Tasks – Le KrocK

Micro-planning

What is this? It is about constantly decomposing bigger tasks into smaller ones in order to always have something easy to do. This method may not be useful to everyone, but for some of us, being in front of a big task makes us freeze, and even possibly pushes us toward doing something else because the task seems too intimidating.

So by decomposing the big task into really small ones, it becomes a lot easier to choose one and do it right away, and then do another one, and another one, and so on. And if some small task still seems like too much, decompose it into smaller tasks, small enough that they seem trivial. That way we can finally get some progress on complicated stuff.

It is a way to alleviate the fear of doing something that is too hard or too long. And it can also give a stronger feeling of accomplishment, because instead of having simply worked on some vague and small part of a big project, we see it as having completed many tasks about the project. The advancement is much clearer that way, and it feels motivating to know that actual parts of the project are done, rather than just knowing that we put some incalculable work into it.

The power of lists

It can be tough to accomplish some tasks if nobody forces you to. But what kind of things would I want to accomplish that doesn’t have an impact on somebody else? Anything that makes YOU happy or that you consider important. Unlike with your job and your other responsabilities, no one is going to put pressure on you to reach your life goals but yourself.

I’m the first one to start watching TV, Youtube videos or scrolling on Twitter or Instagram when I have nothing to do. Yet I have tons of projects in mind that I could work on instead of wasting my time. I had to find ways of wasting less time and actually do something with my life. For me, the most effective way I found up to now was to make todo lists of what I have to accomplish. I use lists for my daily chores, for my projects and even for my goals for the next 10 years. No matter what you decide to use you lists for, it stays rather similar. It’s just a list after all.

For my daily chores list, I usually write it the night before, so when I wake up in the morning, I already know what I have to do. For other lists, it’s more of an incremental process, I add things in it when I think about them.

But what do I write on this list? I write everything that I want done, and personally, I prefer having a lot of small tasks rather than just a few big ones, it feels less like a mountain and it gives me more satisfaction. I feel better doing 10 smalls task than 3 big ones. Every activity that you want to do deserves its place on the list, even if it’s something more abstract or creative. For example, I have trouble taking time to create music, so when I write it as a task on my list, it helps me devote time to it, even if it’s hard to predict how it will really turn out (inspiration is hard to get on demand). So if you plan on doing the laundry, write it on the list, if you want to write a new article on your blog, write it on the list, if you want to do some meditation, write it on the list too.

Here’s an example of what my list can look like:

Laundry
Write blog article
Read article about <insert subject here>
Go to the gym
Take dentist appointment
Deposit paycheck
Draw a comic
Water plants

The list format doesn’t matter much, as long as you can easily understand it and that you can also easily have access to it. I use text files, spreadsheets (Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc, etc), the memo application on my cellphone, post-its and notepads. I won’t recommend any tool in particular because everyone has their own tastes and experiences, so just take the one(s) you like/know best to suit your needs. There is probably also a few websites that can help you with this task, although I personally don’t use any.

At last, the list itself doesn’t force you to do anything, having a list rotting on your desk won’t change anything in your life unless you take a look at it and actually work to check what’s written on it. Everybody is different so it may work or not for you, but if you’re like me, having a clear list is a lot better than having hundreds of mixed ideas in my head. Try it out and see if it works for you!

Task pairing

If you’re like me, you can’t stay focused on something for more than a few minutes, and it can become quite hard to get things done. I found a way to be able to keep working without having to take breaks every 15 minutes (or every 5 minutes for some tasks). And this is what I call “task pairing”.

The name should be speaking for itself, it’s about doing tasks in pairs. More precisely, alterning between two tasks on relatively short intervals of time.

Here’s a real-life example to illustrate it:

Let’s say that it’s saturday afternoon and I’m thinking about what I would like to get done before supper. I would like to read a chapter of a book, draw a comic, update my website and study for an upcoming test. In my case, writing and drawing for too long give me funny feelings in my hand, so I try to not overuse the same body parts in my pairings. So if my study method requires me to write things, I won’t pair it with drawing. And if studying requires some reading, which is probably the case, I won’t pair it with book reading either, or else the pairing will lose its meaning.

So if you catch my drift here, a good pairing is about doing two things that are not related, that don’t use the same habilities/senses and that use different body parts, whenever possible. The goal here is to alternate between two tasks that are different enough to eliminate boredom. In the case of the example above, I’ll choose to pair “Reading a book” with “Drawing a comic” and pair “Updating my website” with “Studying for my test”.

Now that my pairing is decided, all I have to do is to start doing those tasks. My personal way is to switch between the two tasks everytime I start to lose focus, which amounts to approximately every 5-10 minutes. So in short, it can look like this: 9 minutes of reading a book, 7 minutes of drawing, 12 minutes of reading a book, 6 minutes of drawing, and so on. Then when I consider that I’ve done enough reading and drawing, I’ll do the same thing with the “Update my website” and “Study for my test” pair.

By using this method I feel “fresh” while accomplishing my tasks and my overall work time is greater, which isn’t the case if I try to do the same activity for a whole hour without break. The time interval doesn’t have to be random, you can adjust it to something that fits your liking or depending on the nature of your tasks, like a fixed time of 15 minutes for each task for example. But if you come to the point where you switch after more than half an hour between tasks, I don’t think that the effect will be noticeable and you probably don’t have much attention deficit.

The blocking element

This is just a name I made up, it probably has a real name, but anyway I needed a title. The blocking element, as I call it, is a task, a desire, a thought, or just a possible action that you constantly have on your mind and which you’re not doing. It seems to be closely related to procrastination. I feel it all the time, that “I have to do …, but before I have to do …”. You have a task A, that you wait for the right time to accomplish it, and you have task B, which relies on the completion of A, and maybe you have C that relies on A and/or B and so on. So if you’re still following up to here, the blocking element is task A, and will become task B once the first is done and so on. I’m pretty sure it’s human nature to have more projects than time to accomplish them, so to me the problem isn’t the projects and ideas themselves but more of how we can be able to take as much as we can out of our head and put them in real life.

It can be anything, for me it can be as simple as to say that I can’t play video games if I haven’t at least written a few lines on an article. Or it can be more complex like not being able to put as much effort as I want into my training program because I work too much and I’m too tired. And it can be a lot more complex, these are just example that came to me at the moment.

There is two categories, one that you have power on, and the other that you don’t. The two examples above are totally in my control. I could decide to concentrate and write an article, then play video games, or play video games first then write. For the second, I also have the choice, I could just find an easier job, or ask my boss to reduce my workload, or I could change my workout plan to make it fit better with my current lifestyle. These are not necessarily easy choices to make, but they are in your reach nonetheless. But we don’t have the power over everything, let’s say you want to be a graphic designer but you don’t have the qualifications to get a job in this field. So unless you managed to become really skilled by yourself and being also able to prove it to potential employers, you’ll have to go to art school to get a degree proving that you can actually do the job. In that case, “task A: getting an art degree” is required before “task B: find a graphic designer job” and you can’t make it faster than the actual time it takes to do take the degree. I won’t talk about this particular one because there is nothing else to do than wait.

What I have more interest in, is what we can actually change. I didn’t find any magic trick to allow myself to procrastinate less and act more, I think it’s mostly just a matter of self-discipline and I can’t really give advice about that.

Remember that scene from one of Harry Potter’s movies where he has to catch a flying key? I feel like all my ideas and tasks are floating around in my head like those keys. I now try to write most of these ideas somewhere so it feels less like a mess and I can concentrate more on doing than worrying.

I noticed that when I wait for something to happen, nothing moves and nothing happens, but when I finally decide to act (understand here: do task B before task A), everything seem to just fall in place. Maybe not in the way I first thought it would, but it comes to an end anyway and this is what’s important, to get things done. I’ll give you an example that happened not long ago. So I was looking to find a programming job, and seeing that there wasn’t much choice where I live, I sent an application for a job in a city far enough so that I would have to move there if I got the job. I got a phone interview and then 2-3 weeks passed without news. At that moment I just thought that they chose someone else. But the thing is that I was waiting on this to decide if I was to renew my lease for the apartment I am currently living in. I finally just said to myself “f**t it I’ll stay here another year”, signed the renew form, and you know what? The next day I got a email from the company.

Take it any way you want, whether it could just have been bad luck or a sign from the universe that I wasn’t meant to go there, I made a choice and acted towards it, and the block was cleared. I can now concentrate on another blocking element, and another, and another, etc, until I die. But don’t go thinking that blocking elements are only related to “formal” things like paperwork and “adult” tasks and responsibilities. If for example, you’re a musician, and are telling yourself something like “When I’ll be good enough at playing my instrument, I’ll play in a band”, you’re blocking yourself too. Because there is no such thing as “being good enough to…”. Practicing will make you better, of course, and so is playing in a band, for totally different reasons. There is musicians of every level so you have the possibility to find people at the same level as you and there can even be some people willing to give you a chance anyway, you have to try.

In the end, the amount of blocking elements you’ll be able to clear is proportional to what you’ll be able to accomplish. The more you’ll clear blocks, the more you’ll move forward to your goals and the more you’ll give yourself the chance to reach success in the things that are important to you.

Multi-tasking as a human

I don’t care what we’re being told by scientists and other credible people, I can’t do only one thing at a time. I can’t concentrate on only one thing, whether it’s by habit because there is so much to do in life or just because I really was born this way (ADD, right-brain dominant or something like this).

I don’t know about anyone else than me, but in my case, I don’t lose focus if I switch between coding a complex algorythm and my Facebook feed every five minutes. I CAN work that way, maybe it takes longer to actually finish my work, but it get finished anyway eventually. And I’m not even sure if it really slows me down to work like that, because after a few minutes of working, I just stall and can’t concentrate anymore, so I need to switch to something else for a few minutes, and come back to continue for a few minutes and so on.

You are probably asking yourself “Where the hell does he work to be able to not get fired?”. The work I’m talking about is not my job work, but my work as a writer, drawer, musician, etc, i.e. the work I do for myself and where no boss is looking over my shoulder. Unless you are your own boss or have a really open minded one, you probably won’t be able to this on your job either. Even if I practice activities that I like doing like reading, writing and drawing, I get tired of it really fast. I need to switch between it and something else to be able get something done. For example, if I’m drawing a comic, I’ll start drawing the landscape, get tired of it after a few minutes, start drawing the characters on another layer, get tired, come back to the landscape, switch to my browser to look at my Twitter feed, come back to drawing characters, etc. All of this in a 10 minutes timespan (sometimes less).

For me it is more satisfying to do multiple things at once, that way instead of having done only one big thing at the end of the day, I have done a lot of smaller tasks and parts of bigger ones. Maybe I’ve done less total work than I should have, maybe more or maybe it’s the same amount, I don’t really care, at least I’m feeling like I’m going forward.

The only way I can do only one thing at a time, is when I’m confined in some place where I can physically only do the one thing I’m there for. And even when that’s the case, I manage to find ways of doing a little of everything at once. I just can’t work linearly. For example, this week I was repairing screen windows with my father (a batch of 70 screens), the job was simple, my father had to put a new screen on each frame, and I had to cut the excess screen around each frame and then sort all frames by class number. I basically had two jobs, cut the screens, and sort frames at the very end, but instead of doing that, I cut a few screens, then sorted a few of them, then came back to cutting, then sorted a few, etc. So even for a two-step linear job I couldn’t do it the “normal” way, I had to mix it up.

What I really want to say about this is that I don’t think that we should try to force ourselves to do things the normal way if it doesn’t feel right to do so. If you are reading this and asking yourself “How can he even manage do anything this way?” then don’t mind this article, but if you understand the feeling I’m talking about, then maybe everyday you’re fighting something that doesn’t need to be fought. Like I said earlier, it will probably be impossible to do it at your job where you’re expected to be a robot that obeys orders and doesn’t think for itself, but when you’re by yourself, if your mind keeps telling you to do multi-tasking, maybe it’s because you’re meant to work this way. If I force myself to work on a task until I finish it, at some point my mind will just wander elsewhere and I’ll start being inefficient until I do what it tells me to. So I won’t be progressing on my task no matter what, whether I’ll do something else or whether I just think about it, in all cases, I’m not doing anything useful to my main task. So I better be doing the second task for a few minutes so at least I’m doing something instead of just thinking about it.

The best thing would be to alternate between two or three tasks worth of your time, so in my example about programming and looking at Facebook, if I replace Facebook by another task that gets me a useful outcome, I’m winning at two places. It allows me to take a break of a task while still progressing on another task instead of wasting my time.

Remember, I’m not taking account of time here, so if you’re in a hurry to get something done, doing two things at once will surely make you finish later than you should. But if time is not a constraint, it could be the difference between practicing an activities for 15 minutes straight and stop because you’re tired of it, or practicing it for half of an hour in three shots of 10 minutes in-between doing other chores.

I see one exception to this though, when doing sports or training, taking breaks will cancel most benefits because it won’t be hard enough on your body. If you like lifting weights then the solution is to train in super-sets.

And as a last note, think for yourself and listen to your body and mind (unless it’s telling you to do bad things). Don’t just believe what others say no matter how famous or respectable they are, because they are talking from their point of view, and you are not them. If I had believed what we are told about productivity (only concentrate on one thing at a time), I would just work the normal way like everyone else and be frustrated because I would have the impression of not doing anything with my life. So I tried something else and found out that it worked better for me. And I’m convinced that it is true for everything else in life, listen and learn from others, but make up your own mind with experience.