If you’re a list-maker like me, you’re going to love this post. If you’re not, I hope it sparks something productive anyway. And if you’re someone (also like me) who can fill endless minutes with mindless scrolling on your phone or tablet—may you find ways to apply this.
Because I work from home, and because writers are notorious procrastinators when it comes to actually writing, I constantly see little tasks everywhere that I “should” be doing. I pull out my crumbling three-ring binder stuffed with recipes and remember I wanted to make a project out of that over the winter. A garment in need of mending sits on my sewing machine, where it has waited for months. A couple of hubby’s shirts hang on a doorknob, needing ironing. My desktop’s a mess. Our humidifier needs cleaning and putting away for the summer.
But I don’t tackle any of these jobs because, well … I’m “supposed” to be writing. Except then I don’t write because I really should be taking care of something else, but what was that something else? Out of sight, out of mind. Neither the tasks nor the writing gets done. This could explain why many writers prefer working at a coffee shop or cabin somewhere.
The crazy thing is that many of these (and other) tasks can be completed in ten or twenty minutes once I get at them. But I’m loath to assign them a slot in my calendar because one never knows when one’s day is going to go sideways and then the task won’t get done when planned, and one will feel like the miserable, pathetic failure that one surely is.
We can’t have that.
So, I decided a new chart was in order. If I think I can complete a task from start to finish in an hour or less, it goes on the chart. Every time I spot another task in my house or yard, onto the list it goes. In the second column, I put how many minutes I think the job will take. The third column is for checking it off when done. Then I can put it out of my mind, freeing headspace for other things, like writing. So far, so good.
That’s the first half.
Here’s the second. Whenever I find myself with an uncommitted ten, 30, or 60 minutes, I don’t need to waste time deciding what to do with the time or trying to recall a task that needs doing. I can simply go to The List and scroll my finger down it. Choose a job that fits the time slot. Do it. Then enjoy the great satisfaction of crossing it off.
Doesn’t that sound fun? If you’re a true chart nerd, you can add a column and give the task a priority number between one and five.
Sure, you might add three tasks for each one you check off, but you might also find yourself building momentum as you realize how little time some of these things take. We often say, “Everything takes longer than you expect,” and sometimes that’s true. After finally getting at the recipe binder project I’d neglected for years, expecting it to take only 30 or 40 minutes to sort through, punch, and place everything alphabetically into a new binder, it took more like two or three hours. Can’t win ‘em all.
But some tasks do take less time than we expect, especially if you stick with it and focus on only that job. Maybe my fancy chart needs one more column to record how long the job actually took. My guesstimation skills would improve.
“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.” Titus 3:14.
No comments:
Post a Comment