For those of you who didn’t learn your lesson in, The No BS Guide To Getting Things Done, here is something further to waste your time reading. Hopefully this will point you in the right direction (or maybe not). Oh, and guess what? It’s incomplete. Why? Time management is a waste of time.

Time management is simply focussing on your priorities. Productivity is when you work on those priorities.

Now, you can read the rest of this drivel or smarten up already and get to work!

I’m a person who reads time management books to put off doing my work. I’m serious! If I don’t want to do something I’ll find every excuse to avoid it; I’ll even do something else I don’t want to do. If I want to do something, I’ll briefly feel like I can take on the world, then I’ll do some of it, get hung up on some minor details, and move on to something else to escape my own frustration or boredom.

Getting things done is best described as a habit and it’s one I don’t have (yet). You must make it a habit. How? Well, for someone like me who is constantly filled with ideas, whose mind flies in every direction at once, who gets bored as soon as he starts–who doesn’t understand run-ons and sentence fragments–it can seem near impossible to follow something through to completion.

If you’re having difficulty finishing what you start or simply budgeting your time you must ask yourself, Why can’t I do everything? I’ve often felt capable of handling many projects at once but in the end I always come to the same answer, Multitasking kills productivity. New ideas are the death of focus. Sometimes you just need to take things step-by-step. That means focus on each step and ignore the big picture. Baby steps. Remember KISS, “Keep it Simple, Stupid.” There is a time for ideas and time for implementation. Brainstorm before not during. If new ideas creep in set them aside for later; don’t complicate things.

In order to get something done you must first pick what is most meaningful to you (i.e. prioritize). Not three things, not two things, but one important thing (yes, one thing and I can’t emphasize this enough!) that you want to get done and then do it! This is the most important and only step to getting something done. Devote yourself wholeheartedly to this one thing and you will regret nothing–well, at the very least you’ll have less regrets.

“He who begins many things finishes but a few.” -Italian proverb

In all honestly, this article is unfinished. I got distracted. Seriously. No kidding. So if it seems incomplete, it’s because I can’t for the life of me do what I know I have to. That is, make a habit of getting things done.

Time Wasted Writing This Article: A LOT!

Last modified: September 24, 2009