Making adjustments is a part of improving your productivity. But those adjustments, while some are done in one fell swoop, don’t always have an impact right away.
Think of that front end work I’ve talked about before. You could say that the impact of it won’t be felt for some time — even a long time. But it will last.
I’ve started to get back into a fitness routine. I began that journey last week. I’ve had many “restarts” when it comes to that aspect of my life — and I’ve had to take my own advice from The Front Nine with this latest attempt. I have dropped the ball a lot, even though I knew that picking it up again was going to be on my radar soon enough. My problem with getting back into exercise is that I took the wrong approach time and time again. I didn’t look inward enough and realize what would work best for me…I simply tried to force it.1
And that is one thing that is never simple.
This time around, I’ve been more mindful and thoughtful about my approach. Additionally, I’ve paired those attributes up with being realistic. I know what will compel me to stick with it this time, and am keeping that at top of mind. I’ve placed it as a priority in my apps of choice and it most certainly is a repeating task in OmniFocus. I’m listening to myself and my habits, and am putting myself in the best situation to succeed.
I just need to do my part. And while an app or piece of paper can inform me, it can’t perform for me.
The same thing goes for anything else that you might be struggling with (whether that’s simply because you’re stuck or not prepared for the struggle in advance by doing that all-important front end work). If you go in with the mindset that it doesn’t just happen overnight, then you will be able to better handle it when it does happen.
1 As for what my new routine is, I’m not going to share it just yet. I’ve found that sharing this kind of thing too quickly works against me rather than for me. When I’m ready, I’ll let you know.
