One Step at a Time

One of the biggest problems I have is that I think too much. When I am working on something I will be thinking of what I need to do next, a day later, or even a week later. All of this thinking makes me less productive and can even stress me out at times. Sometimes I will end up working on something that does not have to be done for a few days instead of working on what needs to be done that day. Lately I have been not thinking as much ahead and just taking things one step at a time.

What I mean by taking things one step at a time is literally that. Once I finish one task and only then I go to the next. This is quite a basic method of doing things, but it works well.

Make Lists
First you need to know what your tasks are before you can complete them. Usually I make a daily task list and have ordered in the order that I need to complete the tasks. This way I know what I’m doing and I have a clear cut path to get everything done. Lists also help you keep on task if you are easily distracted.

Different Parts
What I do with my task list is separate it into parts. So I have a morning, afternoon, and evening part of the list. This way I’m not working straight through all of my work, which can be very stressful. Between each part of the list a take a break to relax, go do something with friends, just anything except for work. So when I start the next part of the list I’m not exhausted from previous work.

Force Yourself
Sometimes I look at my list and I want to do the easy things on the list first, then I end up never getting the harder ones done. By forcing yourself to stick to the list order and only doing 1 task at a time you end up being more productive, because you are getting everything done that needs to be done, not just the things you feel like doing.

By doing things one step at a time I really make doing work less stressful. The main reason for this is that I don’t have hundreds of things on my mind at once, only the specific task I am working on.