Every Monday is Productivity & Organization Day at Zen Habits.
Have you gotten good at organizing your tasks in a to-do list, but have trouble actually executing them? You’re not alone.
Getting things on your to-do list actually done is difficult because
it’s really a collection of habits that most people don’t think about.
Today, we’ll look at addressing those issues that stop you from doing
things, and the habits needed to overcome those issues.
This post was prompted when reader BJ Thunderstone recently asked a great question:
A lot of productivity systems such as Getting Things
Done by David Allen or Do It Tomorrow by Mark Forster concern
themselves with writing lists of things to do. This skill is easy to
learn.But what if the problem isn’t making lists, but executing your
plan? What if you write “Get X, Y and Z done” and then you can’t make
yourself do any of these things?
I think that many people have a problem not with making to-do lists - but with executing what is written on these lists.
B.J. went on to list some of the reasons he and others have a problem getting things done. Let’s address them one by one.
“I feel resistance when starting work on something.”
First of all, it’s good to analyze your resistance, which is something
we don’t do often. Why don’t you want to start on something?
Identifying the problem can help lead to the solution.
Having said that, there are a couple of suggestions that could help:
- Tiny chunk . Tell yourself you only have to do 5 minutes of work on it. That small amount of work is less intimidating.
- Just start . Once you get going, it’s much easier
to keep going. So tell yourself that all you have to do is start. I
like to compare this to my philosophy of running: instead of worrying
about having to do the whole run, I tell myself that I just have to
lace up my shoes and get out the door. After that, it’s really easy. Do
the same thing with any task — just fire up your program, and do the
first few actions (i.e. start typing). It gets easier after that point.
- Reward yourself . Don’t let yourself check email
(or whatever reward works for you — something that you need to do every
day) until you do at least 10 minutes (or 15 or 20, it doesn’t matter)
on the task. Set a timer. Once your 10 minutes is up, set another timer
for 5 minutes and do email. Then repeat.
- Get excited about it . This is actually a tip that
helps with any of these points. If you are excited about doing
something, you will not hesitate to do it. For example, I loved this
topic suggestion, and I was excited about writing it. As soon as I had
the chance, I sat down to write it and only took one break. But how do
you get excited about a task? Try to find something exciting about it.
Will it bring you revenue? What can you do with that revenue? Will it
bring you new clients, new opportunities, new recognition? If you can’t
find anything exciting about a task, consider whether it’s really
important or not — and if not, find a way to not do it. Sometimes
eliminating (or delegating or delaying) the task is the best option.
“I am terrified of certain tasks, or of working on certain projects.”
There are usually a few reasons those tasks or projects terrify you:
- They are too intimidating in size or scope . To
combat this, break it down into tinier chunks — actually, just the
first tiny chunk (as David Allen tells us to do in GTD). It’s
intimidating to do a task like “Create report on X” or “Make a yearly
plan for Z”. But if you just need to do the first physical action,
which might be, “Call Frank for figures on X” or “Make a list of 10
things we should accomplish this year”, it’s much easier to tackle and
less intimidating.
- You don’t really know how to do it . If you haven’t
done something a million times before, it is unfamiliar and unknown to
you. And we are all terrified of that. The solution? First, get more
information — learn as much as you can about it. That might require
some research on the Internet, or talking to someone who’s done it
before, or reading a book, or taking a class. Whatever you need to do,
make the unknown become the known. Second, practice it as much as
possible. Once you’ve learned how to do something, you need to practice
it to become good at it. Don’t practice the whole thing — practice
individual skills required to do a task or project, one at a time,
until you’re good at those skills. Once you’ve mastered them, it will
no longer be terrifying.
- You are focusing on negative aspects . You might
be focusing on how hard something is, or on all the obstacles. Try
looking at the positive aspects instead. Focus on what a great
opportunity this project represents … an opportunity to learn, to get
better at something, to make more money, to work on a relationship, to
gain some long-term recognition, to improve your advancement
opportunities. This is similar to the “get excited about it” item in
the previous section. If you look at the opportunities, not the
problems, you will be less terrified and more likely to want to do it.
“I start, but I get distracted and never finish.”
If you start, you’ve already made a big step towards finishing. Now you
just need to work on the distractions. My suggestions won’t be popular,
but they work:
- Small tasks . I mentioned this above, but it’s
really important to repeat here. If you are getting distracted, it may
be because you are working too long on a single task or project. To
remain focused, do only a small task — you are more likely to stay on
task. If the task takes a long time, focus on only doing 15-20 minutes
of it.
- Single-task . Don’t allow yourself to do multiple
tasks at the same time. Just do the one task before you. If you tend to
do email, IM, surf the web, read your RSS feeds, talk on the phone and
all of that while doing a task, you will inevitably be distracted from
a task. Do one task at a time. If you feel yourself being pulled from
the task, stop yourself. And bring yourself back.
- Unplug . The biggest distractions come from
connectivity. Email, feeds, IM, Twitter, phones. Unplug from these
connections while you’re working on your single task. This is always an
unpopular suggestion, but before you reject it, give it a try. Turn
everything off, and try to focus on one task. You’ll get a lot more
done, I guarantee you. Right now, I’m writing this post while
disconnected from the Internet. It’s much easier to concentrate.
- Clear your desk . Distractions can come from visual
clutter. It can be worth it to clear everything off your desk (see 3
Steps to a Permanently Clear Desk). Also clear your walls and your
computer desktop, and only work on one program at a time if possible.
- Focus . Once your desk is clear and you unplug, and
you’re working on that single task, really put all of your
concentration on it. Pour your energies into that task, and see if you
can get it done quickly. You might even get lost in it, and achieve
that highly touted (deservedly so) state of mind known as “flow”.
- Take breaks . It can help you to focus for a short
amount of time on a single task, and use a time to help you focus, and
then to take a break. This allows you to reboot your brain. Then, get
back to work and focus on the next task.
“I often don’t feel like doing any work at all. The idea of work seems horrible and I never start doing anything.”
I know this feeling well. It plagues us all, and there’s no one good answer. However, here are some suggestions:
- Groom yourself . If you work from home, take a shower. Often the act of grooming ourselves can make us feel much better.
- Take a walk . I find that a little walk can get my
blood pumping, refresh my mind, and allow me to think about what I
really want to do today. It might not be what you need, but it’s worth
a shot.
- Exercise . Similarly, exercise can make you feel
great. A jog in the park, a short strength workout, some pilates, or
meditation … these things get your mood up and get you feeling
productive and happy. Try it out — you might feel more like doing stuff
when you’re done.
- Again, think of opportunities . Think about
tomorrow — not tomorrow as in the distant future, but tomorrow as in
the day after today. Imagine yourself looking back on today from
tomorrow. Will you be glad you laid around? Or would you be happier if
you did something, and took advantage of the opportunities in front of
you today? It’s useful to think in terms of your future self — because
what we do today will open up opportunities and new roads for
tomorrow’s us.
- Baby steps . Don’t think in terms of having to
tackle an entire work day, or an entire list of stuff to do. That’s
overwhelming. Just think of doing one thing. That’s all you have to do
— just that one thing. Make it something small and easy, and ideally
something fun and rewarding. Focus on that easy task. Once you get
started, you might be more willing to do another thing. Then another.
- Find fun stuff to do . If you just have boring or
unpleasant things to do, you won’t feel like doing them. Instead,
change your path for today — see if you can find something that’s fun
or exciting, but still moves you forward on a project or goal. That
might be what you need to get you jump-started to do other stuff — or
you might instead only spend the day doing only fun stuff (as long as
it moves you forward — don’t just play solitaire or WoW).
- Commit thyself . If motivation is your problem,
commit yourself to making some progress with a goal or project today,
or every day this week — tell all your family and friends, write it in
your blog, or join the Zen Habits forum — it’s a great motivator. Then
hold yourself accountable by reporting to others what you did today.
- Rewards . Tell yourself that if you just do that
first task, you’ll get a nice ice cream sundae. Or that you can buy a
book, or DVD. Whatever your reward, use it to motivate yourself to just
get started. Then let the rest flow from there.
“I make a list of things to do the next day.. and on that
day, I wake up looking forward to a bad day, full of unpleasant tasks,
I don’t feel like doing anything from the list.”
Two things to say here:
- Overload . The most probable reason is that you’re
overloading yourself. People tend to pile too much on themselves for a
single day, overestimating how much they can actually do. Get into the
habit of choosing only three Most Important Tasks to do for the day,
and do them early in the day (at least two of them before email). If
you only have three things to do, it’s not overwhelming. You’ll
probably have some smaller things to do later, but write those down
under a “batch process” heading, and do those small things all at once
near the end of the day.
- Fun . The second thing is that you’re loading
yourself up with unpleasant tasks. Who wants to face a day of that?
Instead, put down tasks that you’ll look forward to doing. Create an
exciting to-do list for tomorrow. If you really have nothing important
to do that’s enjoyable, it’s possible you’re in the wrong job. Look
instead for a job that you’ll actually enjoy. Yes, every job has
unpleasant and difficult tasks, but they lead to something rewarding.
They support something you get excited about. If you don’t have
anything like that in your job, you need to take a closer look at your
job — revamp it somehow, or look for another.
Have your own methods of getting your to-do list done? Have other problems? Discuss it in the Zen Habits forums.
See also:
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