Get Everything Done

Mark has advocated that follow up actions from a meeting should be advanced little and often, starting right away. I can certainly understand how desirable it is to do that rather than waiting until the next meeting looms and the task becomes urgent.

But I've also found that some tasks don't get finished, even though I do a bit on them every day. Eventually, I loose patience, abandon my diary and to do list, concentrate on the offending item, and after (say) 3 days it's finished at last.

There are hints of this too when Mark talks about having one current initiative, and making that the first thing to look at every day. Concentrated effort has the advantage of avoiding the inefficiencies of multi tasking.

When is focussed effort called for, and when is little and often better? What trade offs are involved? I'd be interested to hear other experiences.

I think concentrating on an onerous task and getting out of the way to the exclusion of all else can have a huge benefit of the enormous relief you feel when it's all done! However, it's then easy to lose sight of what else needs to be ticking along at the same time so I don't think it's good to do that kind of thing for a prolonged period of time. The current initiative idea of Mark's works really well I in my experience.

Hi,

I think it really depends on what it is you have to do. I found using the Current Initiative and drawing up a list of Current Initiatives in order, helped me significantly to concentrate on those things that do take more concentration or perhaps little more effort.

At the same time I find the little and often works as well. Especially for Projects.

I think probably the key is to highlight which things suit which approach. If I had a lot actions from a meeting I would probably start with the little and often approach. But if it got to a point where I wasn't making significant progress I would probably then turn it into my Current Initiative until it was complete. But that again might be dependant on the actions themselves. You could really take the concept down to action level, do some actions little and often. One action specifically as your Current Initiative.

All the best

Steve

I think I sometimes go full-bore on a project when I can see the end in sight. Before then, little and often, or timed sessions. But when I'm near the finish line, I will often concentrate fully on that.