Do One Thing Today
One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from one of my clients was to start gauging my productivity by what I got done instead of looking at what I didn’t get done that day. I haven’t perfected this skill yet as I often look at the board in my office and focus on the things I didn’t get to and have to bump to the next week. But when I catch myself doing that, this as been an easy way for me to reset my brain to bring me back to a positive outlook on my week.
Another tactic I’m working hard to employ is the idea of “Do One Thing Today.” This is really tough for me. I think most writers tend to be ADHD — sometimes it’s our superpower and helps the creative process in making connections between ideas that aren’t obvious to everyone. But it also means that at any given moment, I have a thousand ideas bouncing around and mid-task, I’ll say, “Ooh — I need to do this ‘real quick.’”
Side note: It’s never “real quick.” Deep down, you know that and yet we keep seeing ourselves the “real quick” lie. Somehow, those real quick tasks have a way of hijacking the entire day.
That’s not to say priorities don’t need to change sometimes. That can happen. Maybe a deadline has moved or a meeting gets rescheduled. It probably won’t shock anyone if I say that things aren’t always going to go according to plan. I know, I know…your mind is reeling with that revelation.
But when I commit to do one thing in a day, what’s really happening is I give myself the grace and space to focus on that one thing, increasing the chances I can actually get it done. It’s going to get my full attention — or let’s be honest, 75 percent of my attention. But that’s still much better than trying to give 12 things each 10 percent of my attention throughout the day. That’s a recipe for burnout and falling behind on everything.
If I can get one thing done each day, then I know that I’m making progress.
Maybe you think this sounds like setting the bar too low. But what’s really happening is self awareness to know what my limits are. And more often than not, when I commit to do one thing, I end up not only getting that one thing done — I usually get to do at least a little bit of work on something else, making me less stressed for the next day.
More importantly is the mental freedom it gives me. I can feel good about having done that one thing because that’s what I committed to doing that day. And it makes me more confident in approaching the next day’s work.
I know this sounds too simple, but that’s why it’s so practical. If I can get one thing done each day, then I know that I’m making progress. But if I do pieces of twenty different things in a day, then I really didn’t get anything done, so no wonder I feel unaccomplished.
You might notice this blog is quite a bit shorter than most of mine. Why? So you can go do one thing today — other than read this, of course. That doesn’t count.
