Your time outside of your day job is your own.You have the time to learn how to bake bread, learn to cook, or just do whatever you want, and there is no excuse for not being productive.But People get exhausted after the initial spike and let go.<ul><li>Why has there not been a flood of new Great American Novels clogging Amazon's self-published section?</li><li>Why have most of the new podcasts and TikTok accounts popped up in March of 2020, when people were at their most bored-why have most of them gone silent?</li></ul>

The Premise

<ul><li>Working diligently and consistently towards our dreams, especially if they're relative longshots, is one of the hardest things we’ll ever do, if we do it at all.</li><li>The self-confidence needed to believe in ourselves enough to try, and the dedication needed to maintain the discipline to keep doing it over and over again, even when it’s hard.</li><li>Without the structure of the workplace and other people relying on you, there is no necessary timeline for any project. No sprints to the finish line, no target projections to hit.</li></ul>

Meeting Our Own Deadlines Is The Hardest

Just as we have met deadlines in our jobs, why can't we do so when we are on our own?Your self-work should be as crucial as any office deadline. Remember: <ul><li>You are your own boss.</li><li>The person who hired you for this job liked you then and trusts you now.</li><li>They saw something in you that not everyone else sees.</li><li>Thanks to the charity of this person-this person being you-you got your dream job.</li></ul>

You Work For A Boss As You Fear Disappointing Them

<ul><li>Your boss, which is you only, don't expect you to push yourself to the max every day, but they want to see you improve consistently</li><li>Your boss has the unique ability to know when you're not pulling your weight, and they're not afraid to call you out on it.</li></ul>

When You Are Your Own Boss

Your boss knows the core of our issue with self-imposed deadlines. Here is a small exercise.<ul><li>Pick a task that is slightly challenging but doable.</li><li>Set a deadline for tomorrow, or sometime this week, at 9 am.</li><li>You can't change the deadline once you set it.</li><li>If you've set your output at something you know is manageable, it shouldn't be a problem.</li><li>Don't disappoint yourself.</li></ul>

Govern Your Self-Imposed Deadline

<ul><li>Being a professional is about taking something abstract (dream) & turning it into something more concrete (action).</li><li>We all should take our dreams seriously - we all have the capacity to be professional, and bring that kind of focus and energy to our passion work.</li></ul>

A True Professional

Setting yourself a deadline like your boss does.

Stashed ideas

How To Set Deadlines That Feel Real

A good quarterly plan can help your business move forward faster than you thought. But, creating a good quarterly plan is a skill. Most business owners may struggle to create a plan that is<ul><li>practical, and </li><li>considers their team's strengths and weaknesses.</li></ul>

Creating a quarterly plan is a skill

You may not have a realistic idea of how long certain tasks will take on your strategic plan. Consequently, you may either over commit or under commit. <ul><li>Understanding how long tasks take will help to create a more balanced plan.</li><li>Consider spacing out your deadlines, as putting all your action items at the beginning of a quarter may make it much harder to complete.</li></ul>

Don't have time blindness

Don't create your quarterly plan at the last minute. Instead, start working on your quarterly action plan in the middle of the previous quarterly. Once you've created a quarterly plan, remember to share it with your team and take action on the items at the start of the quarter.

Don't procrastinate

It's easy to have vague goals and then use them to excuse why you couldn't reach your goals. Instead, be clear on what you want to achieve. Ensure to quantify it. For example, instead of saying "I want to increase sales this quarter", say "I want to increase sales by 22%."

Don't be vague

Common pitfalls to avoid when planning your next quarter

How Not to Plan Out Your Next Quarter

This does not mean to literally press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete buttons on your keyboard but instead:
Control the in-the-moment stress that is spiraling out of control and making you feel stressed
_Alt_ernatively, do something that will engage your focus better like meditating or breathing exercises
Delete the thoughts that are distracting you find your workspace and avoid the urge to let your mind wander.

Control, Alt, Delete

The general rule to beat the stress out of you is to not keep looking at future deadlines or to-dos. It's important to focus only on the list that you've curated for that day.
This is why we have a 'dump.' It is the area in your workspace where you store yet-to-be sorted to-dos. If something is urgent, we slot them into our schedule and put a task back in the dump.
At the end of the day, we need to review our dump to set up tomorrow's task list. As long as you're reviewing your done tasks, they won't fall through the cracks.

Have a 'dump'

I've been reading Eckhart Tolle lately in order to soothe my need for guidance and I've stumbled across this article. Here are the two things to do in order for us to beat the stress away. 

December 31 looms large, and pressures to wrap up key projects are ever-present. Fortunately, there's a way to avoid anxiety attacks and stress-induced burnouts. It starts with a simple focus exercise.

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#deadlines

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How To Set Deadlines That Feel Real

How Not to Plan Out Your Next Quarter

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2 Easy Ways to Beat the Stress of Ridiculous End-of-Year Deadlines and Improve Your Focus

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

#deadlines

IDEAS ABOUT #deadlines

How To Set Deadlines That Feel Real

How Not to Plan Out Your Next Quarter

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

2 Easy Ways to Beat the Stress of Ridiculous End-of-Year Deadlines and Improve Your Focus

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career