It's been a while since I wrote a productivity post. Lest you think that I have given up on my productivity junkie ways... nope. That was just the last 4 months of pre-posted blogs! But now... under the gun from having frittered away my 4 month blog buffer... productivity is front and centre again. Which means, of course, that I am re-evaluating my time/energy usage and looking for something that can keep me focused and efficient. Enter... the 1-3-5 Rule!
What the Heck is the 1-3-5 Rule?
A very good question. At it's essence, it's really very simple... in any given day, I should be able to accomplish:
- 1 Big Task
- 3 Medium Tasks
- 5 Small Tasks
Simple, no? But... what does big, medium and small really mean?
1 Big Task
This is the most important and impactful task I need to complete. It could be a major project, an important meeting or something else that requires a good 1.5 to 3 hours to complete. Lately... Tax Preparation has been my Big Task on some days. On other days it's "Clean the Airbnb".
3 Medium Tasks
These are tasks of moderate importance that still need to get done. They are essential for keeping things moving forward and keeping me on track. They aren't as big as the Big Task. I sort of ballpark them as 30 min to 90 min. Things like writing a blog post, running a daisy chain of errands, posting to our Airbnb's social media stream, mowing the hay field... errrr... back and front lawns.
5 Small Tasks
These are the little things that need to get done but often get overlooked. For me, they take between 5 and 15 min. Things like phone calls, sending emails, cleaning the heat pump filter. Writing or responding to guest reviews.
The thing with the 1-3-5 Rule is... there is only space for 9 (NINE!) things on my daily to-do list. Saayyyyy WHAT? Exactly. Before... I could have dozens of things on my daily to-do list. Talk about overwhelming. And I'd end up snacking on junk food tasks (the little ones) and never getting around to the bigger ones. BTW... updating my to-do list can seem uber important and urgent when there are dozens of things on my to-do list! And that can suck up hours of prime energy time. Sigh.
Anyhow... the 1-3-5 Rule puts an end to an Over-Ambitious To-Do List... there's only space for 9 things... and that's why it works so well...
The Beauty of the 1-3-5 Rule
The 1-3-5 Rule is simple and it's effective. It forces me to have:
Focus
I have to review my tasks and figure out... what's the big thing I need to get done today. Not "want" to get done... but "need" to... like spending a couple of hours on tax prep. Or cleaning the Airbnb because a guest checked out. I can only choose 1 (one!) Big Task so the 1-3-5 Rule forces me to look at my day and go... "OK... what's Priority #1 today).
Clarity
Oh, I get really clear on my priorities very quickly. In the past, I would think I could do 2 hours of tax prep and 3 hours of Airbnb cleaning and write 3 blogs... all in one day. Yeah. No. That doesn't work. I get really clear on what my big task is and I can let go of the other big tasks... for today.
Balance
My day is more balanced... there's room for a Big Task and a bunch of medium tasks and then the smaller stuff too. In the past, I might spend 8 hours of my day beavering away on some big research blog and... neglect everything else. That's a pretty quick road to exhaustion and overwhelm. I might "want" to do more but... there are only so many hours (and energy bursts) in a day so this helps me balance my day.
Achievement
There's nothing better than looking at my 1-3-5 list and going... Done and done and done and done!!! Looking at a list with several dozen items and seeing that I've only marked off 1 or 2... meh. Not very inspiring. While I might not get all of the Smaller Tasks done (they are easier to boot into tomorrow)... the Big Task generally does get Done!
But What About the 1-3-5-7 Rule?
But... true to form... there's a part of me that wants to add "more" to the 1-3-5 Rule. What about adding 7 Tiny Tasks? Things that take less than 5 minutes? Huh? What about that? What if I have a couple of calls to make or a few emails to write and they won't take 5 minutes each? What then?
Sigh. Rather than adding 7 Tiny Tasks to the 1-3-5 Rule... I've started bundling things. So one of my Small Tasks might be "Process Emails" and another might be "Call X and Call Y". But I do spend a moment on assessing if the Calls, for example, are going to be quick and short or if they might need to bounce up to a Medium Task.
Conclusion
So far, after a couple of weeks of this, I'm really liking the 1-3-5 Rule. My online to-do list program (Amazing Marvin) has a 1-3-5 integration. It automatically assigns things to the Big, Medium and Small lists based on the time duration I have assigned to tasks.
I tend to look at my 1-3-5 list for the next day on the previous evening. I assess my upcoming day and go "OK... no cleaning of the suite... tax prep is front and centre... and then writing a blog and then...". The next day, when I look at my list, it's all laid out. I might not "want" to do tax prep but... the list reminds me that this is important... it might not be as exciting as blog writing... but it's more important right now. And I focus and get down to it.
And it works. And that gives me a boost to do more!
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