Tag's Top 5 Tips For A Productive 2017

BRING ON 2017

So we all know I am super productive and we know I love jumping on a good bandwagon. So here are my top 5 tips for a productive 2017:

1. Don't give up on things because they will take too long. The time will pass anyway.

Will saving to buy a house take too long? Will getting a degree take too long? Writing a novel? Getting to the top of a new career path? Learning to paint? It doesn't matter how long something will take, a year, ten, twenty, that time will pass. And at the end you can either have the thing you wanted or be a lot older and still not have it. Your choice.

2. Most of our goals feed into one or two bigger goals. What is your big goal in life?

In Angela Duckworth's 'Grit' she discusses goals and how most of our smaller goals feed into one or two major goals. It was suggested to her that we should all choose one main goal for our life and cull of anything that doesn't contribute to that one central focus.

Goals should be thought of as a pyramid, feeding upwards toward the primary goal. Let's say your primary goal is to be a world famous author. It would be the top of the pyramid. Writing many first drafts would be somewhere near the bottom, followed by editing them. Above that would be getting them published with a major publishing house. Above that would be selling a million copies and so on, as you get close to that primary goal of 'world famous author'.

Maybe you also think it would be cool to have a dog grooming business. However that would take time and effort away from your primary goal, while not contributing in any way. In 'Grit' Angela Duckworth says if we really want to achieve our primary goal, we should cull any projects that don't contribute to it.

When you know your main goal in life, deciding how to spend your time is suddenly very easy.

3. What do you wish you had started doing five years ago? What will you regret not doing now in ten years time?

Saving $100 a week?

Learning a new language?

Playing an instrument for half an hour a day?

Starting part time study?

If you had started saving $100 a week, five years ago, today you would have $26, 000. Which is what I paid for my half acre of land in Nanango. You could have mastered another language or racked up over 900 hours of practise on an instrument. You could be finished a part time degree.

Make a list of the things you wish you had started five years ago. Try and look forward. What will you regret not doing in five years? In ten years?

4. One thing today that will make tomorrow easier.

Every single day, I have a goal to do one thing that will make tomorrow easier. Usually its small things I am putting off. Paying bills, gardening, some mess that doesn't need to be cleaned up, but is messy all the same. After I have finished my primary objective for the day, I cross of one of these 'tomorrow' goals. There are times when I even run out.

Yes, there are times when everything in my house is clean, my bills are all paid and I have no projects sitting around waiting to be finished. Its real. It's possible. They are finite. With persistence and consistency, you can experience it too.

5. Life passes faster as we get older, because our experiences are less novel.

I read a psychology article recently (which I have no misplaced) that discussed that feeling we have that time passes more quickly as we get older. The reason, the author said, was because as adults we have more routine. We do less novel things.

Since I read that, I have tried to do something novel several times a week. I go somewhere I haven't been before, look in stores I've never been inside, try something new--be it a food or a skill. Even moving your furniture and decorations around helps. The first eight days of 2017 felt longer to me than entire months of 2016. It's really changed my life.

Also cucamelons are quite nice, eaten fresh off the vine.

Next week, we are back to the characters series, I promise!