When Performing A Critical Activity, Push To The Bitter End

When Performing A Critical Activity, Push To The Bitter End

February 2, 2020 · by · in Uncategorized

Whatever tasks are ‘most important’ for you, whether work or education related, you’re probably only really doing them 1-2 hours per day. (I found this to be true in my case, at least.)

 

Trying to understand how I’d set a plan for tomorrow  “I will do X all day long.” and still only do it for 4-5 hours, I realized how much time was lost due to either ‘daily life’ or ‘work preparation’ tasks:

 

  • Waking up slower than I should. (Perhaps after sleeping longer than I should.)

  • Eating food. Making coffee.

  • Re-watching videos to learn how to better do my work.

  • Double-checking that everything I did yesterday was done OK.

  • Traveling to the place where I will work/learn.

  • If I’m working with someone else, planning when we will meet to work together.

  • Working on things I think are valuable, but not the one thing I know is most valuable.

  • Working on things I later realize had no value at all.

  • Working to get paid to invest in the work I really want to do…

 

In fact, I find that being in a ‘ready’ state for doing the best, highest value work, is a surprisingly rare occasion.

 

In addition this work-ready state is easy to spoil once you’re in it. (I find I immediately want to make another coffee, or listen to music, as soon as I am truly making work progress.)

 

I Either Push Through To The Bitter End And Feel Great, Or I Quit Too Soon And Know It Clearly

 

If I’m vetting a group of potential international business partners, I shouldn’t talk to half of them and decide it’s enough. If I don’t speak to all of them, I risk losing ground on un-followed-up conversations.

 

If I’m at a networking event, I shouldn’t leave after 2 or 3 interesting conversations with strangers. I should be the last one to leave the event, otherwise my trip across town was hardly worth it.

 

If I’m speaking German (which I’m trying to learn) with a group of strangers in a Berlin bar, I should keep that conversation going until 3 AM, even if I worked all day and just want to sleep.

 

If I’m learning about a subject, the book is in front of me, I understand what’s being taught, and I’m writing a step-by-step plan as I go, I should keep that book open until my plan is complete, and I have at least an MVP trial of the idea in motion.

 

I believe the problem, mine at least, is that when I am ‘in’ an activity, I discount all of those ‘preparation’ tasks that I needed to do before I got into the work. I forget that I slept 8 hours last night, and have only worked 4 hours on my top job today.

 

I just think “4 hours straight, that’s great!”

 

You’re either going to stop when the work is clearly finished, when the event manager turns off the lights, when the music in the bar stops playing, when the lesson is put into action… or when you felt like you’ve done enough.

 

After all the preparation and wasted time that finally brought me to a ‘work-ready’ state, it’s a waste if I pull the plug due to an arbitrary internal gauge of ‘job well done’.