The global pandemic forced many of us to work from home, in effect removing the hours spent in traffic jams or crowded public transport for millions of people. It even raised hopes of more time for leisure and family. However, studies showed that remote workers were spending longer hours at their home desks as workloads increased, meaning any saved commute time was being dedicated to work.
Without realizing it, I just regarded commute times as a part of the workday and naturally transferred that time over to remote work. I had also taken on more tasks at the start of the pandemic so the extra time was necessary. But with my workload growing, a quote from Greg Mckeown on the Tim Ferriss show came to mind:
If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.
So I read his book called “Essentialism” with the hope of finding a method to manage the madness.
Less is more
The main idea the author promotes is this:
Be more selective in determining what your essential activities are, so that you can add value towards the tasks that really matter.
He proposes a three-step process to regaining control:
Explore: evaluate your current workload and determine which activities will have the highest contribution to achieving your goals.
Eliminate: remove any non-essential activities.
Execute: create a system to carry out tasks with the least effort.
Here I walk through each step and breakdown the authors approach.
1. Explore
Bring back balance to your work day to help determine a list of vital activities:
Escape to think: Make space in your day to allow yourself to step back from the busyness and maintain your energy levels. The CEO of LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner, inserts “buffers” of up to two hours a day into his work schedule that lets him catch his breath and remain in control of his day.
Look for what matters: Always look for key ideas in the information you process by filtering out the noise to find the essence of the message. Picture a journalist looking for a striking headline in a mountain of facts.
Allow time to play: Play is anything we do just for the joy of doing it. We do it naturally as children, but tend to consider it a waste of time as adults. Add play time into your day to open your mind to new possibilities and help reduce stress.
Apply highly selective criteria to decision making: Before making a decision, evaluate your options and allocate a score between 0 and 100. Only retain the options above 90 percent. TED speaker Derek Sivers uses a similar approach he calls “Hell yeah or No”.
2. Eliminate
Now that you have a list of tasks, go further and eliminate any activity that is not aligned with your objectives:
Clarify your purpose: A clear definition of your role and objectives can avoid time wasting, confusion and stress. Determine your essential intent and make that one decision that will help settle a thousand later decisions. A student who chooses to become a doctor instead of a lawyer removes many possibilities with that one decision.
Dare to say no: It is difficult for most people to say “no” to others because we have a built-in desire to socially conform to their expectations. Saying “no” to non-essential activities allows time to focus on our own goals. Be aware that everyone is selling you something in exchange for your time and think about what you are giving up by saying “yes”.
Uncommit and cut losses: Recognize tendencies that make it difficult to let go of failing projects and prevent us cutting losses. The sunk costbias is where we continue to invest in a project because we have already invested a lot. The endowment effect is when we overvalue projects simply because we own them. And the status quo bias is where we continue an activity because it has always been done.
Edit your options: Continue refining the scope of your tasks and leave only the elements that are necessary. The goal here is to have a clear and precise understanding of your activities.
Set limits: Set yourself boundaries that clearly define your working hours as well as the types of tasks that you will do. By setting rules and communicating them to your colleagues, you can eliminate the need to say “no” later.
3. Execute
The last step involves setting up a system to execute your essential activities:
Add a buffer: According to the planning fallacy, most people tend to underestimate how long a task will take even if they have already done it before. Add a buffer of 50% to time estimates for meetings or projects to allow for unexpected events.
Remove obstacles: To get more done, we generally resort to adding more “resources”. Instead, identify the constraints that are blocking your progress and concentrate on removing them to reduce friction in your workflow.
Start small: Make small changes to your regular activities and build momentum towards big results. Companies use this idea effectively to build minimum viable products that leads to bigger successful products.
Design a routine: Create a process that allows you to execute your tasks effortlessly. By making it a habit, your brain turns on autopilot for those activities and lets you focus the extra energy saved on other tasks.
Focus on the present: Many of us like to multi-task but it means we are not fully focused on each task. Concentrate your attention on only one task at a time. Remind yourself to figure out what is important right now and do only that.
To recap
The new era of remote work has blurred the lines between work and personal life, often increasing workloads and bringing the danger of burnout closer to home. Essentialism provides a framework that has allowed me to take back control of my workload. First, evaluate your options and keep only those activities that contribute to your objectives. Next, eliminate any non-essential tasks. Finally, create a system that allows you to execute those tasks effortlessly. Though I admit it's not easy to apply, you can start today just by trying out one of the many techniques I've mentioned. I assure you that it will make a difference to your day. And remember, if you do not organise your workload, someone else will.
