Being busy is a form of laziness — lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.
-Tim Ferriss
I struggle with busyness. I struggle with filling my day up with lots of to-do’s. Part of it has to do with confusing busyness for productivity. The other part (if I’m being brutally honest), is I like the satisfaction that comes with accomplishing something and marking it off my to-do list.
In starting Panacea, the temptation to fill my day with to-do items is heightened because there is so much to do. There’s always things to prep for our 2017 launch, people to reach out to for advice, podcasts to listen to, articles to read, etc. The urge to fill up my day with stuff is real. Yet, I have to fight it and here’s why:
Focus.
Yes, it’s one word. And yes, it’s cliché — every startup or entrepreneur has this word in their vocabulary. However, I think we often misunderstand the true meaning of focus. The best way to define focus is by giving a real-life example:
- Let’s say I have 10 items on my to-do list in order of priority. Hell, let’s say I’m focusing on what’s most important so I whittle that list down to the 5 most important items.
- It is human nature (I don’t care if you’re the most disciplined person in the world — you are susceptible to this phenomenon as well) to knock out item #5 (the lowest hanging fruit), then focus on item #4, and work up from there.
- By the time you get to item #2 or #3, your to-do list will replenish and be back at 5. Thus, you will find yourself going back to item #5 and working up from there. A vicious cycle ensues.
- Before you know it, it’s been days/weeks/months since you wrote down item #1, and you haven’t even attempted to tackle it.
How does this happen? I think it’s for two reasons:
- The most important priority (item #1) is often the most challenging — challenging not from a “this is going to take a crazy amount of hours” perspective, but rather because it requires a lot of effort. There is some chance of failure and it requires persistence and grit.
- The most important priority (item #1) is often the most uncomfortable — there is some chance of rejection or conflict.
I’ve fallen victim to the above so many times. Now that I’ve diagnosed this weakness, I have a new approach when it comes to focusing, and it comes directly from Tim Ferriss’ book, Tools of Titans. If you haven’t bought this book (or received it from me as a gift), I would strongly encourage you to buy it. I don’t say this lightly — a consistent, intentional morning routine has changed my life. And I’m confident that the lessons in this book from world-class performers will have a positive impact on yours.
Here’s my new approach:
- Write down 3–5 things — and no more — that are making me the most anxious or uncomfortable.
- For each item, ask myself: “If this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day? Will moving this forward make all the other to-dos unimportant or easier to knock off later?
- Look only at the items I’ve answered “yes” to for at least one of these questions.
- Block out at least 2–3 hours to focus on ONE of them for today. Let the rest of the urgent but less important stuff slide. It will still be there tomorrow.
- TO BE CLEAR: This is ONE BLOCK OF TIME. Cobbling together 10 minutes here and there to add up to 120 minutes does not work. No phone calls, social media, or internet browsing allowed.
- If I get distracted or start procrastinating, don’t freak out and downward spiral; just gently come back to my ONE to-do. (side note: this is where meditation is incredibly powerful because it has taught me the discipline to refocus when I get distracted).
Do you struggle with focus? Do you find yourself knocking out the urgent (yet lower priority) items on your to-do list? I would recommend trying the above approach and seeing if it works for you.
I’ll leave you with one other quote from Tim’s book:
“What you do is more important than how you do everything else, and doing something well does not make it important.”
Enough said.
