Procrastination Zero
I was tele-communicating with a co-worker today, and we got on the topic of “Inbox Zero” and being on top of things, or trying to be.
I’m not a fan of “Inbox Zero” or “E-mail Bankruptcy” or “Getting Things Done”. I feel they all add an extra unnecessary step/series of steps to the end goal of accomplishing things. Maybe, I’m too old school, or too efficient at multitasking but the idea of writing a list of things to do before actually doing those things causes my brain to start doing increasingly dangerous stunts without a stunt coordinator.
I want to introduce you to a new name for a concept I’ve been using forever, I call it.
Procrastination Zero.
It’s the simplest plan of all time, it has a single rule and it works. I’ve been utilizing it for seven years now—albeit without a fancy name.
The Rule: When something needs to be done, do it.
“Well Jim.” You say, “That sounds too easy to be true, I can’t just do things as they come up. I’m a busy person!!”
I know. Me too. Always. Yet, for some inexplicable reason doing things when they come up always keeps me ahead of the curve. Crazy-talk I know!
Hey, how does this work?
As I said earlier. You just do things as they come up. Simple. You don’t write things down, you don’t put things off until tomorrow. You just do them. Right away.
But I don’t have all the info/stuff I need to finish the task!
Which means you don’t have a task then. Isn’t that odd? Basically if someone tells you about something they need done, but they can’t get you all the info/stuff to do it until Wednesday, then you have not been assigned/given a task at all. And it can wait until Wednesday when the task is actually available to do, but do it as soon as it’s ready to go.
Wait! I don’t have time to do things as they come up, I’m swamped.
Right… Two things are happening here. One; You’re a liar and probably a dirty procrastinator as well (only slightly kidding). Two; You’re honest, but also have a problem saying no. Which is why you’ve accepted more tasks than you can actually accomplish (I’ve finally stopped doing this to myself).
To solve this problem, simply stop lying and procrastinating. Or in the second more probable use case, start saying no. Firmly but, politely. It’s real easy, the work still needs to get done, it’ll just be more graciously distributed, easing your mind and work load quite a lot.
But I have 1000 e-mails from the last month in my Inbox.
Really? You sure? Try using a junk filter. If in the very uncommon case that you are buried in legitimate e-mails, try answering them as they come in. You’re not required to write a novel or even a novella for e-mail communications. The point is to be fast, if your correspondents need to wait a week or longer to hear back from you they’d have been better off using traditional mail.
The average e-mail can be answered in less than 30 seconds, and 3 sentences. Anything that takes more thought or a longer response should have the following reply sent; “Hi Name, Let’s schedule a phone call to discuss this. When is good for you?”
Phone calls can cover a lot of info in a short period, plus a real voice and tone go a long way to squashing time-wasting miscommunications. Is the other party too busy for a phone call? Link them to this article, they need it.
So that’s it. Start today!
Procrastination Zero! Guess what you’re done!
Laura – 28th January 2012
This. Is. Awesome.
It reminds me a lot of parenting small children. Constant living in the Now.
j.a.mathias – 28th January 2012
Thanks Laura! It is similar. Very. Similar.
John Faulds – 28th January 2012
I assume that ‘no’ in this case means, ‘not right now’ instead of no full stop?
If that’s what you meant, in my situation, I’d still be using a list, because rather than put the onus on the client whose work you’ve put off until you’re able to take it on to contact you again later, I’d want to get back to them to say I’m ready to look at your job now, and so I’d need to add it to a list to remind me to contact them again.
I see it not as procrastination but scheduling and leaving reminders.
j.a.mathias – 28th January 2012
Hi John, thank you for commenting,
I did mean no, full stop. In context, the problem is that you are already taking on too much, and learning to say no is an important step towards being able to better manage your time without the need for lists.
That said, I fully agree that on occasion a list is needed for certain larger projects to be broken down into more manageable tasks so that one doesn’t forget a step in the process. Or a list of, as you mentioned, potential clients is always good as well.
John Faulds – 28th January 2012
The scenario I had in mind actually was if you’re currently working on a project that has a deadline and you’re then contacted by an existing client who requires new work to be done on a site that you initially built for them. No full stop is out of the question; you can’t do the work right now, but you have to find some way to accommodate the existing client, and the only way I can see is to let them know it’ll be done in the near future.
j.a.mathias – 29th January 2012
Hi John,
In your scenario, I would say, you in fact do not have a task to accomplish, but a request to follow up on. Which can be handled in e-mail, right away, without having to make a list of things to do. And if a longer conversation needs to happen, schedule a call.
Jessica Sideways – 7th March 2012
I love it. I’ve never been in need of e-mail bankruptcy because I’ve always read every important e-mail I’ve received. Anything else is “filed” or is deleted appropriately. But yeah, your Procrastination Zero philosophy is something I seriously need to implement in my life.
j.a.mathias – 7th March 2012
Thanks Jessica! It’s a terrific way to live.