What is it that causes self sabotage? The day started out with such promise. The house was empty, I had my to do list and I decided not to even answer the phone. But productivity was virtually nil.

Have you ever had one of those days (or string of days ) where you just couldn’t motivate yourself to do what you know needed to be done.  Even worse than that is when you are motivated but you just can’t get to the desired outcome.  You can probably come up with loads of reasons why you couldn’t or didn’t get the job done.  If you do a tally how many times did someone or something stop you versus you getting in your own way?

In a previous post I reviewed a movie called The Shadow Effect that highlighted those aspects of ourselves that subconsciously cause us to act the way we do.  But I’d bet that most of what stops us is us.  There has got to be a way to identify & eliminate the plain & simple ways we just mess up our own groove.

Here are some of the culprits I’ve identified and how to sabotage them.

Over-packing the To Do List – So much of life today is about doing more, doing it faster and doing a better job than the competition.  This keeps you focused on everything other than  just accomplishing what is before you to complete.  Solution: Pick a specific, manageable number of items to accomplish and become proficient at handling that size list before you move on to a new list.  Like eating a big meal.  Do it in manageable chunks.

Multitasking Overload – Until someone can use one eyeball to focus on one thing & use the other eyeball to focus on another thing I will believe that multi-tasking is not the most efficient use of focus & concentration.  Its just not natural.  Try typing a blog post while reading a bedtime story to your children.  Not gonna happen.  Solution: Line up tasks with a definite time slot for each then give each one all of yourself.  Knock them out one by one.

Lack of Focus & Cloudy Head – I can’t tell you how many times I have sat down to write or complete some task only to start surfing the web, looking in the fridge, staring out the window or thinking about everything else but what I’m supposed to be.  Solution: Hard fast rules and preventive measures against any and all distractions.  Also when you realize that you can’t get yourself to get focused & on task the thing to do is step back for a moment take some deep breaths, stretch (literally), drink some water, go use the bathroom, determine what you need to do  and come back to the task at hand with a clear mind.

These are just some of the things that I’ve been able to do to get unstuck.

What methods do you use to make sure you don’t step on your own toes?