Doin' it - part Ii

Well, the jig is up. And by “jig” I of course mean “July” which was the deadline for last month’s challenge. The goals were simple and few:

1. If something needs done, do it

2. If it takes less than a minute to do, do it right then

The results, unsurprisingly, show that 90% of the time, those two methods of being are good ones. The positives far outweigh the negatives, although I was surprised to find that there were negatives at all. I mistakenly assumed that undertaking “good advice” would automatically mean that there were no downsides other than being a better adult (ugh).

Here are my big takeaways:

1. My house was surprisingly cleaner. The number of tasks that take less than a minute (take dishes to sink, throw away trash, etc.), that I wasn’t doing was egregious! Doing all of those things helped the general upkeep around the house. And my resulting stress levels were lower because of that.

2. I had more time to spend on the bigger projects. Because all of those little, niggling tasks were already done, they didn’t become distractions to time-suckers when it came time for me to focus on something larger, and ultimately more important. This helped me maintain focus and remain more productive with the time that I did have.

3. The experiment led to two larger shifts in self improvement:

a. Finishing a small task does not equal productivity. In other words, you don’t need to finish a task for time spent working to be considered productive

b. Having small tasks done ahead of time means you can jump right in to the task at hand.

There were a few downsides that I didn’t expect, though. First off, I LOVE making lists, largely because I LOVE crossing things off! When doing things immediately, it seems silly to write it down first, then do it, then cross it out. Just typing that sentence out, though, let’s me see what a huge waste of time and energy that can be. But I admit, I truly did miss crossing things off. The old habit of writing out the list, waiting a while to do anything, then doing a whole bunch of small tasks in one fell swoop, was in some ways satisfying. More stressful as well, but I sure do enjoy that tiny morsel of joy that comes from a task being crossed off.

The other temporary downside was that on days when the big project didn’t get finished, I enjoyed looking at the small things I DID do and therefore still felt accomplished. Not having that happen led me to feel a little let down and unproductive on a day when the “big project” didn’t get finished, even though I made a lot of head way with it. In the past when that would happen, I would do something small from my list so that I could still say that I did something. By having the little things done already, there were none to do in order to have “something finished.” That caused two positive shifts:

First, a shift in thinking. I had to realize that “crossing an item off” does not necessarily equal productivity. Let me say that again a little differently, doing a small task just to say you’ve finished something does NOT equal productivity. That is just an easy way to get distracted by menial tasks that take away from the larger goals and real, focused, productive time. Making progress doing the big things is just as valuable as crossing something out. In some ways, even more so. It is OK to have a day where no tasks are checked off.

The second shift is one of being. I started to realize after the first week that I could actually just start a task. There wasn’t a need to think about it first, or to do other smaller things first. I didn’t need to clean off my desk before I could work; the desk was already clean. I didn’t need to first make the bed before folding and putting away my clothes; the bed was already made. I began thinking back to all of the times I would waste a good 30 minutes to an hour doing “prep work” before I “really got started.” Having those things gone and handled, I really enjoyed just being able to sit down and jump right into the task at hand.

The only other surprise hiccup was in defining a “need.” I found that depending on my mood, that definition changed. When it came to something like caring for my sweet bees – it was easy. It was essentially a life and death decision. But what about the dishes? Is that a need? Or just a good thing to do? The “need” really doesn’t come into play until both sinks are entirely full and there’s no space to use it. But the goal is to get things done BEFORE it reaches that point. So then it became a battle to convince myself that the “need” is there if one sink is full. Each task will have its own threshold, and your thresholds will likely be different than mine. The important thing is that the threshold is before the negative consequence, be is stress or some other downer.

Despite the temporary downsides, and the lack of being able to check my list more often, the overall effect was wildly positive. I aim to continue these better habits moving forward. I would love to hear your tales as well, and hear any insights you may have gleaned from your own behavioral experiment!