Just Three Rules To Get More Done
We all want to get more done so we pack our schedules to the hilt. But what if the solution to getting more done is to focus on less? That’s why I show you three ideas that will make you far more productive without trying harder or working longer.
Why do so many people in the town of Coober Pedy, Australia decide to live in caves?
It’s not that they can’t afford to buy a house. In fact, carving a home out of the hillsides costs the same as building a traditional home. Location is also not the issue. You can find prime real estate just as easily away from the hills. The answer is the heat.
Temperatures can reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer (40 C). A traditional home then requires the expense of air conditioning whereas a cave-dwelling stays the same temperature year-round. No air-conditioning needed.
To better manage life in a region that can get so hot, it pays off to make the unusual choice to live in a man-made cave. To better manage our time in the face of many responsibilities we too can make an unusual choice. The choice to focus on less to achieve more.
To focus on less and get more done requires three steps:
The rule of three
Outcome planning
Chaos scheduling
1. The Rule Of Three
The rule of three is dealing with your goals in sets of threes.
Three outcomes for the year.
Three outcomes for the month.
Three outcomes for the week.
More than three is hard to remember and hard to mentally manage. Fewer than three leaves too little done. To paraphrase Goldilocks “Three is just right.” It turns out though that even the US Marine Corps found has found the rule of three useful. From an article called Corps Values published in INC Magazine in 1998.
The “rule of three” means a corporal has a three-person fire team; a sergeant has a squad of three fire teams; a lieutenant and a staff sergeant have a platoon of three squads; and so on, up to generals.
They found that giving commanders more than three groups to manage led to overwhelm and inefficiency. Three was just right there as well.
To implement the rule of three it is often best to start with three goals for the week. Make sure they are final outcomes you’d like to have done by the end of the week. That way you‘ll know when you’ve succeeded.
For example, this week one of my outcomes was to have one article written and submitted to a publication of which I am a writer. Another outcome is to invite three people to a free Biz Accelerator session with me. Notice that each outcome is something completely under my control.
I could have set my goal to have three people schedule a Biz Accelerator session but I don’t control whether they say yes or not. So that’s not a great outcome. Of course, once you’ve set your outcomes, you may not yet be clear on how to reach them. That’s when we turn to the next phase.
2. Specific Plans For Each Outcome
Specific plans are the actual steps you will take to get to your outcome. They are like the turn-by-turn instructions provided by your internal GPS. They leave you with little to figure out when you start working on your goal.
To create them, you just start listing everything you need to do to make the outcome happen. Yes, even the obvious stuff. For example, to invite three people to a Biz Accelerator session I would need to do the following:
Make a list of three or more people
Find the contact info for each person
Send an email or phone call each person
That list is extremely simple isn’t it? Yet, if I didn’t make the list then I would have to use up mental energy to figure out the first step when it’s time to work on this goal. If I’m tired then I might put off the undefined outcome entirely.
But even if I was too pooped to plan at the end of a day I could make a list of three people. So my idea is to always plan before I need the plan. That way when opportunity strikes, I am ready. But of course, merely having a plan doesn’t ensure that you will have set aside time to implement it. That’s where the next step comes in.
3. Chaos Scheduling
Chaos scheduling involves planning blocks of time to work on your goals while also assuming chaos will interfere with your plans. So if you estimate that a project will take you four hours next week, you plot four hours into your calendar to work on it.
Then you add one more hour to account for chaos. I add at least 20% to the time estimate for any project. I also leave 20% of the day unplanned each day because I assume that something will go wrong.
When everything runs smoothly, I have extra time to get ahead in my work or relax. When things don’t go well, I’ve still got time in the bank unspent. Chaos scheduling gives you peace of mind. You stop feeling like you’re falling behind all the time and start feeling like you have control.
Control comes from choosing to accept that things will not always go as planned. And instead of just hoping your plans will work out as planned, you plan for the unplanned and the unexpected.
But I Have Way Too Much To Do To Focus On Three Things
When we feel overwhelmed, it often feels like the only solution is to just do things faster. However, I bet you’ve tried that already and you know you can only dance so fast before you burn out.
You may discover, as I have, that focusing on fewer things helps you achieve each outcome more quickly. In some cases, you may complete your three outcomes before the week is done. Then you can always add another goal. You can also intelligently say no to the goals others give you.
I once had a boss who was always trying to add just one more thing. I showed him my goals for the week and said, which one of these would you like me to drop so that I can do that? Sometimes we dropped a goal so I could start his latest project and sometimes we did not.
Summary
First, choose just three clear outcomes for a week, month or year as that allows you to focus effectively.
Second, plan out each outcome by making lists of actions
Third, block out time to work on each goal weekly. Leave 20% of each day unplanned and add 20% to each project estimate. Chaos will happen. This padding will help you deal with it.
When we feel swamped by work, it is often tempting to just dive in without much thought. But if you’re like most people, you know that more work will be added to the pile tomorrow.
When we break our work down into just three outcomes, write specific plans and schedule for chaos, we often feel a sense of control and our work can begin to flow. Like the choice to live in a cool, desert cave, this choice to focus on less is a bit unusual but also very effective.
Next Step
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