No, this isn’t Jack does self help quite yet… although the post title sure reads that way. This is about getting things done.
I have a challenge for you. Pick something important to you – could be business, could be personal – for me it’s improving this website, for someone else it could be learning to cook or studying for an exam. Now think of one thing you can do today to help you edge closer to that goal. Do it, and tomorrow go and pick another small thing you can do, then do that too. Keep this up for a month and hey, guess what, you’re looking down from atop a mountain of good work about things you care about.
I think this is a fantastically good idea – whether you are a fashion blogger, a budding DJ or a careerist (like my bad self). So why do I have so much respect for this productivity pattern?
1. You’re less likely to procrastinate
Procrastination occurs because you fear the difficulty and size of a task. I’ve been meaning to improve my website for about a month. I felt I needed to improve visuals, build additional pages about the company, implement a more effective archiving system, yada-yada-yada-ya.
All that sounds like a hell of a lot of work – it is. Thinking about it literally made be feel like vomming, so I put it off.
Three days ago, I decided I’d do one thing towards improving my site everyday. Today, I’m three steps closer to my getting the site looking like I want it to.
By breaking goals up into small micro tasks, you make it easier to start tackling them, and with this new ease procrastination disappears.
2. You focus on one thing for a month instead of flitting between projects
In the information age people are drown in choice. These chose a project, achievement in which promises them success and happiness. For a week or two they focus on the project – until eventually something else catches their eye, something which promises them success an happiness.
The problem with this patten of thinking is that true expertise and momentum is never given a chance to develop. This only comes with deep focus, the kind of focus you only get with long term, daily commitment.
By committing to one goal for a month (or two) and doing one thing towards it every day, you focus and will make real progress.
3. You might end up doing a lot more than one task
Say you decided you’d write a blog post everyday. You behave yourself and write one today. It felt good and only took 20 minutes so you decide, “what the hell, I’m in a creative mood, why not write another?”, and so you do. I’ve found myself doing two or three tasks a day sometimes, instead of just the one.
By forcing yourself to do a little everyday you’ve already lifted off from the gravitational pull of inertia. In doing the first task, you’ve already completed the hardest part, and a second task will take far less energy. So much less you might actually do it.
4. One little daily task is small enough to fit with the rest of your busy life
You can get on with your social and family life. If a last minute road trip is planned you can do one little thing before you leave. This is much better than doing nothing, deferring your goal further into a future filled with other “unexpected” life events.
Just to show I’m not all talk, I’m going to make a public promise, right here in these here woods.
For 30 days I will improve the Hermes Technologies website in some way other than posting new content.
Read about the 30 daily improvements I made to my blog
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