Mind Churn - How To Cure Staying Awake At Night Thinking About All Your To-Dos
by Nina Sunday
Do you ever stay awake at night, your mind going over and over all the little things you have to do? This is called ‘mind churn’, and there’s a ridiculously simple way to cure it.
But first, let me tell you a story. Once I had a role as organiserof an international trade conference. I was feeling quite overwhelmed; 400 delegates were to fly in from around the world. With the event date looming, I felt as if I was in a race against time.
A fellow co-ordinator suggested I write a list of every specific to-do I was tracking. ‘I’m busy getting things done,’ I argued. ‘It's a waste of time compiling such a list. I know what has to be done. I’m doing it. Shouldn’t I be trusted?’
Despite my objections, my colleague insisted I should write a list of absolutely everything. To keep the peace, I complied. Surprisingly, the brain dump took only 15 minutes.
But when done, something interesting happened. Every to-do was there, in black and white, on one page. Something clicked. By seeing the full list of absolutely everything, I suddenly felt more in control. It all seemed more 'do-able' than before.
Previously, my perception had been that I was under pressure by an endless number of things to do in a race against the clock.Now I felt it was all in the palm of my hand.
I used to suffer mind churn, but now it’s cured. I put it down to the principle of writing absolutely everything down, not just the critical things.
Action Summary
1. Spend 15 minutes now doing a 'brain dump' of absolutely everything you have to do - for work and personal.
2. Get in the habit of writing down absolutely everything, not just the essentials. (Unless it's a two minute task - then just do it.)
3. Don't rely on memory to remember to-dos; it takes up headspace better used for planning, improving, setting goals, establishing priorities and thinking strategically and creatively.
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Time Management Tip
Do It Faster By Being Satisfied With Adequate Instead of Perfect
by Nina Sunday
In early chess competitions of the 1880s, chess masters spent all day deliberating over the next best move.
But spectators who paid a fee to watch the masters asked for a refund because it was so boring; nothing happened.
Organisers of chess matches introduced the clock and the objective of the game changed from trying to find the best move, to finding the best move in the time available.
Have you heard of Parkinson’s Law—’Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.’ [1]
People usually take all the time allotted (and more) to accomplish any task. One way to increase throughput is to organise tasks in time blocks.
Limit the amount of time to perform certain tasks, then do it with velocity.
One organisation asks their managers for a report every Monday.
Instead of calling it the ‘weekly report’ which might take 50 minutes to write, they call it the ‘ten minute’ report. The goal? To summarise events of the previous week succinctly on one page, and take no more than ten minutes composing it.Instead of pondering each sentence, they just get something down, do it fast and keep writing until the time is up.
It’s also smart to do the same type of task at the same time e.g. all your phone calls, all your e-mails.
Use a timer
For some activities, allocate a specific time and stick to it. Know when to stop.
‘I will return all my phone calls in one hour.’
‘I will spend 10 minutes clearing this corner of my desk.’
‘I will take no more than 2 minutes for each e-mail reply.’
You will be amazed how much you can get done when you focus your time in short bursts or time blocks.
Striving for perfection takes too long. Ask yourself, is this e-mail, it this letter, is this report, adequate for my purpose? Understand it’s your overall productivity that counts.
3 minute / 10 minute rule
One rule of thumb regarding incoming phone calls is the 3 minute / 10 minute telephone rule.
Most telephone calls can be completed in three minutes . . . unless you are enjoying the conversation, then it’s ok to extend it to ten!
When you receive an incoming call, look at the clock and find courteous ways to limit the call to three minutes. You might say, ‘I do want to discuss this with you, however, I only have three minutes right now.’
Speaking in the past tense is a clever way to disengage from callers, ‘I’m happy we were able to resolve this.’So, how long do you spend on tasks? Do what’s adequate for your purpose. Perfection reduces throughput.
Action Summary
1. Make friends with the clock. Note the start and end time of tasks and become aware of the time you spend.
2. Keep a log for a week to analyse your workflow and observe your behaviour patterns.
Work cited:
1. Cyril Northcote Parkinson wrote, as the first sentence of a humourous essay published in The Economist in 1955,’ Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’. This since became known as Parkinson’s Law.
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For Time Management training for your group of 10-16 staff in your organisation's training room, or for a speaker at your conference, visit our Time Management training web page
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Time Management Tip
Tim Toady– There is More Than One Way To Do It
by Nina Sunday
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Do you know what’s tricky about communication?For the same set of instructions there can be more than one way to interpret,and you can end up with different results.
It can be hard to know if your instructions are 100% clear or unambiguous, until you get . . . feedback.
Can you think of a time you’ve given someone instructionsand they go off and do something quite different?
Is it their fault?
As the one communicating, perhaps it’s your responsibility to remember to check understanding?
One way to confirm someone understands is to take 30 seconds, ask them to summarisein their own words what the task is and how they plan to get it done.
I know of one organisation with signs around their office - ‘Take 30 seconds’ – as a reminder to take time to check understanding.
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Perhaps ‘there’s more than one way to do it’?
Allowing people the freedom to decide HOW a job is to be done is a good thing. They might even streamline the process with a useful shortcut.
TIMTOWTDI (pronounced 'Tim Toady') is an acronym from Perl, a computer programming language, for: There Is More Than One Way To Do It.
Rather than micromanage, give people responsibility for the entire task, from go to whoa. They might surprise you with an elegant solution you never considered.
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For Time Management training for your group of 10-16 staff in your organisation's training room, visit our Time Management training web page
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