Saturday
Sep092006
Plus or Minus?
Saturday, September 9, 2006 at 10:22 Do you find that you have difficulty doing all the items on your task list? Perhaps you keep getting stuck because you are resisting some of the items. One way of overcoming this, which I have often written about in this newsletter, is to break bigger tasks down into smaller steps. In fact the most important step is always the first one.
The secret is to pitch your first step so that you don’t mind doing it. So for example if you have a difficult report to write, the item “Write report” might get you resisting hard. On the other hand “Write outline of report headings” might seem easy.
The trouble is that you often don’t succeed in identifying that you are resisting an item until too late. At the end of the day you find you haven’t even made a start on it. Instead you have spent the day on trivial displacement activities. Ideally every item on your list would be pitched just below your level of resistance, and then you could really power through the list.
There is a very simple technique for achieving this. Once you have written out your task list for the day, just run down the list and mark each item with a plus or a minus, depending whether you feel positive or negative towards that item.
So you might end up with a list like this:
- Write report
+ Phone John
- Write new company strategy document
- Organise Charity Ball
and so on
Here there’s no problem phoning John, but you are feeling negative towards the other three items. The next step is to cross each of these three items out and write in a new item which cuts the task down smaller. Then check the new items again to see whether they are plus or minus. So your list might now look like this:
+ Phone John
+ Write outline of report headings
+ Write letter inviting colleagues’ input for strategy document
- Set up Charity Ball Committee
Now you have three plus items and one minus item. Break the minus item down further and you final list looks like this:
+ Phone John
+ Write outline of report headings
+ Write letter inviting colleagues’ input for strategy document
+ List names of potential Committee members
Because you are now feeling no resistance towards this list, you can zoom through it. You will either finish or make a good start on all your tasks and will now be able take them to the next stage.
One tip: if you take a lengthy break from actioning your list, make sure you re-evaluate your plusses and minusses on returning to it. It is surprising how resistance can increase overnight!
The secret is to pitch your first step so that you don’t mind doing it. So for example if you have a difficult report to write, the item “Write report” might get you resisting hard. On the other hand “Write outline of report headings” might seem easy.
The trouble is that you often don’t succeed in identifying that you are resisting an item until too late. At the end of the day you find you haven’t even made a start on it. Instead you have spent the day on trivial displacement activities. Ideally every item on your list would be pitched just below your level of resistance, and then you could really power through the list.
There is a very simple technique for achieving this. Once you have written out your task list for the day, just run down the list and mark each item with a plus or a minus, depending whether you feel positive or negative towards that item.
So you might end up with a list like this:
- Write report
+ Phone John
- Write new company strategy document
- Organise Charity Ball
and so on
Here there’s no problem phoning John, but you are feeling negative towards the other three items. The next step is to cross each of these three items out and write in a new item which cuts the task down smaller. Then check the new items again to see whether they are plus or minus. So your list might now look like this:
+ Phone John
+ Write outline of report headings
+ Write letter inviting colleagues’ input for strategy document
- Set up Charity Ball Committee
Now you have three plus items and one minus item. Break the minus item down further and you final list looks like this:
+ Phone John
+ Write outline of report headings
+ Write letter inviting colleagues’ input for strategy document
+ List names of potential Committee members
Because you are now feeling no resistance towards this list, you can zoom through it. You will either finish or make a good start on all your tasks and will now be able take them to the next stage.
One tip: if you take a lengthy break from actioning your list, make sure you re-evaluate your plusses and minusses on returning to it. It is surprising how resistance can increase overnight!
Reader Comments (13)
I wonder how well this would work with a weekly AF method (similar to DSAF)? A difference being that the '-' items get crossed as part of a larger weekly review.
Great idea by the way!
"I wonder how well this would work with a weekly AF method (similar to DSAF)? A difference being that the '-' items get crossed as part of a larger weekly review."
In other words:
1. The tasks you feel negative towards eventually find themselves dismissed.
2. At review time the dismissed tasks you felt positive about are let go or rewritten, and the tasks marked with a minus are broken down into smaller tasks that elicit positive feelings and are rewritten at the end of your active list.
The author groups tasks by the expected type of emotional payoff, such as
Supremely satisfying:
making a tricky phone call, research.
Massive relief:
sorting out insurance, booking flights.
The author says "I’ve learned I have first to find the associated “Why” of the task. Emotions need a why. And “Why to do” to is always a better place to begin your day than “What to do”.
The author groups activities by their emotional impact such as:
Supremely satisfying: making a tricky phone call, research.
Massive relief: sorting out insurance, booking flights.
Avoids physical and psychological meltdown:...
The author writes: " I have first to find the associated “Why” of the task. Emotions need a why. And “Why to do” to is always a better place to begin your day than “What to do”. "
The author groups activities by their emotional impact such as:
Supremely satisfying: making a tricky phone call, research.
Massive relief: sorting out insurance, booking flights.
Avoids physical and psychological meltdown:...
The author writes: " I have first to find the associated “Why” of the task. Emotions need a why. And “Why to do” to is always a better place to begin your day than “What to do”. "