Why you need to get real...and why that's a good thing!

This week I'm tackling the extremely unsexy topic of getting real. I hope to explain that whilst the idea of 'getting real' may seem limiting, it's actually remarkably freeing!

Sounds unlikely? Read on and let's see if I can convince you! 

When you get to the end of the day beating yourself up because you didn’t get everything done?

Perhaps you just need to get real.

When you’re writing your to-do list and planning what to do tomorrow, this week or this month?

You definitely need to get real.

If you’re forever feeling that there aren’t enough hours in the day, you’re probably right. Unless you’re of Time Lord descent, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about the number of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour and hours in a day.

You need to get real.

Having realistic expectations about what you can achieve in a day is everything when it comes to getting things done with less stress and more ease.

Of course, that’s often easier said than done. But here are some tips to help you:

1) Pay attention. Start to notice how long things take. Did a particular task take all day when you thought it was a couple of hours’ work? Maybe you took the plunge and started on what you thought was a big job, only to find you sailed through it in 45 minutes. Pay attention.

2) Write it down. Make a note of how long things take and begin building a picture of how much time you need for certain tasks. As an added bonus, the act of writing it down will help you remember to pay attention!

3) Always have your diary in front of you when deciding what you want to achieve in a day. Do you have calls with clients? Does the food shopping need to be done? Keep one eye on your diary so you can plan your day, week or month based on the time that’s actually available to you. (And if there's never time to do what you want to do because your diary is always full? Maybe it's time to remove some of those commitments from your diary.)

You can be super-efficient, focused and 100% on-it all day long, but if there’s too much on your list you’ll still never get it all done.

It’s great to come up with grand schemes and plans for things we’d like to achieve, but if we’re not realistic about the time we have available, we’re setting ourselves up for stress and failure.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying you should think small. Quite the opposite. The world is your lobster! I want you to dream big, get excited by ideas and go all in when it comes to making a difference in the world! Just don’t try and do it all by lunchtime on Wednesday.

Instead, pay attention, get real and see how you feel at the end of each day. Do you still give yourself a hard time for not getting all the things done? Or are you now able to recognise and celebrate the progress you made and enjoy a sense of achievement?

Strange as it may seem, I truly believe that when you have realistic expectations about what you can achieve in a day, you’ll soar.

You’re more likely to take consistent small steps in pursuit of your amazing ideas and your big dream. 

You’re less likely to get disheartened and give up.

Do you need to get real? Let me know!