Taking small breaks improved my focus and productivity while preparing for my 10^th Grade Board Exams. Many of us were feeling overwhelmed with the study load and the importance of this exam. God Bless our class teacher who devised a system for us that worked.

We drew up a weekly timetable with different colors for each subject. Each subject was to be studied for 45 minutes and then switch to another subject.

I loved the idea of crossing out the boxes with a black marker pen as we went along.

But the clincher was the 15-minute breaks after every 2 study subjects. In other words, we got 15 minutes off after every 90 minutes of study.

The system worked and I topped my class without stress. Better still, the method still works after 40 years.

The only difference is my timetable is now on an Excel spreadsheet on my laptop. I still love crossing out the boxes!

Since then, I’ve learned some other strategies to go with this simple method helping me stay focused and efficient. And so can you.

The Dilemma of staying Productive in an Unproductive environment

We all want to be productive and efficient in the workplace. The good news is our bosses want that from us too.

The bad news? Even with the best of intentions, bosses sometimes can’t always create environments that facilitate productivity.

In the days when open office plans were the rage, the best they could do is tell you to work in the meeting room or if even work from home.

That doesn’t mean you can’t create your own productivity formula, though.

In fact, by taking small breaks regularly throughout the day you’ll be able to maintain your focus, thus being a more productive person.

I think our teacher knew that taking regular breaks during our study time would refresh our concentration and retention power. It would also help us to get more studying and revision done.

Years later, I found external evidence too in favor of regular breaks and even the duration of the break.

How often should these small breaks occur?

While there is wide range of opinions on this, there are 2 that answer this question.

MIT Sloan’s Robert Pozen recommends a break after 75 (to 90) minutes.

The Energy Project’s Tony Schwartz also recommends a break after 90 minutes.

Schwartz’s research shows that humans naturally move from full focus and energy to physiological fatigue every 90 minutes.

Our body sends us signals to rest and renew, but we override them with coffee, energy drinks, and sugar… or just by tapping our own reserves until they’re depleted.

That’s when we experience burnout and literally collapse.

While Schwartz suggests we purposefully take short breaks every 90 minutes throughout the day to drink water, walk, or to eat healthy snacks, even pausing to do a short meditation or power nap would do wonders.

I love his mantra is, “Pulse and pause.” It’s this idea of pulsing energy that’s behind the Pomodoro Technique developed by Francesco Cirillo.

With the Pomodoro method, you set a timer for 25 minutes, work on a single task with your full focus, then take a 5-minute break to get up, move around and maybe drink some water. Then, you repeat the cycle.

These experts believe that working for up to 90 minutes at a time will take advantage of the brain’s focus and consolidation modes.

Quite simply, there are 90 minutes of focus, and a 15-minute break allows your brain to consolidate and retain that information efficiently.

Not every position or schedule will allow you to take regular breaks at specific times. If this doesn’t describe your job, then simply take breaks where possible.

If someone is running late for a meeting, that’s your opportunity to grab five minutes to yourself.

That’s a technique I used in the office when leaving the desk for a full 15 minutes or so wasn’t possible. It also helped prevent a back problem or carpal tunnel syndrome in my hands.

I must point out that a lot depends on the culture of the company that you work for. Many owners and managers frown upon breaks.

We’ve gotten into this habit of scarfing down a quick lunch without even walking away from our desks.

All in the name of productivity. All to be seen to be doing the right thing. The right thing, though, for your health and your productivity, is to take your breaks!

The right way to take regular breaks

Plan to take a break at least every 90 minutes. If you want to be productive and maintain your focus, then you will protect your concentration by taking regular breaks.

The key lies in making the right decisions and not use it as an excuse to do wrong activities.

Resist every urge to hop online when you are supposed to be working. Don’t be tempted to check emails when you’re supposed to be focused on a project.

Another way to protect your focus is to resist eating junk at lunch. A burger may be quick, easy, and delicious, but it isn’t feeding your brain.

All of these decisions and choices that you can make throughout the day adds up to maintaining your focus and concentration.

It’s all about training your willpower and building up that muscle.

That, of course, includes those regular breaks.

The Pomodoro technique advocates for breaks after 25 minutes. Some experts suggest a break after 50 minutes.

That’s well and good if you work from home or have an understanding boss. 90 minutes is your goal.

It’s worth noting that DeskTime research found that the most productive employees worked 52 minutes (on average) before breaking for 17-minutes.

Why? It might be that we are more focused and remain focused because we know there’s a break coming.

If you think about a traditional working situation, then you know exactly how you lose focus as a break approaches.

Your body and brain are desperate to get to that break and you start to lose focus. You completely shut down and turn off, watching the clock for the magic number.

It’s different when you enjoy regular breaks. You don’t watch the clock because you are refreshing your concentration regularly. Try it out and see how much of a difference it makes.

Make those break time minutes matter. Most organizations have firewalls on their servers and internet so checking social media or watching puppy and kitten videos might be out.

Here are some better ideas:

Exercise: Do small workouts within your office space. If that isn’t possible, how about walking up and down the stairs for a few minutes?

Walking: Take a walk to clear your mind and get some genuine Vitamin D. This will improve your concentration powers too.

Chat with your colleagues: Research shows that employees who socialize are happier at work and are able to do as much as their non-socializing co-workers.

If you aren’t sure whether your boss will allow you to do this, you can try it at home with a project.

The difference it makes to your performance might be enough to help you convince your boss to make the change in the office.

Frequent breaks are part of the survival kit for every office worker – they can improve your eyesight, reduce back pain, arthritis, stress levels, and even the risk of heart disease.

Simply put, working non-stop for long periods of time can lead to cognitive boredom and that’s when we tend to make mistakes most.

The human brain isn’t able to focus for 8 hours at a time. Besides giving your mind a break, it gives you a chance to take advantage of the Zeigarnik Effect, another productivity hack.

More importantly, your body gets a chance to rest and even boost your productivity.

Isn’t that worth taking regular breaks?

The Hindi word for Balance is Santulan, something that is very challenging right now for many of us. Nobody can say I’m exaggerating when I say the world went upside down thanks to COVID-19.

If the first wave wasn’t bad, the second one wreaked havoc and especially in India in recent weeks.

Life became even more bizarre for many of us in Delhi but one soldiered on. My connections turned friends on LinkedIn shared equally upsetting stories about their countries.

We’re all sailing in the same ship, hoping the wind will change and take us in a better direction.

My 2 cents?

Stay positive and strive to find balance – even if it a new balance.

Normal societal and cultural traditions were swept aside during this second wave.

Many of us found ourselves in bereavement without the social support of friends and relatives who would normally be there during the funeral or cremation, condolence visits and the fortnight of rituals that are done to help the departed soul while bringing solace and comfort to the grief-stricken family.

Around that time, I had a chat with a professional who was looking to explore a greater meaning to his life and career.

The great ‘life happens’ had hit him, and all his plans have gone haywire. His Dad had a pain in the side and when they reached hospital, apart from discovering an inoperable problem in the torso area, he’d been diagnosed as having COVID-19 which means no biopsy was possible.

His priorities changed.

While the long-term vision and goal was still there, the focus was on the immediate now and how to find balance between work commitments and family responsibilities.

His story is not unique. Many of us were holding down jobs while looking after family members especially the vulnerable like children and elderly parents. We wondered what would happen next and if we had the resilience to deal with it.

The vaccine arrived but that wasn’t the shield to prevent catching COVID-19. It simply helped to lessen the impact from being a disease to an infection. Even then one couldn’t guarantee one wouldn’t die due to complications.

Like I said, many of us in that situation utilized the Payoff Method to prioritize our tasks and maximize the return on our efforts (read more about it here).

Balance – is it a myth?

If you think about life being balanced, you might envision a seesaw in the position of being directly balanced in the middle with no ups, no downs, and simply managing to stay in the middle ground.

Of course, life doesn’t work like that.

There are ups and there are most certainly downs. Sometimes you might feel as though you just want to jump off the seesaw and lay on the ground for a little while just to gain your equilibrium back.

What does it mean to be in balance, if life has its difficulties?

When you are in balance, you maintain your equilibrium while life’s ups and downs come to visit.

Of course, you go through the various emotions as circumstances both good and not so good work their way through your life.

However, being in balance means you get to choose how long you stay in the down position.

Of course, realistically, you can’t always stay up on the seesaw of life, but you can choose how you feel and what your action steps are going to be while you’re down.

Being in balance means intentionally, no matter how hard it is, choosing how you will show up under any given circumstance.

How do you really achieve balance?

You can achieve balance in several ways:

• Feel your emotions and move quickly through them – it’s perfectly fine to become emotional when the roller coaster of life gets too fast and too furious. Feel what you need to feel but move quickly on to the next step. The next step after feeling is action.

• Choose an action step to recreate the scene. If you’ve lost a job, fire up your resume. If your home needs a repair, start asking family and friends for referrals on contractors. Don’t just sit and stew about what happened but take the appropriate time to recreate what happens next.

• Don’t regurgitate facts and stories repeatedly – the more you talk about what happened, how unfair it was, and what a nuisance it was, the more energy you expend. This energy could be used for better purposes.

• If you find yourself faced with a problem, take the energy needed to create some sort of answer rather than dwell only on the issue at hand. Click the image below to download this worksheet – it will help.

Make a choice and make some change. If you really want to achieve your goals and enjoy life to the fullest, you must choose where your energy will go.

Make a choice that seems best in the moment and follow through with it.

Make a choice with the information you have in front of you and take action steps toward that choice.

And if you feel overwhelmed, use the Payoff method here to reduce the stress and get results.

5 Tips to give you enough energy to get through your day

Finding balance at any time, whether normal, during a pandemic or a world turned upside down requires not only energy but also making sure you have the required energy and don’t end up in burnout.

In other words, store the energy for the time when you need it most.

This energy needs to include all forms in order to help us stay balanced – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

What about you?

Is your typical workday more like a marathon than a short sprint? Has Work from Home and Remote working blurred the lines between work and personal life?

If you have a job with long work shifts—longer than the usual 9 to 5 workday—you’re not alone.

A wide range of jobs, from banking to auditing to IT services and many more, require workers to put in longer than average workdays. That’s a long time to have to be alert and at the top of your game and more so during lockdown.

That was my challenge not only during my Article days in London but throughout my corporate career when an 80+ work week was part of the requirement to climb up the corporate ladder.

I got into Transcendental Meditation which led to my interest in Chakra Balancing other metaphysical techniques. This was way back in 1988 – long before the internet exploded with gurus teaching all types of techniques.

I’ve detailed my techniques which I still use in my book Stress Management with Chakra Balancing Exercises.

But my game plan wasn’t all ‘woo woo’.

I had 5 more areas covered and I recommend you follow these tips.

Tip 1 – Make your sleep non-negotiable.

I’d say get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep but not everyone needs that much sleep. Determine your optimal sleeping time and stick to it. You’ll know what that is if you wake up refreshed in the morning.

Tip 2 – Get some exercise on a daily basis.

Many people have the wrong idea about exercise—they think it’s an energy drainer, and that working out will only make you tired when you’re through. However, the opposite is true!

A fit and active lifestyle that includes plenty of exercise on a regular basis will help kick your metabolism into overdrive and boost your energy levels—perfect for getting through those long work shifts.

Start small—try taking regular long walks and building upon your exercise routine a little at a time. Make sure you have your mask on!

Tip 3 – Eat properly!

Maintaining a regular balanced diet is also a powerful way to keep your energy levels high and consistent—this includes what you eat when you’re off duty as well as on the job.

Make sure that your diet includes plenty of high-quality protein and vegetables, and try to keep processed foods, refined carbs, and sugar to a minimum.

The former helps your body maintain a consistent and reliable level of energy throughout the day while a diet high in sugar and refined carbs (like candy and cola) causes your blood sugar and energy levels to peak and plummet as the day drags on—like a roller coaster.

Tip 4 – Learn to take breaks when you start to feel tired.

Strategic work breaks, even if it’s just for a few minutes to take a deep breath, stretch, and clear your head, can make a world of difference when you’re facing a long work shift.

I make sure that I get up for 5 minutes every hour and walk to the kitchen to get water or do something that gets me away from the computer.

Tip 5 – Store the extra energy you’ve created using meditation for use when you’re hitting a slump using the simple technique called Tan T’ien.

It works for spiritual energy created by prayers too. This post explains the technique.

It can be a real struggle to get through a long work shift and stay alert and at the top of your game—add in all the other things going on in your life that eat away at your time and energy and you may be facing an uphill battle.

It’s even more of a challenge during pandemic times when the world feels it’s turned upside down like the cruise ship in the movie The Poseidon Adventure.

But you can do it! Start with the tip which is easiest for you and build on it.

The bottom line is, you can find balance in a world gone topsy turvy. It means finding your unique equilibrium.

That requires commitment to yourself. Are you ready?

Additional Resource to help with time management and making your life a priority

Effective leaders and managers know the value of time and utilize this precious resource effectively and efficiently to create results.

Things can go haywire when our productivity is dependent on others. That is what happened with this particular client of mine.

During a recap of the previous week’s action plan with a client of mine, a new problem surfaced which he had not associated with the original need to get a grip with his time mismanagement.  

A hardworking individual who managed to fit in a lot during the course of the day, but still wondered where his day went, there was utter chaos. Our common goal was to bring order back into his day so that he had a chance to step back and look at the big picture like a true business owner and leader.

A whole session of brainstorming with 22 action points was produced. The client was given the option to implement any 3 of them based on his own priorities and what he thought he could achieve.  One of the actions he chose was the To Do List.

A week later, he was able to confirm that the days when he prepared his To Do list were much better and more productive for him. He was directed to celebrate and give himself a pat on the back.

But by Friday of the week, he had slipped from the wagon. He hadn’t prepared the list since his Thursday had been a day from hell.

Even with a robust To Do list, why did the day become so bad?

There were many reasons, which included putting in too many things for action.

But more importantly, there were tasks that had to be urgently completed. The employee responsible for preparing it had not done it. The excuse?

He had other things to do compelling him to go into a firefighting mode at 6 pm since the documents had to be submitted to a statutory authority.

This brings me to the point for this week on two aspects of efficient time management:

Firstly, the number of tasks on a To Do list should never be more than 8 or 10 unless the tasks can be completed quickly. More than 12 in a day is a sure way to fail and the associated feelings are not worth it.

Secondly, where a particular task requires inputs from others, make sure that the other person knows the necessity of his input to get the task done.

What may be an urgent and important task for you may be an urgent but not important task for the other person who will find ways to be busy with less important tasks which are worth doing but which are low on the priority list for you.

This is the combination of the arts of delegation and assertive behavior.

In other words, the strategy for time management where your success depends upon others requires, they be made aware of their responsibility to get the job done.  Be more specific, give timelines and THEN follow up at the specific appointed time.

Do not sit down to do the task yourself but insist that it be done. Your subordinate or colleague or even family member may slip up a couple of times but the message that you are being firm and assertive will get through.

Assertiveness is a key ingredient in this type of time management.  

Instead of doing the task, you have a talk with the other person. Do not ask why the task was not done, which would put the other party on the defensive.  Excuses such as ‘I was busy doing other things’ or ‘Sorry, I made a mistake’ will only provoke you into further frustration and reaction which you might not like when the dust has settled.

Instead, say ‘This document/report/letter had to have gone out by the end of today. What exactly stopped you from completing the task?

The answer could be anything from their not realizing the importance or even that someone else had delegated a task to them with a clearer sense of urgency.  Worse still, they might know that if they delay it long enough, they won’t have to do it since you will get around to it.

In the meantime, reassess your method of delegation. Give clear and concise instructions and set deadlines. Having been assertive, stick to your guns no matter what the provocation.

More importantly, the message that you are sending out will be clear.

As you can see, my client’s efforts at time management hit a roadblock when it came to managing others to manage his own time and he had to set up boundaries and conditions while delegating tasks.

What barriers come up for you when your productivity is dependent on other colleagues?

Are you a career professional, independently practicing professional, consultant, or freelancer who’s overwhelmed with all the tasks you need to complete during the day?

If yes, then you need to check out this course

5 Simple steps to win your Time Management Challenge

This post originally appeared on my blogger blog back in August 2011 and has since been updated for relevance.

Written By: Vatsala Shukla

This week I’m celebrating the completion of a long-cherished dream. I finally wrote a book that simplifies Goal Setting and Achievement with a look back at my own childhood and my favorite activity of creating To Do Lists.

On being crowned ‘Miss To Do List’

Every family has that one individual whose antics are a source of amusement. In our family, I wore the coveted crown for many years until a pair of dachshunds joined our family.

Then their progeny gave enough competition for me to bail out gracefully. I could only mutter I had to make way for new talent!

One of my habits, which has since been adopted by my family related to my tendency to write things down. It did not matter what I was writing, it had to be done in style and in an eye-appealing manner.

I bought special colored stationery to prepare my To Do Lists. Goal Setting was done in an equally attractive manner. No wonder my father nick-named me Miss To-Do List!

Those were the pre-computer days (other than the big IBM machines and data card entry), yet I managed to inspire myself. Now my mantra for happiness includes PowerPoint templates and colored printouts.

But no one could deny the fact that I got things done, efficiently and effectively.

My tribe started with my family and went on to gather members from my friends and associates. I gather new converts whenever and wherever I can to the art of writing down goals. Yes, the famous To-Do List.

I read an article sometime back which mentioned that studies have found that only 5% of adults ever write their goals. It got me wondering, is there a correlation between written goals and goal achievement? I believe there is.

Why it makes sense to write down goals

The beauty of writing down goals and tasks for that matter is that one tends to look at them, think about them and finally action them. It is easier to monitor progress and adjust strategy before the goal goes for a toss.

If the goal is a mental one, it stays that way. The mind has enough to think about.

If the goal is overtaken by urgent and important matters, then the probability of it being pushed to the backburner increases. That’s until such time that the goal too acquires an urgent and important status.

Writing down goals can be a simple exercise and not an elaborate power point presentation. The point is to put it down in writing so that you can see the goal for what it is and not what you think it is.

We talk of SMART Goals but how would you know if your goal is SMART if you cannot see the pieces and the strategy for goal success?

Are there any missing pieces to your strategy jig-saw puzzle?

Write it down and look at it. Quite possibly the missing pieces may take you in another direction. Sometimes, more important goals or steps are required before starting on the goal you really want to achieve.

Once you have put your SMART Goals down in print, preparing an action plan is the next step.

It means breaking down tasks into smaller ones where the sum of the small tasks equals achieving the main task and perhaps even more.

You need to know where you might encounter roadblocks or need to tweak and improve your skills. More importantly, it means taking stock of your skills and strengths.

When the goal is in writing, there is a means of tracking your progress and maintaining accountability.

Written evidence of success helps to boost your self-confidence. It provides evidence of your achievements to pull you through difficult times when facing setbacks and a morale boost is required.

Monitoring your progress also helps to identify what is working and what is not. For the latter, be flexible and make the necessary adjustments while keeping your focus on the end goal.

Take heart and put pen to paper or fingers to computer keys and create your SMART Goals with an Action Plan.

Better yet, acquire a copy of my Kindle book by clicking on the image or here

Goal Achievement Simplified – When Your Actions Give Results

Do you write down your Goals and create Action Plans? 

Can a Tomato improve your time management?

Way back in the late-1970s, while preparing for my Matriculation Board Exams in Jakarta, my Class Teacher taught me a study technique that helped me combat the overwhelm of revising for my first major exams.

It was a good technique since I topped the Board Exams. There were no tomatoes involved but it was similar to the Pomodoro Technique developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.

Creativity has no age limits and I understand that Cirillo first used this technique when he was a university student.

His technique involved using a timer and breaking down work into intervals that were 25 minutes in length with short breaks in between.

Cirillo named the intervals “pomodori” after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that he used. Pomodoro is the Italian word for Tomato.

The Pomodoro Technique

From a learning perspective, the idea of taking frequent breaks to improve mental agility is similar to Distributed Practice Learning. That’s the method that my teacher taught me.

Distributed Learning Practice when you need to improve performance skills

In Distributed Practice Learning, the principle of work and rest is followed. The learner is not required to memorize the assigned material in one continuous time period. The learner is allowed intervals of rest.

Distributed practice is likely to be a superior method for performance skills like driving or typewriting. It is often though not always advantageous when verbal material is being memorized such as poetry or chemical formulas.

Shorter study periods are beneficial for young students, slow learners and particularly when motivation level is low or the material is complex and difficult to understand. It also helps to maintain attention, break monotony and reduce fatigue.

How to implement Pomodoro Technique in 5 Easy Steps

There are 5 simple steps to implement this technique:

Step 1: Plan the tasks to be done using a “To Do List” and then prioritize them. At this stage, make a realistic estimate of the time required for each task and note them down against the task. Decide on the task to be done.

Step 2: Set your timer to ‘n’ minutes (traditionally 25 minutes). This time interval is your ‘pomodori’

Step 3: Work on the task until your timer rings. Record your progress with an X , tick mark or even use a highlighter if colours motivate you.

Step 4: Take a short break of 3 to 5 minutes.

Step 5: Go back and repeat Steps 1 to 4.

When you have completed 4 “pomodori”, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The beauty of this technique is that every time you complete a “pomodori” and record it, you experience a sense of satisfaction that you have achieved something.

It enables you to get information on where you can improve your time management and how realistic you are about task times.

What happens if you are interrupted in the middle of a pomodoro?

Well, the bad news is that a pomodoro is not divisible. In other words, you cannot do a task for 5 minutes and then come back to resume it.

If you are interrupted during the task, then either you have to record that activity or abandon the pomodoro and move on.

In time, you will see how interruptions impact your time management. If necessary, you will learn how to keep distracters at bay.

Downloadable “Pomodoro Technique” software is available on the internet. I personally prefer the traditional method of using a timer, a paper and a pencil or pen.

I actually maintain a beautiful folder where all my To Do List tasks are recorded on a daily basis.

Somehow, just writing down the tasks and time required gets me motivated. The sound of the timer and the tick mark on my sheet makes me eager to get onto the next pomodoro.

What about you? Have you tried this technique? Share your thoughts with me in the comments box below.

The Pomodoro Technique is a good Time Management Tool. It works best when we know how to combat our time mismanagement and change our habits.

Learn more about Karmic Ally Coaching’s online course 5 Simple Steps to Win your Time Management Challenge  here or by clicking the image below.

Written By: Vatsala Shukla

Quite often, when it comes to procrastination or engaging in low self-esteem behavior, there is a sub-conscious element of Payoff involved. This might hold us back from being efficient or taking desirable action.

Can consciously using Payoff work in reigning in an overwhelming To Do List?

Let’s find out! I love trying new ideas and tools and here is how the Payoff Method works.

1. Look at your To Do List or Task List
2. Note down how much time it will take to complete each task
3. Weigh each task in terms of the Payoff of completing the task. You could rank a low priority task as say 1 ranging to 10 for a task that has a high payoff. Please note that there is no right or wrong Payoff – this is something unique to each individual
4. Now, weigh each task by the Payoff that you expect from Step 3 with the time you have estimated the task will take in Step 2

For effective time management, first complete those tasks that have high payoff and that take little time. Likewise, a low payoff task that takes a lot of time should either be done last or considered whether it really has to be done.

This completes my series of time management methods. Hopefully you have found one that will work for you.

In all 3 methods I outlined, the key thing to keep in mind is that it doesn’t matter which method you decide to use. Or even if it is a combination of methods or one that you have designed for yourself.

What is more important is that it works for you. It has to enable you not only to rank the order of tasks but also to make your To Do List more relevant. This means eliminating or deferring tasks that are not important or of least priority.

This takes care of the efficient part of time management.

I recommend that you download The Karmic Ally Coaching Experience Eight Tested Commandments for Time Management with the bonus resource Prioritize Your Life below.

Last time I told you about Blanchard’s Quadrants as an alternative means of effective time management.

Even when the Quadrant approach works for you, there is always the possibility that you may get overwhelmed with your To Do List.

It often happens to me and labeling tasks using the ABC approach, trying to eat frogs or other methods does not really help. Time Management is a very personal thing.

So, here is my best kept secret for managing To Do Lists!

Simply use the technique of Paired Comparison when one is feeling overwhelmed, and you need to take control of the To Do List instead of the other way around.

A simple example, when you were a kid and your parents took you to the pastry shop, did you or did you not compare the size of pastry, (just to check of course) before settling on the piece to be bought? I did.

The Paired Comparison method uses a simple scoring system for comparing activities.

The following example illustrates how this method can be applied:

Suppose I have identified 5 tasks or activities that really need to be done but I cannot decide the hierarchy to complete them.

Here is the list of example tasks or activities to be performed:

1. Make weekly call to parents
2. Respond to emails
3. Pay utility bill
4. Make appointment with client to discuss report
5. Check Facebook for status updates

Compare each of the options against each other and put a mark against the relatively more important task in each comparison:

–       1 to 2, 1 to 3, 1 to 4, 1 to 5

–       2 to 3, 2 to 4, 2 to 5

–       3 to 4, 3 to 5

–       4 to 5

Let’s say the result is as follows:

1. Make weekly call to parents   xxxx
2. Respond to emails                              x
3. Pay utility bill                                       xx
4. Make appointment with client to discuss report x
5. Check Facebook for status updates

So, the order you would do the tasks in would be 1, 3, 2 or 4 (depending upon which one is more urgent), 5.

There are no hard and fast rules, and the importance of each task depends upon your circumstances. For example, for a business that gets customers through their Page on Facebook, task number 5 may be most important.

Last week I also told you about my ebook  Eight tested Commandments for Time Management

If you haven’t seen it yet, then I suggest accessing it. Maybe there is a commandment or tip in that can help you ace the time management challenge without angst! Click the link above or the image below and learn more.

Turning 30 was easy – birthday bash at my favourite pub in Warsaw, lots of friends, champagne, good grub and a party that shifted to Ground Zero (the then happening discotheque) for dancing followed by breakfast at the Warsaw Central Station.

Since my birthday that year fell around the Easter Holidays, many friends were out of town but the celebrations continued for a month as friends took me out on their return claiming it was Birthday Month.

There were big tick marks on my Bucket List – enter 30s in style, have true friends and party like it is going out of style.

Turning 31 was a contrast.  I looked at my Bucket List and realized that there were items on my To Do List which would never happen – I would not become the lead singer of a heavy metal band, I had not trained to participate in a desert rally, join a Biker Gang and ride a Harley Davidson through Scandinavia; I had not done a lot of things that I had wanted to do.

The question in front of me was what had I achieved in Life?  My inner child resurfaced and I felt stressed.

I give thanks to God that He created parents.  A frantic phone call to my parents got me back on track.  What they said to me changed my life completely.

My parents were proud of me. They felt I had done more in my 30 years than many did in a lifetime. They said all the things that only parents can say to motivate and reassure children – and the child will believe them.

I heard the life changing dialogue –

“You are looking at your Bucket List and focusing on what you did not do. Are these items really that important to you? There are items in there since you were 13 which don’t seem to fit your leanings anymore.

What about what you did do? What about your achievements and milestones?  Make yourself a cup of coffee, think about it and call us back. We’ll wait for your call.”

Now that is family considering that the phone call was between 2 countries with a 2-hour time difference and way past their bedtime.

I am grateful to this day. My Bucket List is important to me but so is keeping track of achievements that I want to feature in my obituary – my Milestone Statement.

By the time I made my next call, I had clarity.

1. Bucket Lists are not carved in stone, they change as we mature. Accept that some items are no longer important and move onto those that have value for you.
2. Bucket Lists are meant to inspire us, not turn into To Do Lists which create stress.
3. It is perfectly okay to review your Bucket List from time to time. Delete items that are redundant and add those that are more meaningful at the point of Life where you are presently.
4. Looking to the future is a great motivator but do not forget that your past is full of achievements too. Acknowledge them and your journey through Life.
5. Keep a Milestone Statement to record your achievements. Celebrate the fact that you are unique, one of a kind and there will NEVER be anyone like you.

If your Bucket List is creating stress, take a long hard look at it. Something is not working for you. Ask yourself, if you really have a good a Bucket List.

Maybe a Vision Statement supported by goals is a better option?

A Vision Statement is a good option if on a scale of 1 to 10 you really want to do something and are willing to invest the time, effort and commitment to achieve the goals that go into fulfilling the Vision Statement.

It’s good to have a Bucket List. It is even better to have a Milestone List which has items added to it using your Vision Statement.

Look again at the picture with this blog post, the beautiful white sheet of paper on the wood.

Ask yourself what goes there?

Things that you really want to do, things that you wanted to do years ago that no longer figure in your life and get you down or list the milestones and achievements that make You the person you are.

My tip, celebrate your achievements as evidence of your uniqueness and then create a vision of yourself to motivate you to become even better!

Your turn now. Do Bucket Lists work for you? Or are you better off using Milestone Lists and Vision Statements? 

And if you know you need to create a change, click here or on the image below and get the Change Quiz.

Written By: Vatsala Shukla