Thanks so much for the comment! I agree – it sometimes sounds a little
selfish, put yourself first, but I've found it's so much easier to squeeze
in everything I “have” to do once I've taken care of the things I want to
for myself =).

I think that's a great point – just shifting your default response from “do
it now!” to “do it tomorrow!” immediately helps prioritize what's really
important – and keep us on task =)

Hehe good point ;)

One similar exercise I do is every day I visualize my entire day, then I
review my most important tasks and visualize in detail myself doing those
tasks. This really helps me focus. I even visualize myself having a
distraction come my way – and ignoring the distraction ;)

I think the most important part of this article is learning to put yourself first. It's the single most critical aspect of living a happy life. If you can master putting yourself first I think everything else will fall into place. Great read.

My default setting is 'Do it Tomorrow'. Whatever comes my way can probably put off until the next day. Why does this work? Well, in a nutshell, it reduces the 'stimulus-response' approach and means I have a time buffer to really think about what's worth doing.

Bottom line? I cut out more time wasting activities because I react less and respond more.

My default setting is 'Do it Tomorrow'. Whatever comes my way can probably put off until the next day. Why does this work? Well, in a nutshell, it reduces the 'stimulus-response' approach and means I have a time buffer to really think about what's worth doing.

Bottom line? I cut out more time wasting activities because I react ess and respond more.

When your thinking “gotta not check twitter” you are still focusing on twitter!
Try closing your eyes for 60 seconds and thinking about the task you need to complete. Nothing but that task! By the end of the minute you should be itching to start the task. If you find your self getting distracted whilst completing the task, just stop for another minute to re-focus. Worst case scenario you have to stop 5 times. Is 5 minutes getting re-focused better then hours wasted on twitter?

Thank you for your comment – you bring up some really interesting points.

I agree with you – if someone is having trouble finding time for themselves
and also stretched thin financially then spending even more money may not be
the answer. I know when I was a student I had to really watch where I spent
money, and I'm still pretty frugal. I've found that for me, since I live
alone, it's not much more expensive to eat out than it is to cook – but for
a family, cooking at home is definitely something to consider and weigh the
time spent cooking versus the amount they would spend to eat out

Thanks so much for the discussion and bringing up some great points. You're
absolutely right – some of my suggestions may not be practical for everybody

Thanks for your thoughts – I appreciate it!

I really have a hard time paying myself first sometimes as well. Just like
you I always feel better after I do it though =).

Thanks for your comment!

I know what you mean about keeping in mind what we're trying to achieve!
Sometimes I take off on tangents and find myself doing something completely
unrelated to the task at hand – and have to remind myself to focus on what I
was working on in the first place =)