Last week, The Next Big Idea Daily podcast (S4; E1-5) focused on Greg McKeown and his book Effortless. Each day, there was a lesson from the book and then a conversation between Greg and host Michael Kovnat.
The week was full of interesting ideas and information. I decided to narrow to three concepts that really resonated with me and encourage you to listen to all the dailies to soak it in.
The Done List – This concept was to create a list each day that would signal you to stop working when the list is complete. At that moment, you are really finished. The list isn’t a “want to do list” that you don’t finish or a “must do” list that you follow with a bunch of other tasks and activities. The list provides permission to be finished when the list is complete. Not before and not after….stop at the moment the list has been accomplished.
Slow and Steady – The idea presented here was to set lower and upper limits of work. This will make you more likely to accomplish your goals productively. An example provided in the podcast was to write 500-1000 words per day – no more than 1000 and no less than 500. For an average-sized book of 80,000 words, writing 500/day for 160 days would produce a very rough first draft.
Return on Effort – The Friday segment introduced a concept of moving to a Return on Effort mindset. We are used to considering Return on Investment of either money or time. What might happen if we considered effort? An example was having an annoying work around that you do every day. The workaround might only take a few minutes, but if you put in the effort to resolve the problem you could avoid those daily minutes for days, months, and years to come.
My Story
I’m a believer in the slow and steady method. This technique was used to write my first book and the practice continues in my daily writing habit. In addition, this year I started spending 15 minutes a day working on cleaning the basement. The task was daunting. The progress that has been made in the last two months is amazing. At just 15 minutes per day, the total time I’ve put in since the new year is 14.25 hours. You can make a big dent in a project in 14.25 hours!
I haven’t tried the other two concepts but intend to give them both a try in the weeks ahead. The Done list is fascinating to me and I wonder if I would have the discipline to actually stop once the items on the list are complete. For the Return on Effort, I need to start paying attention to identify some nagging workarounds.
Your Turn
Do these concepts resonate with you?
Have you tried any of them in your life?
Which one would you select first to give a try?