Recently I stumbled onto a productivity tip that I feel compelled to share. This is a quick bit of advice on HOW TO GET THINGS DONE EVEN WHEN YOU FEEL UNMOTIVATED.
You know how some days, it is just darn difficult to get started? No matter what, you procrastinate? Maybe you are tired. Or maybe you feel guilty about not starting, so you get irked, and then you tell yourself that you'll get going when you want to, and not a moment sooner.
This is especially likely to happen to me when I have a lot of little chores, such as a bunch of niggling to-do items that have piled up on my desk until my workspace is a mess. When there are a lot of small, maybe distasteful tasks that create clutter, it is easy to rationalize that we will get to them soon enough. Yet there they sit, all the while exerting a subtle but certain tug on our focus, a slow but steady drip, a background energy drain. Sometimes just walking into the space evinces feelings of weariness or futility.
Here are two ways you can deal with that.
1. Set a time limit. A really short one. Let's use the example of doing the dishes. Allow yourself the RIGHT (after all, it's YOUR time and life!) to do less than the whole sink full of dishes. If it is five minutes after the hour, then promise yourself that you will stop doing dishes at fifteen past. By focusing on how to start and complete the process within ten minutes, rather than focusing on the seeming endlessness of the task itself, you can give yourself an energy boost up. Try it and see.
2. Set an object limit. This works when you have a lot of small, repetitive projects, such as email to reply to, or bills to pay. So let's say that you have six bills to pay. Pay one bill today. JUST ONE. Now, get it out to your mailbox for pickup; otherwise, put it wherever you can grab it, when next you pass a public mailbox.
- If you drive, then take it out in your vehicle, so that it sticks out of the visor, ashtray, or some other place where you can't forget it.
- If you travel on foot, or if you take the bus, then put it with your keys, your cell phone, or any other object that you will have to come into contact with, either when you leave the building or while you are out and about.
This makes it much harder to forget about.
Now, the next time you have a few minutes -- maybe it's the next day -- pay two of the remaining five bills. And the time after that, pay the remaining three. Really, it's okay to take three days to pay six bills! Yet it seems like it would be more efficient to deal with all six at once, right? Well, maybe, but sometimes it's easier to find the time to deal with three shorter chores than to deal with one long chore. Even if it ends up taking you forty-five minutes, rather than half an hour, you still did it, right?
Also, when you come into contact with the bills (or any other tangible object), ask yourself two quick yes/no questions:
(a) Do I need to replenish any of my supplies related to this task? (For bills, how about ordering postage stamps, new address labels, or buying blank envelopes?)
(b) Is there a way to make this task less of a hassle next time around? (Maybe you can enroll in online bill pay, or even cancel the service.)
Sometimes you can complete a surprising number of chores on a "bad hair day," simply by tricking yourself into using the ten-minute or the one-object trick. The basic principle, of course, is to break a large task into several small ones that feel less overwhelming.
Most of the time-tested advice on time management, personal productivity, and workplace effectiveness describes this "BITE-SIZE IT" principle. However, you can take this rule to the next level by applying it to even smaller, simpler projects that are part of your routine. Objectively, such tasks may be less daunting than the big projects, yet subjectively they FEEL overwhelming when you are having an off day. Procrastinate later!
Wishing you a beautiful day,
Bill Brent
[this page last updated: 2009.07.23, 4:21 p.m. Hawaii time]
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Really excellent ideas! I especially like the dish washing scenario.
One thing that helps me is to use the activity as a meditation. I simply try to focus, completely, on the act of doing something ... the feel of it, the motions of my hand, etc. I end up being so fascinated by the "zen" moment that ... I start enjoying it. In fact, it's sometimes over before I want it to be.
Take Care!
Small Footprints
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com
Posted by: Small Footprints | July 23, 2009 at 04:33 PM
Small Footprints --
That's a great idea too. Often I go to Zen mode when I have something to do that I judge as tedious or unpleasant ... so that I focus on simply doing it attentively, rather than judging it.
Thanks for sharing this!
--Bill Brent
Posted by: Bill Brent | July 23, 2009 at 05:19 PM