Taking on the big tasks in little chunks
Oof, we all have those projects that are so daunting we keep finding reasons to not do them, right?
For me, it's the replacing-rock-with-patio-block project under the window in my back yard.
It's been on my list for years! Years! And since it's an area I don't go to, easy to not do. Out of sight, out of mind! But this year, I approached the monumental task differently. I gave myself the goal of clearing out enough rock to place three patio blocks. Three-only three. It’s heavy, hard on the hands and back work, but I can do three!
And guess what? After four years of looking at the blocks piled up and the wildly spreading snow on the mountain loving life in the rock, I was able to bring myself to actually go and do it – three blocks at a time. Rake and clean out the rock, dig up the weeds, level the dirt, place three blocks. And when I did that, I was done – and felt great about it! I never told myself to do more, I was happy with what I’d done.
Now that it’s getting colder and snow is on the horizon, actually completing the project will resume in the spring. And I’m okay with that, I made progress and that was the only goal.
Fast forward to yesterday, and I’m listening to a webinar from Crucial Conversations titled Why We Are Overwhelmed and Unproductive: The Social Science Behind Getting Things Done. Guess what! – the key tip they provided was to chunk up any project you have into bite-sized pieces and you’ll not only be better able to get to them, but you’ll feel productive and proud at the same time!
The speaker used some great examples, such as instead of writing down a large goal, like organizing an event, choose one task that will be manageable and not cause you to panic. Steps to getting the event organized could be:
Schedule meeting with the planning team
Take a look at venue options
Consider ideas for the theme or intended outcomes
Each of those three bullets will take an hour or less, and are not too intimidating. Keeping the “organize the event” on the to-do list makes it too big. We say to ourselves, “I can’t tackle it all, so I’ll put it off until I have more time.” But scheduling the meeting (which if you have a good team gets you 90% of the way!), is doable. Spending time browsing event spaces while you’re having coffee and a granola bar is, dare I say, fun!? Looking at billboards or walking the aisles of Target is the ideal way to come up with a theme.
This may seem like a very basic idea, and it is. But in a world of bigger and bolder, sometimes just going for the small chunks is the best way to get things done. As to my patio block project, I’ll get back to it in the spring with more small steps and lots of patience.