3 Tips to Tackle Your Toughest To-Dos
Do you ever feel like you’re working uphill to complete a project? Like you’re moving through a sticky pool of thick glue, and can just barely motivate yourself to get to the other side?
Yup. I know the feeling.
While this can happen with any project at any time, I’ve noticed that it often happens with what I call “brainpower projects.” These are projects that force us to use a massive amount of brainpower and mental energy to take on.
The projects might not necessarily be that hard, or even take up that much time. It’s just that they require your full attention and energy, which is a tough thing to ask for when you’re an entrepreneur moving at a mile a minute.
So the most important projects for your business sit there, moving farther and farther down the list, sometimes causing endless amounts of anxiety or guilt in the back of our brains.
It’s a bad cycle!
Is this sounding familiar to you?
If so, you’re not alone. This is SO common, and totally understandable.
When we’re already caught up with a million other tasks, it can be hard to muster up enough energy to take on a brainpower project.
Read on for the 3 most common ways that entrepreneurs perpetuate this cycle, and my Supercharged Tips for digging yourself out of the hole!
Mistake #1: Saving Your Brainpower Project for the End of the Day
The first mistake entrepreneurs make is to wait until the end of the day to tackle a brainpower project. Big no-no! That’s because by the end of the day, we’re so drained by everything else that we already did that there is often no mental space left to deal with a project that we perceive as huge.
Supercharged Tip #1: Swallow the frog
I love this tip from Tony Robbins! It literally means taking on your brainpower project FIRST thing in the morning. Don’t check your email, don’t check Facebook, don’t even brush your teeth yet (kidding!). You’ll tap into a ton of energy you never knew you already had.
Mistake #2: Not Knowing Your Power Hour
Your power hour is the time of day when your brainpower project seems the most effortless. We all have natural ups and downs of our energy throughout the day, and tapping into the “ups” can go a long way.
For example, my brainpower project is writing. When I write at 5 AM, I can chug out articles like no one’s business. When I try to do the same thing at 7 PM, I write for what feels like forever, and still only manage to write a few lackluster paragaphs. Yikes!
Supercharged Tip #2: Know Your Power Hour!
If you take one thing away from this article, let is be this— figure out your power hour, and commit to working on your brainpower project ONLY during that time. Trust me – your results will blow you away.
Mistake #3: Not Taking Care of Yourself
If your energy is super low to begin with, a brainpower project can be nearly impossible to complete!
And the number one culprit for low energy? Not eating healthy, and not working out. Your body needs to be completely nourished, and working at its best
Supercharged Tip #3
If it’s tough for you to get started on a healthy lifestyle regimen, think of it this way: if you don’t do it, you won’t be able to serve the world in your biggest capacity. And that would just be a damn shame! Start with baby steps, like making a delicious green smoothie every morning.
If you’re already eating right and working out, think about what else you can do to up your energy levels. Try meditating, hatha yoga, and focus on consciously grounding yourself to tap into your highest energy potential.
What’s your brainpower project? For me, it’s coming up with content and actually sitting down to write it! I love writing, but it seriously requires all of my focus. Ask my husband – when he talks to me while I’m writing, I don’t even respond because I don’t hear him!
Share what your brainpower project is in the comments below, and let me know which Supercharged Tip you’re going to use today!