You have a big job looming over your head. Maybe you need to create an ebook on a topic that will require lots of research. Or perhaps this is a personal task you need to complete, like thoroughly clean an entire apartment so you can get your rental deposit back.

Either way, you get a slight feeling of panic washing over you every time you think of the task. You feel overwhelmed. It’s like this job is so big you might never finish it. And so you get paralyzed, not even sure where to start.

Sound familiar? Sure it does — we’ve all been there. And the next time you find yourself in that position, follow these quick and easy steps:

* Take action fast. The more time you spend thinking about a big job you have looming over your head, the greater chance you have of starting to feel overwhelmed, worried and even outright panicked.

The greatest way to stop fear in its tracks is to take action. That action starts by quickly following the next three steps – and then you need to actually start working on the project itself. The sooner you do, the better you’ll feel.

* Slice and dice the big job into small steps. Now it’s time to create a to-do list. But putting huge tasks on your list (like “write an ebook”) will only further serve to panic you.

Instead, break the big job up into little tasks. Some of your small bite-size tasks may only take ten minutes to complete, while others could take a few hours. Just don’t put anything on your list that takes more than half a day – if it does, break it into smaller pieces.

* Prioritize the list. Next, prioritize your list in order of importance. If you have a chronological task (where certain things needed to be completed first before moving on to the next task), this step is easy. If nothing seems particularly more important than another step, then put the tasks you least like at the top of your list.

* Cross off anything that doesn’t need to be done. Finally, cross off anything on your list that simply isn’t important. If it doesn’t need to get done, then it only serves to make you feel overwhelmed.

It’s true — a journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step. And the faster you take that first step, the faster you’ll completely your journeys. In short: Speed is the key when you want to boost your productivity!

Check out Productivity Secrets now.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 4:44 pm and is filed under Money and Wealth, Personal Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.