Cutting Things Down To Size

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The hardest part of getting unstuck is noticing that you were stuck in the first place.  I've just spent all afternoon stuck on doing my company accounts, only I didn't notice.  I checked my email.  Caught up with a friend or two via instant messenger.  Made, and drank, a few cups of tea.  Posted a new entry to my blog  Sent a few emails that were overdue.  And filled in half-a-dozen lines of an expenses spreadsheet.

Now some of those things were tasks on my to-do list, so I don't feel too bad that I've completed them as part of my procrastination (using hard tasks as a tool to combat procrastination of slightly-less tasks is a whole other post...); but the expenses form is the only thing that's taken my accounts task any further.

It's not like doing the accounts is going to be that onerous a task - it's probably not more than a couple of hours of work.  It's just that I don't do it often, so always have to re-acquaint myself with the accounts software, and there's a couple of things that I haven't entered before which will take a little bit of thinking about to get right.

Whatever the reason was, I was stuck.  And I hadn't noticed.

Divide and Conquer

It was only after I'd had a break for an hour or so to get some dinner, and my brain had the time to mull things over, that I realised.  I was talking to my girlfriend about my day, and explaining what doing my accounts would entail when it hit me.

I'd been stuck, but I knew how to fix things.

Divide and conquer.  It's my favourite tool for getting unstuck.  Take whatever it is that you're trying to do, and break it into smaller tasks.  Repeat as necessary until you have something manageable, then do the first one that needs to be done.

Even just breaking it down into smaller tasks feels like you've accomplished something towards your goal.  Plus smaller tasks are inherently easier to complete, and you get to multiply the satisfaction of crossing a task off your todo list by the new number of tasks!

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Adrian McEwen blogs over at McFilter, and his company has just launched tedium - a way to keep track of, and organize, all those things you have to do.

Comments

[pinaki]

it is a good idea to go for the Divide and Conquer tech but tell me can't it backfire.

i have these three big things that i have to do.
i break them down and suddenly i have 10.

what then. won't one feel overwhelmed.