My 40 Truths #8: Do the One Thing

Ever since we started working from home early this year I noticed the work seems to have grown exponentially. I don't know about you but even though I’m not spending an hour and a half going to and from work, I seem to be spending more time doing actual work than ever before.

A lot of things have been written about this so I won't belabor the point and so many tips and tricks have been shared to help figure out how to deal with his overabundance of work and the blurring of lines between home life and work life.

I won't go through all the calendar hacks and "setting expectation" hacks. I'll go through my own personal hack that I have picked up over the past few months that has made me more productive -- but more importantly, has made me less anxious about all the work that needs to be done.

I call it "Do the one thing." Have you ever heard that story of this 5-year-old girl who said, "When I grow up I wanna be an astronaut!" And the grownup who was with her said, "Well you know being an astronaut is hard you have to be really good at math, you have to be superbly fit, and you also have to master your fears." The girl thought about it a little bit and said, "That's OK that's just three things." And the energy of which she is undaunted by those tasks has stuck with me all these years.

Now, by no means am I attempting to be an astronaut. But I am faced with a lot more tasks than I was last year. On top of day-to-day work -- which by the way I am supremely grateful to have -- I have the added stressors of the global pandemic and a high-maintenance toddler in the house -- who is virtually impossible to resist.

So every day when I start my workday, ie. 15 minutes after I roll out of bed, I decide I will do one thing. This doesn't count reading emails or answering WhatsApp messages or checking out what new and glorious disaster has happened overnight. The one thing is usually an article I need to write, a communications plan I need to submit, or summarizing 31-page crisis updates into two pages. I decide if I do this one thing today, I'll be good. So far it's worked -- it's made for non-overwhelming days these past few months and also gives a good sense of accomplishment in a time where I'd never felt so helpless in my life. The beauty of doing the one thing is that it gives you juice to maybe do one other thing.

Another great thing about that is if you say you'll just do one thing many times you will over-deliver on your commitment to yourself -- and then at the end of the week, you did five big one things -- that's a LOT more than what I used to do!

So try it out. Come this Monday decide what's the one thing you're gonna do -- if you have time, do another thing but don't forget to reward yourself for that one thing you accomplished. It helps to block off time --whether it's an hour or two -- so that you don't get bogged down by the 50 other things that aren't REALLY that important on your To-Do List.

OK, great, this was my one thing for this Saturday. Now back to the weekend.