The art of getting things done
I want to introduce the action snowball—it takes massive amounts of energy, effort, or willpower to start anything, but as you build up momentum, similar actions become effortless. It’s important to note that similar or lower threshold actions build up the snowball while more difficult tasks impede the momentum.
This is where grouping tasks together or aligning certain tasks together can help you get things done in the most efficient way. Or even if you’re not trying to do the best job, it accomplishes a more important goal—starting an action.
The grouping method
Anytime I make a list of things to do, it’s astonishing to see how long the list gets, and how long it’ll take to complete it all. One useful method is to group all of the easiest stuff together. Things you know won’t take that long to do and are relatively low-effort. Some examples could be watering your plants, taking the trash out, wiping the counter, etc.
Since it’s such low-hanging fruit, they’re doable and that’s something we need to not only feel accomplished but to build momentum. Momentum allows us to keep the flow as we progress from task to task. It shifts your mind and body from rest to action. The amount of effort to get off the couch to do something is minimal but the mental effort will require more willpower.
We want to group many low-mental effort items together because any task that requires way more work will take more mental effort and thus impede our progress. An example could be from wiping the table to writing a business report for work.
The opposite can be true as you group all of the hard stuff together. Just make sure they’re similar enough that there isn’t a big mental shift. It’s a strange phenomenon that every time we start something new, there’s a change in focus and the energy required for that task is big enough to reset all of the momentum we’ve built.
I think of it like speed dating—you’ve gotten through the first initial stages of conversation and things are picking up. There’s a flow in dialogue, going back and forth smoothly, and then time it’s up. You have to start again with something new, starting from scratch and building up to the flow. It’s a lot of work to start over again.
Ensure that each task is similar enough so it can be used as a stepping stone for you to cross towards your other tasks.
The ascending method
If you have some tasks that are of various difficulty and not similar to each other, the ascending method is worth a try. It’s the idea of starting with easy tasks and working your way up the difficulty ladder.
An example could be making your bed, doing laundry, cooking meals for the week, and finishing off with research. Of course, the degrees of difficulty will change on a person-to-person basis, but the goal is to build momentum as you transition from easy tasks to harder tasks.
it works because there isn’t or shouldn’t be a huge jump in focus or energy required to move on to the next task. It shouldn’t have to reset your focus in order to do the next step. It should be able to move somewhat smoothly as you complete your tasks. It will take a bit of planning to set what’s the best route for you, but as you execute it, make sure to take notes of any hiccups or areas of improvement.
I see this method as warming up for a workout. You’ll start with a slow warm-up to make sure your muscles and body will be ready. After the warm-up, you’ll start with lower weights, and then increase the weight over a few sets. In the end, you should be exerting a lot of energy and focus because the last set should be your hardest. A lot of athletes that I know, they finish their workout with a cardiovascular finisher. For most, it’s trying to get their heart rate up. These movements can include sprints, rowing machines, burpees, etc. As you guess, they’re completely spent at the end. Although the cardio finisher is short, it’s intense and leaves the athlete exhausted. Easy and slow to hard and intense.
Although doable, I wouldn’t recommend starting with the hardest task. Unless it’s time-sensitive and requires all of your effort and focus. If you’re the type to need some momentum, it’s better to start slow. Often starting with the hardest tasks will ultimately eat up most of your time, and by the time you finish, you probably won’t have time to do all of the other stuff. Which ironically, become important stuff if you don’t do the little things.
The decentralized method
This method requires some financial means and a network of people that can help you. But it’s ultimately the best method if you want to be able to work on important stuff without having to bother with the little stuff.
Imagine that you have a project that requires 100 percent of your focus and energy. You have to jump right into the fire from the beginning. Let’s say you have a whole bunch of stuff that you have to do that isn’t as important, it’s best to let other people do it for you so you can save time.
It’s not a new or innovative method, in fact, it’s used all the time. If you’re too busy, then go buy lunch. Let someone else take care of that for you as you focus on your project. Can’t clean the house or wash the laundry, tell your partner/friend/family to help you out with that.
This method isn’t available to everyone because of either financial issues or lack of family/network. But it’s something to strive for if you want to be able to work on projects and issues that you’re passionate about. We need to free up time to work on things like that because those are the people that are able to change the world for people.
When I worked at a human resources firm, I’d always wonder why we have so many clients when the work itself wasn’t that hard. Payroll and interviewing employees was a doable job so I was curious why business owners couldn’t do it themselves. The company size ranges from 10 all the way to over a hundred staff. I could understand bigger companies using our services but for a smaller company, it felt like a waste of money. It wasn’t until it was explained to me that outsourcing these few aspects, allowed the owner more time to work on more important stuff which gave him the opportunity to even make more money. For others, they knew this aspect of work wasn’t their strength so they paid to have other people do it for them. It would have been a mess if they tried to do it so it’s better to have it done correctly and save time/more money.
Focus on doing what you’re good at and outsource the rest. This doesn’t mean being completely oblivious to the methods and the whys behind it. You must still understand what’s going on. Just because you don’t do it doesn’t mean you’re not able to do the task. You should still be able to do it just in case, but it’s just more efficient to have someone else do it. This is the natural progression of scaling your business.
Combine it all
In real-life applications, you’ll most likely see a combination of each method being used. Rarely do you get a perfect grouping or naturally ascending method.
All that matters is that you start doing stuff to build momentum and let that carry you through your tasks. The more you do, the more you’ll understand how you like to carry out your tasks. You’ll also learn that if you take too many breaks, it’s a recipe for not getting anything done. That energy and focus required to get back to “work mode” is tremendous.
It’s very easy to get distracted by something else. Social media companies have spent billions in order to get you distracted strolling their apps. They have it down to a science on how to keep you occupied. You’re fighting an uphill battle against them.
That’s why it’s important to have your own system to combat distractions. The way I see it, you get to choose how you want to get things done, but it’s always better to do stuff that frees you up to do more stuff, not to delay stuff and get stuck with more stuff.
Build your snowball, my friends.
*Check out my last article on how to get rich*
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