I have been doing too many things. You might know how that feels. It’s a very common feeling in the Twenty-First Century!
But I have to get my next book written. So I made a big sign to post on the wall in front of my workstation. It just says, “Do Less!” I know that doesn’t make sense to some people . . . until you think about it. Let me explain.
Think about a freeway. In one direction, it’s crowded. In the other direction, there are very few cars. If you’ve ever been caught in rush hour traffic, you know exactly what it’s like. The busy lane is going very slow. And no matter how frustrated you are, you just can’t go very fast.
Meanwhile, the other lane is breezing right along. Everyone can go the full speed limit. And if you’re in California, they can go faster than that. 🙂
Why is that? Well, here’s what I learned from running service businesses: When you have too much work in progress, everything goes slower. “Work in progress” (WIP) simply means work that you are actually doing right now. Or, to be more accurate, it’s work you are trying to do right now.
Every job (task) you move from the “waiting to be done” pile to the “doing it now” pile slows down the entire system. So, if you have something really big and important to do, you need to make sure you don’t take on too many other tasks – or you’ll never get the big job done!
This is really another way to look at staying focused. You can focus on one thing effectively. And you might try to pay attention to the periphery at the same time. But that’s about it. If you add a third element to the mix, you’re just kidding yourself. Add six more things and it’s a lost cause. Focus works best when you focus on one thing at a time.
I’m sure you have some version of this problem – and solution – in your life. At some point, in order to make faster progress on whatever’s important, you need to stop saying yes to everything else. But it’s even more than not saying yes: You have to say NO. You have to stop taking on additional work until you get un-stuck and start making progress.
One of my absolutely unbreakable rules is, “Slow Down, Get More Done.” I guess this is a variation of that. Do Less – Get More Done!
What tips and tricks do you have for getting things moving again?
🙂
