Do The Hard Things First: A Recipe For Success

Make a list of your tasks and do the hardest first

What is it you wish to accomplish today? What is it you look forward the LEAST to do today that you must? Do that first. That one thing on your to-do list that you'll inevitably push off till another day. Get up and get it done. Don't let it slide another moment. This day is the perfect day to do it.



When there is something we don't want to do, or that we know will be a true chore we tend to shove it off and do the fun things first. The problem with that approach is that the not so fun things and the tough things never get done. Do they?

Create a schedule and stick to it

So wake up each day, take your shower and eat your breakfast then look at that list. Envision yourself checking off that hard task and how good it will feel to finally have it done. Don't you deserve to finally be rid of that stress hanging over your head? Do it before you check your emails or your facebook or twitter. Do it before you stop by your friends desk and chat about last weekend. Stop slacking off and get into the work you've got to do.

Cyberslacking is an epidemic. Recent surveys find that employees are wasting about an hour per day on the internet. That means for every 8 employees you have, you are paying the equivalent of a full time salary for the time spent cyberslacking. A company with 1,000 Internet users could lose upwards of $35 million in productivity annually from just an hour of daily Web surfing by employees.

Avoid that 3pm feeling and follow through

Here's the thing, when we awaken and do the hard stuff first the rest of our day, that part where we hit the doldrums where the 3pm feeling creeps in and we realize we've still got 2 hours left till the end of our work day when all you want to do is tell your boss off, and walk out for good will be much easier to tolerate because we've got fun things that we look forward to doing left to accomplish. The easier things become fun tasks when we no longer fear the big bad ugly stack of papers to correlate, or in my case, designing and implementing the sales funnel for one of my email lists today. And believe me, I'd rather be writing to all of you.

Life isn't always fun but if we take care of the tough things first, then we can enjoy the rest of the day seemingly skating by with ease. So get up every day, accomplish something impossible and celebrate the rest of the day.