21 Steps to Overcome Challenges and Achieve Success with Limited Resources and Energy
The Complete Guide to Planning and Completing Difficult Tasks
During the last four years, I have learned a lot of resources on productivity, time management, and goal achievement. I want to share them all with you, but it will take many pages.
Here are the top 3 books on productivity I have ever read. And at the end of the article, I will leave some additional resources like articles and youtube videos that would be valuable to read.
This article will interest you if you have ever read or heard about these books. Check them out.
By the way, all these authors are here. You can open these links and subscribe to them. And it’s amazing how many book writers are also writing on the Medium platform, so all we have on opportunity to read them. Here are links to their profiles:
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find Hal Elrod on Medium, but you can easily find him on Instagram to see his posts and stories.
Now let’s look at each tip and step you can implement today and take it into your habits list to become more productive and achieve more in less time.
Step 1. Plan Your Next Day in The Evening
Before beginning work, it’s essential to have a detailed plan. One helpful approach is creating a simple to-do list of the tasks you must accomplish.
Also, the great benefit you will get if you plan it on the previous day in the evening. Here are some reasons why it’s important:
- Unload Your Head
- Decrease Anxiety
- Your Head Will Find Solutions During Your Sleep
In such a way, you won’t have any worries about the next day, and you will get a great plan. Also, the next morning you will be prepared for your work. Usually, in the morning, we typically get the best ideas about stuff we complained about the previous evening.
Step 2. Review To-Do List in The Morning
After waking up, you need to review your list. Yes, probably it’s already perfect, but you need to ensure you can finish it by the end of your day.
Here are some tips to make it right:
- Pick Only 3 Difficult Tasks
- Evaluate Your Time Resources
- Find Time for Other Important Things
Step 3. Split Difficult Tasks into Small Ones
Almost all tasks and goals we set are challenging. Otherwise, if they take little time and resources, we can accomplish them in one day or week and forget about them.
But if you have a complex task, you need to plan for your actions. You may need to use some Agile or Lean methodologies to complete them.
But before getting more complicated, consider splitting your task into three subtasks. Then you can do the same with each of the subtasks if necessary.
Step 4. Set Priorities
After your to-do list is ready, you need to prioritize it. If you start with small tasks and spend half of the day on them, you will need more energy for more challenging stuff.
An excellent method is to use Eisenhower Matrix. Nothing complex at all, but it can set the right priorities for you.
More about it you can read on this article.
Step 5. Use Google Calendar
Or any other calendar you want. The primary usage of it is placing tasks into specific time slots. For each job you have on your list, you need to pick a particular part of the day when you will be working on it.
For example, if you wake up at 7 am, you can take the next slot, 8 am — 10 am, for your creativity work, learning new skills, etc.
It’s a great tool, and if you can be more flexible during your day, it is perfect for you. If you wake up at 7 am and sleep at 11 pm, you have 16 hours. You can split these 16 hours into 8–20 slots. Be careful; don’t miss breaks, dinners, and time for your friends and family.
Step 6. Use Deadlines
It’s the most essential tool in the work with complex goals and projects. If you don’t have actual deadlines, you will procrastinate or set a low priority for your task that you won’t ever achieve it.
For example, if you want to create your mobile application for cooking. Then you need to create a simple design and a project at least. It will take so many resources that you must be ready to put at least 100 hours into it.
If you don’t have any deadline, you will work on this for many months until you give up. Be consistent and make a promise for you to finish your work by some specific deadline.
Same works with smaller tasks. If they take 3 hours of work, you will do this task for several weeks without any deadline. In this case, if you set a deadline for two days, and each day you will sit and work for 2 hours without any breaks, you will get this done.
Step 7. Apply Principle 80/20
Have you ever heard that 20% of efforts give you 80% of the results? For some areas in your life, it can be wrong. But check all of them and split them into all processes.
There are too many routines we repeat every day that take the most energy. But the most straightforward actions give us the best results usually.
We can cook something for 3 hours and then won’t have in any mood to eat it or spend 15 minutes going to the local cafe to buy a sandwich, breathe fresh air, and increase our step count in our mobile health application.
A lot of effort we put into different things. We should do them anyway, and the only thing to save time and energy is to organize them better and optimize the whole flow of interactions.
Step 8. Delegate Blockers
If you have any questions, blockers, or tasks that need less time from your side, delegate them.
Even if all your work can be done only by you, avoid being stuck with questions you don’t have answers to. If something blocks you, ask the appropriate people; while this question is in the work, you can do other stuff.
Step 9. Start from The Most Difficult Task
Eat the frog in the morning. I know the book whose name is this. Sounds funny, but it’s a true story. If you start with the thing that scares you the most, you will be free for another part of the day.
For example, you will work in the time slot 8 am — 11 am on some particular task. Then other work will be less complicated, and you will do other jobs with high motivation and finish them much faster.
Additionally, this problematic task won’t worry you anymore during your day, that probably the most critical factor for your mentality.
Step 10. Focus only One Task at A Time
You need to start working after getting a slot in your calendar for a specific time. You can’t even think about something else on your to-do list. Even better to turn off all distractions and focus only on your work.
A great tool that can help you with it is the Pomodoro technique. In two words, you set a timer for 30 minutes when you are only working. Then you get 5 minutes to rest, drink water and look at your phone. Then you work again for 30 minutes.
This tool is available on the web; you can try it now!
Step 11. Make Breaks Every 1–2 Hours
With breaks, your productivity will continue. No matter what you are working on, you can get tired. Even sitting in one place for longer than 30 minutes is bad for your health, so making regular movements is essential.
The pair with the Pomodoro technique makes breaks much more accessible. You can take your phone, answer all messages, watch a video on youtube, and do other things unrelated to your work.
Step 12. Review Your Work
After you finish the work essential to write down your results, tracking is very valuable for tracking your progress. Also, it increases your level of motivation and energy.
Think about finished work, next steps, and improvements. You can improve everything. So, review everything about it.
Step 13. Don’t Overwork
If you ever heard about burnout, you understand what we are talking about. Even with great results, you can exhaust your body and mind. Regular breaks are necessary, and remember weekends.
If you think you need to work constantly, ask yourself why. What is the purpose if you lose your health and relationships with others? What matters?
The honest answer to this question sounds in the book Ikigai, where people who have lived for more than 100 years continue working, supporting their friendships, sports, etc.
Step 14. Do Sport
I remember one great phrase I heard several years ago. How would you treat it if you could get only one car for your entire life? People say they will be cautious, use only the best oil and gasoline, wash it weekly, etc.
But then a question, why we don’t treat our bodies in the same way? It’s essential to eat healthy food. And also necessary to do sports exercises regularly.
At least it would help if you walked 2 hours per week outside. It will be enough for good health. But if you want to get better shape and mental health, find an exciting sports activity you will like and do it.
Step 15. Eat Healthy Food
Same as in the previous advice. Take care of your body; it will work on you your whole life. Ask yourself the next question. What should you stop eating to get healthier?
I only want to leave one Youtube channel containing fantastic content about healthy and junky food. Subscribe not to lose it.
Step 16. Do Morning and Evening Routines
We are determined not by one action we have done but by everyday activities we repeat and do consistently. If someone drinks beer daily or eats fast food, what can you say about this person?
That’s right. If you know someone who goes to the gym daily or reads 50 books per year, you should respect this person, not only you. These actions are not one-time results; they are the whole process you have to make every day.
Find something simple you can do after waking up and before going to the bad. For example, read a book, listen to podcasts, or meditate. You won’t recognize yourself in one year after you will find out how much you’ve achieved by spending so little time every day.
Step 17. Read More Books
It’s important to stay smart. But to be wise, you must have many different viewpoints and ideas. The best way to do it is to read more books.
Only in two weeks can you get an experience and knowledge from the wealthiest person in the world.
There are many books cool people wrote who found some simple advice that allowed them to earn millions, and they are glad to share them with you. Then why will you miss this advice?
Spend only 10 minutes per day reading, and you will become much wiser than ever.
Step 18. Get Time for Rest
Important to rest. Even if you don’t feel tired, visiting nature, meeting your friend, and talking well is better.
Remember about your body and mind; you have achieved everything only because of them. That’s why you need to say thank you and make a pleasurable time for relaxation.
Step 19. Find Time for Your Friends and Family
At least call your parents every week. If you don’t have much time to meet them, it’s acceptable, especially when you live too far from them. Remember your friends as well.
Very important to keep a connection with the closest people in your life. Regularly meet them, go to restaurants, and attend events together.
Even if you haven’t seen it long, make a call; only 20 minutes can make you much happier. So, don’t forget to do it.
Step 20. Keep Everything Organised
Keep your home clean, especially your workspace. You need to know where you have your tools and essential things.
Especially important to have a clean virtual space. Review your phone and laptop, uninstall applications you don’t use, and remove random photos you don’t need anymore.
Everything around you should help you but not distract you. That’s why you will have everything clean and organized. More about getting your digital world organized, you can read in the following article.
Step 21. Learn Methods to Stay Calmer
We live in a very distracting world, with a lot of anxiety and low trust in other people. Many scientists say it’s because of technology and that people didn’t interact with each other as much as 50 years ago.
First, you need to learn and hear your inner voice. Learn human psychology and nature because we all have common patterns. And also learn how to interact better with other people. Read books written by Dale Carnegie. They still work very well!
Also, learn meditation and breathing practices. The easiest way to calm down very quickly is to use Square breathing.
It contains only the following steps:
- Inhale for 4 seconds
- Hold for 4 seconds
- Exhale for 4 seconds
- Rest for 4 Seconds
- Repeat the process four times
Also, I will leave essential resources that can help you feel better below.
