Clearing Hurdles to Get Things Done

This is part 2 of a series about understanding yourself to help you create more effectively. If you missed part 1, start from the beginning.

Allowing parts of your brain to rest

Some of us have full-time or part-time jobs for financial stability as we set up our businesses. It’s no surprise that it is tiring to work on your business after working all day.

One method has allowed me to put in a few hours after a work day, and keep stepping forward with my business.

Try to separate out your tasks so that there is a different headspace between your job and your business.

To develop ARcheology, I used a program called Unity. I also happened to use this tool for my job at the time. This was tough as not only was I coding during the day and in the evening, I was using the same programs!

Yet, I stayed focused in the evenings when I worked on tasks different to the type I worked on during the day. If I worked on complex geometry tasks during the day, I would design in the evening. If I was designing in the day, I’d work on logical tasks in the evenings.

Later on I switched jobs (to a SaaS product) so my toolset changed. Working on projects in Unity was a breeze after I switched jobs. But then I got the idea for SpreadShare, a SaaS product…

Progress was better! I had learned from my experience, and put it to the test again.

Again I switched jobs (back to Unity), and now there is a full division between my day job and my business.

Different areas of your brain need rest, you can’t ask one part to regularly work 8 hours a day. Even if you are full-time on your business, segment your day. Give yourself the morning to work on complex problems, and the afternoon to handle emails.

Organise meetings around your schedule

It’s common to have a love-hate relationship with meetings. They are a necessity, but sometimes they get in the way.

Have you thought about why?

When I am working on a tough problem I need several hours blocked out. Distractions pull me out of my flow-state. But, when I am doing admin tasks or coding smaller items, I can easily find the space for a meeting or 1-on-1.

So, plan your tasks for the day around the meetings you have planned. Alternatively, arrange your meetings around the work you need done.

It sounds so simple, but I see it time and time again that people accept meeting invites rather than ask for a time that suits everyone.

Finally, try to understand if you prefer grouped-up meetings or scattered meetings. Having two lengthy back-to-back meetings can make me lose focus and not be a productive team member in the meeting. But, multiple short meetings back-to-back is fine for me. Organise your meetings around what you can handle.

Reduce your processes

I like the idea of process. I have tried every task-management solution under the sun. Task-management solutions don’t generate productivity. They solve an important problem sure, but you can attempt to use them too early.

This goes for other software you use manage your tasks, deployment or schedule. If you create friction, it shouldn’t be a surprise that your job becomes harder. (Yet I still fall for this trick)

At a previous job, if I was working on a task and found a bug in a related area I couldn’t outright fix it. I had to:

• Log the bug in our task-management software

• Log reproduction steps

• Describe the bug in enough detail someone else could fully understand the issue

• Wait up to two weeks for it to be prioritised

• Wait until we decided to fix it (anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months)

• Fix the bug (at this point I could have forgotten what it was)

• Wait for someone to review the fix

• Deploy the fix to development servers

• Wait 1 week to deploy the fix to test servers

• Wait another 1-4 weeks to deploy to live servers

If this was a cosmetic bug that only affected our customer’s impression, it would never get prioritised. Knowing all this process, some people didn’t even bother logging bugs.

Utterly bonkers, right?

Right now, if I see a bug, I can fix it immediately and have it reviewed and on the live servers within a day. Reducing friction rewards me to do work rather than process work. In return, I’m happier and the customer is happier.

Defining vague tasks

Have you ever found yourself dreading a particular task? Not even starting the task for days or weeks?

It might be too vague. Break it down, and keep breaking it down until you can do the first step. Find your flow-state. If you don’t, go back to breaking it down further.

How do you get to the top of a mountain? Leaping from the bottom the top is out of the question. You could use a helicopter, climb the face, or sky dive from a plane. Or, you realise it is a few thousand steps and you need to take the first one now and worry about the others later.

Recap

• Schedule your tasks to allow your brain to rest

• Plan meetings around tasks and vice versa

• Reduce your processes

• Define your vague tasks

These aren’t new concepts for everyone. I hope this helps you reframe your approaches to getting things done.

Please get in touch if you have more tips or if have some feedback.

Find out how to increase productivity without doing more work in Part 3