One Snarky Chica with Issues

Each Friday is dedicated to personal development issues.

Personal development seems to be more or less an umbrella that a lot of different things fall under. It is a little productivity and GTD principles, it is a lot of motivation issues, it involves goal setting and problem solving, and making solid decisions that better your life. To sum it up, I see it as a ‘control your destiny’ sort of thing. It is a lot of making decisions that have a positive effect on you and those around you, and as a result you are in the driver’s seat of your life, but the trick is staying motivated and not wandering too far off the path. So, I guess it is a lot of about focus too. And in the end, it really is about self-improvement.

Focus is something that I have been working on quite a bit lately. I always seem to have too much to do and feel as if there are not enough hours in the day. While I do have a lot of things to accomplish in a day, I’m also a victim of procrastination and distractions. Now, one could say that maybe I have too much on my plate and need to do some trimming. Honestly, I do not think that I have to much at the moment, and everything that is on my plate are all things that I am doing to try to better myself and get myself into a better place financially, emotionally and career wise. I have several websites and blogs that I work on. They provide a creative outlet for me, as I work in a job that I hate. They also provide the opportunity for financial gain in the future. I try to write some articles each day for places like Associated Content purely for financial reasons. See, I don’t make enough money at the job that I hate, so it’s either a second job or Associated Content. I did a cost-benefit analysis and I end up better off doing the articles than spending a few hours a night and my weekends working at a retail store or restaurant. Obviously, I need a new job that covers my bills. I have been looking but I can’t make people hire me. And most of the other things on my list are life related, like notes to pay bills or to call a creditor about a rogue charge that isn’t mine.

That brings me to the list. That is how I achieve focus. Each morning I sit down and write out a numbered To-do list. I look at the previous day’s list to see what I did not get accomplished, add those to the new list and then add anything that is new for the day. Now, obviously I end up writing a lot of the same things each day, so you might be wondering why I’m not keeping the list on a computer. Actually writing it seems to make it stick in my head better. Plus, I add things to it all day, so I would have to continually re-print it as I’m kinda anal and can’t have a list that is partial print out and partial handwritten. It’s just not neat enough for me. And I like to write the list in blue or black ink and cross things off with red ink. It’s very cathartic to cross things off your list and to see a list where things are crossed off and you can visually see your accomplishments. On the down side, it’s a bummer when you see that you haven’t accomplished anything.

A list is what gives me focus and it helps remind me that I need to stop reading blogs because there are things that aren’t crossed off on the list. It is sort of self-inflicted guilt, but it works…most of the time. Right now, I have 29 things on today’s list, of which I have crossed off only one. However, as soon as this entry is posted I will be able to cross it off the list as well.

If you are having trouble getting focused or remembering to do things, then you should start a to-do list each morning.