5 USEFUL HABITS FOR WORKING ON A NEW TASK

The most imperative requirement for achieving a goal and maintaining the success for a long time is to take consistent actions over it irrespective of other occurrences in life. This consistency is not easy, rather quite difficult to maintain.

While starting any new task on any new day, we never think about just finishing and forgetting it, we all prepare our minds to continue with the work that we start, but the spark fades off with time for some, while others keep up with their efforts and succeed immensely in the same work which others quit. The major difference here, is of those powerful and necessary habits, which help us to avoid distractions and maintain consistency.

Over the past few years, I have worked in diverse fields and incorporated these 5 habits, which I believe to be really powerful while working on every new task in day-to-day life.

1. Focus more on your actions than on the results
Consider any activity that you do in your daily routine such as workout, assignment, painting, writing, etc. It would never let you focus on your current activity if you would think or worry about the outcome while doing the activity or even before starting the same. The responsibility is obviously on you for the end results, but the very thought of it can lead to diversion in your focus.

Putting your energy in just one direction would lead to a better job and simultaneously, make you more relaxed and comfortable while doing the work. Moreover, the activity can become an emotional roller-coaster ride if you overthink about the potential results, thus making you impatient or nervous, so it would be far more beneficial if you focus more on your current actions instead of their results.

2. Remember the reason of doing your task
Whatever you do in life, specially on repeat as an everyday task, is not something that is out of your priority list. And if you have added something in your priority list, then there has to be a concrete reason for it. Whether you are saving more for an upcoming family trip, or to organize a surprise for your family, or to work harder for a better job, or to sacrifice your workout for special classes, every activity is based on a solid cause.

As I do it too, and is highly helpful for me, you should pen down the most important reasons for your actions, and also the reasons to work upon them consistently. Furthermore, I would recommend you to put these notes at a place where you can see them often, may be near your bed, in order to read them every day and remember the reason to work harder on your tasks every day.

3. Don’t overdo and exert
There are times when you feel that your efforts are not bringing the required results, and consider that may be there have been lesser inputs from your end. This thought can force you to add excessive energy and resources on the same task, which are otherwise not needed. The exertion caused due to this, both mental and physical, can create further complexities leading to a long trail of negative results.

In any case, just be patient and positive, and do not hurt yourself by either overdoing the task, or lowering your self-esteem and self-confidence. Maintain a constant pace, keep up with your efforts and do not lose hope at all.

4. Prefer smaller steps instead of bigger leaps
There would be days when you would risk something bigger than usual, and it would end up in your favor. Such instances, although helpful, can lead to over-confidence and a thought to take bigger risks more often. Well, just don’t lose control over your nerves, thank the Almighty for holding your hand while taking a bigger leap, and retain a regular pace with smaller steps.

On other days, nothing would seem to work, procrastination would take over your mind and negative vibes would dominate. Again, keeping yourself going with smaller steps would be extremely helpful in bringing you out of the stressful phase and boosting your morale at a steady pace. Even if a small step towards a task seems difficult, opt for an even smaller step but just don’t give up on your task.

5. Appreciate yourself for what you did today
You may not feel the importance of what you do on daily basis, but just try to look back at your activities since morning and you would realize that you did put a lot of hard work throughout the day. Now, appreciate your energy and dedication, and you would feel yourself more emotionally connected with your tasks the next day.

Writing down some self-appreciative points at the end of your day can cheer you up and motivate for a positive start to the next day. Just an extra dessert after meal as a celebration can add to your happiness. Sharing the contentment of your efforts with someone can multiply your energy to work in the same way consistently. A little appreciation of your own efforts can do wonders.

All in All:
Sometimes, we feel that these small steps do not really have a huge impact on our lives. And at times, we even feel that it’s a wastage of time to think over what we did or to appreciate our hard work or to learn from the past. But, looking at it from a broader perspective, every time we reward ourselves, we strengthen our action-taking habits and get deeper understanding to be kind to ourselves in all sorts of situations.

Neither there is a point in proving yourself perfect, nor in hurting yourself in times of a failure. Just don’t let your thoughts scatter, remain focused on your goals, move ahead steadily taking small steps and grab what is meant for you.