3 Tips to Getting Things Done

Has this ever happened to you? Deadline drawing ever closer, and you staring at a blank white screen with nothing coming to mind.

Or maybe you relish the rush of completing a task mere seconds before its due.  Well, that’s not going to work all the time.  And cramming never was a part of my lifestyle, If I could avoid it.

There are many reasons why we don’t get things done.  It’s too big, to easy, too hard, to soon, I’ve got an appointment, emergency meeting, I don’t have the right tools, and all that.

So let’s go over 3 quick tips on how to get things done.

1. Remove Distractions.

I remember one scene from last week. I had to type out a long draft of a document for work. I finished at around 6 pages.

I typed my first sentence, then the second, then the third. Then I stopped to think. Opened my email, scanned. Had to reply to an urgent request.  I said I’d do it tomorrow.  Back to document. Stare at screen, rereading what I had written. fourth sentence. Stop to edit what I had written. Open facebook. Scan. Take phone call (what was that about again?). Back to document.  By now I’m sure you’d have imagined the torturous scene I was trapped in. And we may not be aware of it, but we let it happen to us all the time.

Multitasking is a myth.  Studies have shown that multitasking does not make us more effective or efficient.  In essence, what we are doing is switch-tasking.  There is energy required to start, and stop tasks mentally, thus sapping us of energy.  We may be able to complete a variety of things by switch-tasking, but we take more resources to complete them.

There are several ways to remove distractions.  Avoid facebook, email, for the time being.  Don’t answer phone calls, emails, or instant messages for the duration of your task.  Close the programs completely.  Put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign.  Get out of the office for a moment, if needed.  Tell others you’ll get back to them later (in a nice way, of course!)

There are many ways to remove distractions, and from my experience, the biggest one is control of environment.  The more control you have of your environment, the less distractions you will have.

Remove distractions to get total focus on the task at hand.  You’ll finish quicker, and with better quality.

2. Break It Down Into Small Steps

The sheer scale and enormity of some projects and tasks given to us can be similar to looking straight up a 20-foot wall, and thinking: “How am I going to get over that?!”

In cases like these, ask yourself: “Where do I begin?” And THEN try to answer your own question.

Break down the one big task, into several, smaller steps.  They will be more manageable, actionable, and achievable.

It’s like setting up this blog.  I’ve always wanted to write, but the sheer enormity and responsibility of maintaining the site and all the technical details, as well as coming out with content week after week, was my 20-foot wall.

So what did I do? I broke it down into smaller steps.

I had to decide on what I wanted my blog to be about.  Then I bought the domain name. Then the webhosting service. Then pointed my domain name to my webhost. Then installed wordpress. All the while writing everyday. So on and so forth.

Even the biggest tasks and projects are really just many, many smaller tasks.  Break it down into smaller steps.

3. Stick To A Schedule (Or Create One!)

Human Beings are creatures of habit.  The body and mind remembers activities that we regularly do, day in, day out.  Use that to your advantage.  Create a schedule that will allow you to maximize the times when you feel the most productive, and to remove distractions.

At work, I get priority tasks done between 8 in the morning to around 10:30. I put the most important tasks I want done in that timeslot.  If I can help it, during that timeslot, I don’t answer or make calls, don’t look at my cellphone, ignore our office messaging app, don’t pay attention to my email, don’t check twitter or facebook, and even don’t pay attention to my co-workers and boss, if I don’t need their input.

Why does this work for me? Because, well, for one, I’m a morning person, and I feel better and put out better quality work in the morning.  Second, because I have trained my body to get used to this schedule, and as such it creates a rhythm for me and my work day in and day out.  I feel it.  My body expects me to be working during that timeslot.  It’s become a habit.

If you also notice, I also, as much as possible, take control of my environment by removing distractions during that timeslot.  In that way I get things done, and my co-workers and boss don’t complain about me being some sort of cubicle recluse.

On a side note: I don’t start my day by reading email.  Why? reading email puts me in a reactive state of mind.  I end up answering, or even just thinking about what was sent to me, even while I’m doing something else.  That costs energy.  And energy and brainspace is very, very precious.

I usually get to check my email around 10:30 in the morning, after I complete the tasks I have deemed necessary for the day.  Then the afternoon is usually blocked out to continue important tasks, or respond to emails, calls, and other matters.  I get to check my mail again at around 3:30 in the afternoon. I get the things I need to get done first, THEN I check email.

Start small.  You don’t need to set a schedule for your whole day right away. Set aside small blocks of time to get things you want done, then build from that.

To recap, here are 3 Tips to Getting Things Done: 

1. Remove Distractions

2. Break It Down Into Small Steps

3. Stick To A Schedule (Or Create One!)

Another tip: It helps if you write down what you want done by what time.  “I will start on the report tomorrow, 8:30 AM” as an example.  Better if you can say it out loud.  From my experience, this cements the task needed in your brain, and makes it easier for you to get it done.

And those are 3 quick tips on how to get things done. And these are not the only ones, I’m sure.  If you have a tip that works for you, please share in the comments below!

 

 

 

Sources:

“The Myth of Multitasking” by Nancy K. Napier, Ph.D., May 12, 2014