Good News Friday: $FOO for $BAR
Every Friday from here on out I’m going to delve into something more conversational simply because I want to. This Friday, here and now, is all about a productivity tip from Merlin Mann over at 43folders that I find very valuable, simply because I have a zillion things on my plate and keeping sight of what each of them is really driving to sometimes gets difficult.
Mann basically says to take what we’re thinking about doing, and re-phrase it into a more actionable what and why format:
Think about the thing that’s most on your mind right now. It’s probably not the thing you think is most on your mind; the stuff that’s really getting our attention likes to run behind the refrigerator whenever we turn the lights on. But, anyway. Got it? Okay.
Let’s say you now have in your mind something that needs to be different than how it currently is. For me it’s:
Slides for talk in Arizona
If I re-articulate that in the following format:
I need to $FOO because I want to $BAR
I get something like this:
I need to spend an hour cleaning up my Keynote slides because I want to give a great talk on Inbox Zero next Friday.
Now I’ve said something I can use; I have a Next Action (reviewing and editing my slides for 60 minutes) and a Project (presenting a kickass talk in Scottsdale).
This is Outcome-Based Thinking 101, but I think it can be a powerful way to focus when you’re feeling adrift about what to do with a something.
Give it a try, forcing yourself to sketch more than the shadows of anxiety, priority, or resignation. Envision what this would look like if you really kicked ass, then figure out the next physical action that gets your kicking foot into motion.
Try it. It seriously cuts away the stuff you’d normally do when diving into a task and helps you get right to the heart of the matter.
Happy weekend.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree. The way we attack tasks in today’s busy world borders on being anti-productive. I hear and see (and unfortunately work with) folks that spend more time worrying about tasks than actually creating actionable items to eliminate the worry. Adding the “because” part seems like a great next step to identifying what is on your mind and I will add that to my next big overwhelming activity.
On a side note, I did pick up on a couple things and would like to offer a topic for a future Friday Tip. I recently read a book called “The Four Hour Workweek” and though it is not for everyone and every circumstance, I found a large number of productivity tips in the book. I’m nowhere near working only 4 hours a week…yet…but have incorporated many of his tips into my day to day and have found tremendous impact.
My biggest impact to date is email. We all have to manage email 24/7 because that’s what most of us have come to rely on. This doesn’t mean that we have to keep every email that we receive or even reply to every email we get. I’ll leave the tips up to the experts, but my success story…my Inbox has ZERO folders and TWO emails in it right now! I know it sounds impossible, but it’s not and I have had ZERO complaints from anyone regarding non-replies or non-actions on my part.
Spend some time here or read the book - http://www.fourhourworkweek.com.
-Chris
@Chris: I read that book too. And I agree: a lot of the stuff (the “outsource your life” bits) were a bit too pie-in-the-sky, as was the mini-retirement idea.
The best things I can recommend are the things I’d guess you’d agree with. Don’t check email constantly, and keep your inbox clean. Last winter, I wrote a long article about my email management system, and I advocate it strongly. Check it out here. If you want something even better, I’d suggest Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero series. It’s downright awesome.
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