The ONE secret to getting things DONE
It helped me get over procrastination during the lockdown
India went into lockdown in the third week of March. But I had become a procrastinator long before that. Procrastinator, me? Since when? Since about a year ago.
I had been someone who would be credited for remaining connected with everyone despite being an entrepreneur and jumping headfirst into my family business, soon after my post-grad. I was working hard and partying as hard. This was my 20s. I was doing it all. Now, ten years later, having moved to a corporate life (yes, I made the reverse move), I had become a master procrastinator since about a year ago, and increasingly so.
With the lockdown, suddenly I had so much more time on hand. No schedule, no routine. Another recipe to delay everything and put everything on the backburner. Keep doing a little bit of everything, and completing nothing. I was bookmarking that article to read later, saving that podcast to hear later, passing on phone calls to return later, adding that documentary to ‘My List’ on Netflix to watch later.
After the first month of my new staycation at home, the honeymoon period was over (thankfully!) and I was ready to finally get things done. The idea was really to DO more with my time. But I needed to kick the procrastination habit to get going.
This one trick has worked so well for me for the last five months, it helped me get over procrastination. Since then, I have been able to read at least one book a month (and start a mini-book club with school friends I have not met in years), workout almost every day, try new recipes, learn family treasured one from my mother, attend group cooking classes, re-start my meditation practice, take online classes on self-improvement, all while all along with working from home in a full-time job, spending time with my folks at home, weekly visits to our farm and catching up with friends on zoom calls. I have managed to get around to doing almost anything I want.
The secret is to schedule it by setting an alarm for it on your phone.
If I had a call, I’d tell Siri to put an alarm to remind myself of it, and to trigger myself into action. If I had a yoga class/ workout session to do, I would book it in the app and then set an alarm 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled class to allow me time to get up, get into my yoga pants, and roll out the mat. If was playing Scrabble online, I would set an alarm to switch to reading my book after half an hour. Something about the alarm was creating urgency in my brain and making me switch from one activity to another instead of dilly-dallying it.
This little trick has event helped increased my productivity levels and output. I know I have to get to my yoga mat by 6 pm sharp, so I have to get my work done by 5.45 pm, leaving me enough time to freshen up, get ready and start my class on time. It deters me from mindlessly scrolling through social media late in the afternoon when I have started to slump in my new, work from home (WFH) chair.
Our phones have become an extended body part for us. All those apps on our phones are supposed to enable us to do more. Connect more, even across time-zones; read and learn more; do and accomplish more. But who would have thought, the good old alarm on our phones would be the key to waking us up from all our distractions and getting more done.
Trying this trick out has worked for me and can for you as well.
As Benjamin Franklin said,
“You will find the key to success under your alarm clock”.
