I need help setting goals to be more productive in my work

[IMUnaware]

OK, so the below is taken from my challenge thread. I am going to see a counselor about it this afternoon, but I thought I'd throw it open to the forum too.

The MAIN thing I want to do to level up my life is get better about task setting/completion with my professional life. I need help creating deadlines for myself and breaking tasks down so that I actually make progress instead of avoiding and then doing things last minute. That said, I've had that goal for two challenges running and not had success...

I need help on this one friends. Basically the problem is: I don't work efficiently or well. I'm very smart, and very competent when I'm engaged, but tasks stress me out and I don't work efficiently each day. I need to set a goal that gets me down that road, that's specific enough I can measure success, but not so daunting that I will give up or feel overwhelmed. Suggestions welcome.

[RaeVynn]

I'm a great believer in rewards. Not knowing exactly what your "work" is, I can only offer general suggestions.

After doing "x" amount of "y", get up and wander off for a break. You can't actually go until "x" has been done.

Next "x" amount equals getting a cup of coffee/tea/small snack (keep it real food). Same rules... not actually finishing "x" means no goodie.

For me, it's phone calls. I take calls at work. After a certain amount of calls, I grab a 5-minute mini-break and do a power walk around the area, then come back refreshed for more. This works well in my job. When I was in my previous position, doing processing work (with a quantity expectation), I broke that down into 15 minute increments (8 per hour equals 2 per 15 minutes). If I did 3 per 15 minute, that gave me an extra few minutes at the top of the hour to wander off and relax.

I have a tendency to compete with myself, as well. I try to beat my previous day's number of calls/processed work.

[LRB]

Schedule it -- set a timer. Fifteen minutes of work, and then you can check the boards. Or whatever works for you. Some SMALL time increment, so that you don't take a mini-break in the middle of it, and then stop and do something else. Repeat throughout the day. And after a week or so, make the time you work just a little bit longer.

[IMUnaware]

Thanks. Both good advice.

Any ideas how to translate this into a concrete goal for the challenge?

[Kyzel]

I have had moderate success using the Pomodoro Technique. However, for this to be successful, I also use a to-do list sorted by priority, and work on the first item till it's complete in the allotted time slots. It's basically work 25 minutes, rest 5 minutes. Every 4 complete cycles, you get 15 minutes off. Those five minutes are good to stretch your legs, browse online, or whatever. I hope that helps

[Dcobes]

I also use a to-do list sorted by priority

I'm a big fan of this. I do this whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed with any type of work I'm doing where there are loads to accomplish, whether it be house-hold chores, work-work, personal work, etc.

You get through this by going down the list one-by-one. Don't try to multitask right off the bat. Wait until you get the swing of things and have crossed some of those goals/items off your list. After a while, you will find you won't need to keep a physical list, it will just become a part of you.

-d