Why you don't get things done

There are so many people that say, “I wish the day was longer so that I could get everything done that I need to do.”

I was listening to people say this one day, and it made me think about why we can’t get the things done that we want to do each day. I have come up with some reasons that I think can contribute to why we wish the days were longer.

1. Social media – how much time do you spend each day checking Facebook, Instagram and all the other social media platforms. It is amazing how much time you can lose in a day by just spending time looking at all the various posts and feeds that appear.
2. Text messages – so many people figure that if they don’t get a quick response to an email, they can text you because then you will see it and immediately answer it. Well, that is another interruption that interferes with what you were trying to do.
3. Emails – the number of emails that we all get each day can be overwhelming, and we need to learn how to manage them. One thing that I have done is get my phone to only buzz with a couple of specific accounts receive email. I do have lots of accounts on my phone, so I need to manage which ones make noise, vibrate, and just want me to look at them.
4. Unorganized schedule – now that so many of us are working at home, having an unplanned or unorganized schedule can lead to not getting things done what we want to do. For me, I have found that I put all the things that I want to accomplish each day in my planner and then mark them off once they are completed. Sure, things can come up that will impact a day but at least I can see what got done and what didn’t get done and that helps a lot.
5. Other distractions – there are so many other things that can be a distraction and that can be music, conversations around you or just things that you can see that also might need to get done.

We all have challenges that we need to handle, and what I have done is set a schedule for myself for some of the key things that I need to get done quickly during a weekday. This has helped me keep on top of the various tasks, and it also gives me the time to do the other things that I enjoy doing. Being able to see all the different things that I have accomplished during a day helps, so everything I accomplish even if it wasn’t planned gets noted in my planner.

Something that I have found that also works is putting my phone on either vibrate only or silence for a bit of time so that I can focus on the task that I need to complete and that helps. Also, closing all the social media apps, websites, etc. can help eliminate the distraction of wanting to click to see what is new.

Being able to focus on the tasks that you need to focus on can make such a difference, and you feel good at the end of the day knowing that you got some of the tasks done. You might not get everything done, but at least you know where your day went, and it wasn’t entirely spent on social media and answering all those text messages.