2020’s First Lesson
When everything seems important… nothing does
The first lesson of 2020: stop trying to do it all.
I’m a chronic overplanner. That stands true for yearly goals, monthly goals and the things I put on my daily planner. On any given day, I have about a dozen things on my to do list.
I do it as a motivational tool. If I have more to do I stay productive. I look at it as a race to the finish. I like seeing that there is always something else to work on. However, when I don’t get to highlight those 12 things, I feel like I failed.
2020 is my year to change that. I haven’t felt great about what I’ve been getting accomplished in the last 3 days and I came down with a head cold yesterday. This might be because I never took the time to heal after having the flu last month. It also might be my body’s way of telling me to slow down.
In his book Finish, Jon Acuff offers three solutions for anyone who has a hard time finishing goals to get things done. The three strategies are to: cut goals in half, choose the things that you will fail and keep a list of to do goals.
The first strategy is to cut things in half. It’s decreasing the goal or doubling the timeline. The new goal makes things seem more achievable. If we go over that line, we feel accomplished. It also serves as fuel and motivation. We can take the time and energy we have accumulated to keep going with the goal and get more out of it. We can also work on one of the other goals that are on our to do list.
By this strategy, a to do list would be cut down from 12 to either 5 or 6 things that really mattered. It would allow for an increased focus. It might allow for a few more tasks to get done as well. However, it would strip the feelings of failing the day as the list would be more attainable.
The second thing is to choose what we will fail. That means making choices on priorities. What are the things that we will fail to get more done? What trade offs will we make to achieve what we really want?
For example, if what we really want is more time to read and write, giving up the television for a few days seems to be no big deal. Sometimes in bigger projects, we do need to give up time with friends to see our goal through to fulfillment. When broken down to a daily basis, this might mean choosing to spend less time socializing on social media and more time working on a project we want to complete. It comes down to choosing what to ignore to finish our goals.
The third principle is to have a list of goals that we want to work on after we are done with the main projects we are working on. On the macro-scale this would mean focusing on one thing and then having a list of go-to projects after completion.
On a micro-scale, this might mean having a list of “nice to get done” activities to focus on after the initial few tasks are completed. Not for drive to get everything done at once, but a list that might be helpful to get ahead on.
It turns out, when everything hits the to-do list, nothing seems important. Each day seems to take a mad rush to the finish type of feel. It would be helpful to be able to focus on 5–6 things per day and know that there are a few goals to get done after those are finished. Each day should have a focus. A few specific goals. I’m going to start focusing on those first.
