Biz Tips – One Sticker One Focus
One Sticker One Focus & Three Simple Tips For Your To-Do Lists
Have you used the Hunter or Kanban method in your business or personal life? If not, here is a recent article from Quartz on the Hunter Method
We often talk about priorities, yet by definition a priority is only ever one thing, maybe two if you have one for work and one for home.
One sticker one focus – make money, complete a project, get a report out.
As for those To-Do Lists… here are three additional tips:
1. Separate them into projects and write/type all of your to-do tasks out
On paper is out of your mind (see below). You can also limit treating what has just come to mind as urgent, by putting it onto a list. (Try colour coding, i.e. red, green, yellow for importance).
2. Write tasks as an action, including the next thing you need to do.
If your brain doesn’t know what your next step will be, it won’t let that thought go. It feels unfinished. Gain clarity by figuring out the next step when putting it onto your list if necessary (you will typically notice this as needed if you wrote it down yet still ruminate on it).
3. Set a time limit on your admin or procrastination tasks.
We all know we will prioritise tackling certain tasks or easier tasks, even though they might not be important or urgent.
It feels good to complete tasks. We feel we have achieved, and we get a lovely dopamine hit as an extra well done (that is why completing lists and tasks is so addictive). We can also use certain tasks to procrastinate and rationalise that time. Finally, we also do it to avoid something, including relaxing if we feel guilty in doing so (a busy badge of honour or otherwise).
Accepting the reality, rather than trying to fight it can help.
How?
Setting a maximum time limit can help. For example a maximum of 20 minutes to deal with any bitty work related tasks or admin (anything from filing, to reading blogs, to dealing with certain admin emails, or types of marketing) and a maximum of 20 minutes to deal with home related bitty tasks or admin (a spot of tidying, researching, reorganising) so that it doesn’t expand to occupy a whole evening or day.
You can choose your own tasks that fall into this category of ‘need to do and important to get done at some stage’ (it can also be used for short urgents that you know will accumulate during the day).
This way when you need a break from a bigger task, or need to procrastinate (we all do it), you have set boundaries on the nature of the tasks and the time to do it. Even if not completed you know you have the same space tomorrow to do the same, if wanted/needed.
Days and evenings aren’t then lost, not least then rushing to do the work we ought to have done earlier that day. Or going to bed late, once again, from chores.
Does it always work, of course not, but it is about creating a system and a habit that works for you, and then sticking with it as much as possible.
One sticker one focus.
Life is more than to-do’s… how can you simplify yours?
Simona
