Improving your life through sheer willpower might work for some super-humans, but it\u2019s a recipe for disaster for most of us. You try to do something; you fail, you feel discouraged, you stop trying.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, establishing a few simple \u2018Rules and Routines\u2019 can add order to your life, and make you feel far more in control and more productive.<\/p>\n
You can introduce \u2018Rules\u2019 incrementally as a way towards accomplishing a much bigger goal. For example, let\u2019s set a rule towards a bigger goal of weight loss:<\/p>\n
Weight Loss Rule #1 \u2013 No snacking after 7:00 p.m. <\/strong><\/p>\n All you have to do is master that one rule for now. That\u2019s it. And by the way, this is a good rule for everyone, whether you need to lose weight or not, because eating late at night interferes with your circadian rhythm. If you eliminate eating after 7:00, you\u2019ll improve your digestion, you\u2019ll sleep better, and you\u2019ll wake up more energized.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a chronic night-time snacker and a 7:00 cut-off seems too challenging, adjust the rule to something you know you can do.\u00a0 Make the cut-off time 8:00 or 8:30, for starters. Then, gradually move up the time in 15-minute increments until you\u2019ve achieved your bigger goal.<\/p>\n Or, if that\u2019s still too hard, be as creative as you need to be:<\/p>\n Weight Loss Rule #1 \u2013 Maximum HALF<\/u> pail ice-cream, before midnight <\/strong><\/p>\n You do need to utilize some<\/em> willpower! The trick is to make it somewhat challenging, but not to overload yourself.<\/p>\n Do not introduce too many rules at once, and start with rules that are relatively easy to follow. As you achieve success, you\u2019ll be ready to take on more challenging rules.<\/p>\n They say Rules are \u201cmade to be broken,\u201d but that does NOT apply to Personal Productivity.<\/p>\n Master Rule #1 \u2013 If I set a Rule, I MUST<\/u> honor it.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the thing. You\u2019re a solopreneur. You\u2019ve got NOBODY to set and monitor the rules for you, so guess who has to do it?<\/p>\n Hint: Not one person in the history of the universe ever became a highly successful achiever without following strict, self-imposed rules.<\/p>\n If you genuinely want to be an achiever, agreeing to \u201cMaster Rule #1\u201d is compulsory. Otherwise, there\u2019s a different word for you. You\u2019re a dreamer.<\/p>\n I know that\u2019s harsh, but it\u2019s time to get real. Snap out of it!<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the good news: Learning to follow self-imposed rules is incredibly liberating because it removes all uncertainty from the equation. There\u2019s no longer any internal debate about whether you\u2019re going to do something, or not. All you have to do is follow the rules.<\/p>\n Once you set a rule, you can now eliminate from your brain the constant feelings of neglect and guilt over NOT doing what you know you need to be doing.<\/p>\n When you\u2019ve successfully followed a rule for long enough, it will start to feel like an ingrained habit!<\/p>\n Now, you can go ahead and introduce a new rule!\u00a0 For example, you\u2019ve mastered Weight Loss Rule #1 (no eating after 7:00 p.m.).\u00a0 How about adding this new rule?<\/p>\n Weight Loss Rule #2 \u2014 No sugary drinks, ever. <\/strong><\/p>\n Or whatever. Pick something.<\/p>\n Guess what? You\u2019re accomplishing things\u2014one step at a time\u2014towards a much bigger goal. You\u2019re feeling good about the positive changes you are making, and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish over time.<\/p>\n What about \u2018Routines\u2019?<\/p>\n A \u2018Routine\u2019 is simply a recurring task that you perform at a pre-determined time-blocked \u2018Appointment with Yourself.\u2019<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n I suggest you make a list of ALL your routine activities that you KNOW you should be doing, but just keep a list for now. Do NOT try to implement rules and routines all at once.\u00a0 \ufe0f<\/p>\n Before you implement ANY new routine, you must agree with Master Rule #2:<\/p>\n Master Rule #2 \u2014 I agree to treat \u2018Appointments with Myself\u2019 with the exact same level of respect as I would treat an \u201cAppointment with my Most Valuable Client.\u201d I will prepare myself mentally beforehand, I will start on time and finish on time, I will turn off ALL distractions, and I will give the task my FULL attention for the FULL duration of the Appointment.<\/strong><\/p>\n Master Rule #2 is a tough one for almost all REALTORS\u00ae!<\/p>\n I completely understand! I suggest you work up to Master Rule #2 by introducing and mastering some easier rules, first.<\/p>\n For example, I just recently set a new rule for myself:<\/p>\n Tidy Office Rule \u2013 Tidy and Organize for five minutes every morning. <\/strong> \u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n As soon as I walk into my office EVERY morning, I set a timer for ten minutes, and I tidy and organize. I just started doing this, and it already feels great to work in a tidier and more organized space!<\/p>\n I\u2019ve trained myself to follow my self-imposed rules so that this new Tidy Office Rule is already a routine for me. I walk in the office, and I set to work immediately, picking up where I left off yesterday.<\/p>\n This is just an elementary example of how you can use rules and routines to increase your productivity.<\/p>\n Think of one simple rule you can implement today as a stepping stone towards a bigger goal.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a suggestion: The Real Agent Memo comes out early in the morning, every Thursday. How about you make it a rule that you will take the five minutes it takes to read it, every Thursday morning before it gets buried in your gigantic overwhelming backlog of email?<\/p>\n We can deal with your email problem another day! \u263a\ufe0f<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Improving your life through sheer willpower might work for some super-humans, but it\u2019s a recipe for disaster for most of us. You try to do something; you fail, you feel discouraged, you stop trying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-getting-stuff-done"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n