways. This might sound like a joke, but it’s not: Displays that support the “pivot” technology and allow you to turn them sideways are great, because a work-area that is taller than wider is extremely useful for many kinds of work, including writing and reading – probably the two most common tasks that you do at your computer. Even the cheapest displays nowadays support this technology. Perhaps your LCD display already has it, you just don’t know about it! If not, consider getting a new and better display.

10. Most importantly – get and stay organized. The easier it is for you to be organized, the more likely it is that you will be and stay organized. Swift To-Do List makes this the simplest thing in the world. In fact, it makes being organized literally fun – and I’m not exaggerating here. That’s the exact word that our users report about their experience with Swift To-Do List. Download it today.

Sponsored message: If you would like to learn how to keep your office more productive and efficient, consider getting an on-line masters degree in organizational leadership.

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• How to Overcome Resistance to Work – 4 Techniques
• Achieving Goals Like a Mad Klingon
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• 10 Benefits Of Being Organized: From Chaos To Freedom
• Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2023 Goals

Create more productive environment at your desk (10 tips) is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Getting organized with Swift To-Do List 7 is really easy, and has many benefits:

1. You will upgrade your brain to version 2.0

If you take all the work-related stuff and to-do’s from your head and place them in Swift To-Do List 7, a wonderful thing happens – suddenly, your mind has 100% resources available and 100% focus just for the current task at hand.

2. You will advance in your career faster

Stop wasting time on tasks with zero impact and go straight to the juicy, meaty stuff that really matters and that can move you forward in your career. This is possible only when you are organized using a great task list manager like Swift To-Do List 7 that allows you to prioritize your tasks.

3. You can double or triple your productivity

With less time and mental resources wasted, you will have more time for the important stuff. The real game changer comes from your upgraded brain though – if you can finally fully focus and always know what to do next, you can double your productivity easily. If you are unorganized or stressed, you are much less productive than you think.

4. You will be more motivated

Success brings motivation. It is so much easier to achieve success when you are organized! In fact, work can sometimes feel like fun.

5. You will have more time

It’s really simple: If you are more productive, you get more done, and you have more time.

6. You will have more money

We all know that time is money, but success brings you money too, which can be a really significant benefit. By using trusted gold trading platforms, you can turn your time and effort into smart opportunities that help grow your wealth even faster. For example, exploring opportunities like wholesale gold bullion Melbourne can also complement a well-planned financial strategy by adding long-term value and stability.

7. You will eliminate any possible stress

With all your tasks and notes in one place, safely stored in reliable task list management software like Swift To-Do List 7, there is nothing to worry about. You can even use inbuilt reminders and recurrent tasks to make sure that you will never forget anything again. Liberate yourself from clutter and stress.

8. You will reach your full potential

If you get organized, you can achieve much more than if you are limiting yourself by being disorganized.

9. You will be able to achieve your goals more easily

All the benefits work together and give you more power to do what you truly want, and that is the real freedom.

10. You will love your work and life

How can you NOT love your life when you are successful, happy and without stress?

With the right attitude, Swift To-Do List 7 can literally change your life. I personally use it myself every day not just to run and manage our whole business, but to take control of my own life.

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10 Benefits Of Being Organized: From Chaos To Freedom is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog