Getting things done
Choosing what matters and doubling our likelihood of following through.
If more information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.
Derek Sivers
We all know what we should be doing.
We’ve set goals. We’ve read the books. We’ve made the plans. And yet, we still find ourselves doing everything except the work that matters most.
We know exactly what we need to do and how to do it, but the most important work never gets done, creating an infuriating gap between what’s important to us and how we spend our time each day.
In most cases, our procrastination or lack of focus is not a knowledge or motivation problem. Instead, it’s a specificity issue.
Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer spent decades studying the gap between what we want to do and what we actually do. He found the biggest predictor of follow-through isn’t motivation, willpower, or how much we care about a goal. It’s how specific we are about executing it.
Make it concrete
When we say “I want to exercise more” or “I’m going to work on my side project,” we’re aiming ourselves in the right direction but setting ourselves up to struggle. These types of commitments are too vague. What kind of exercise? Is the side project a hobby or a business? What time? Where?
When we start to work on one of these vague goals, our brain doesn’t know what to do next. Go on a run? Drive to the gym? What exercise first? What if that machine is taken? Now or later?
This ambiguity turns into anxiety and indecision, so we push it off until later and never get it done.
Gollwitzer’s research found that turning ambiguous goals into concrete “I will do X at Y time in Z place” statements nearly doubles follow-through rates. Specificity gives our brain clear marching orders and eliminates the anxiety that comes from ambiguity and decision fatigue. When the time comes, there’s nothing left to figure out. We just execute.
So if we want to get something done, we can double our chances of following through by proactively defining exactly what we are going to do and where and when we’re going to do it.
But what if, after all this, we’re still stuck in a rut of procrastination and dread?
Know your why
If we’ve gotten militant about our planning and still find ourselves procrastinating, the problem probably runs deeper. We need to revisit why we’re pursuing this goal in the first place.
Accomplishing something truly worthwhile is incredibly challenging. Optimizing our schedules and planning precisely can help us stay consistent, but if we don’t believe in what we’re working on, we’ll never be able to last long enough to make meaningful progress.
Our “why” needs to be compelling enough to pull us forward on the boring days. If thinking about the outcome genuinely excites us, we’ll find a way to do the work. If it doesn’t, that pursuit isn’t worth our time.
Not all lack of motivation and existential dread can be solved with to-do list optimization. If we consistently give something our best efforts and never get excited or energized, we should call it quits instead of doubling down.
Not everything is aligned with who we are, and the more time we can focus on pursuits with a strong why, the easier it will become to get things done each day.
Prompts
Pick the most important thing you need to do this week and define what specifically you need to do, when you will do it, and where you will do it.
Why are you pursuing this project or goal? Does it genuinely excite you?
Are you dreading work because it’s ambiguous or because it’s unimportant?
Deep Dive
Getting Things Done by David Allen
A simple and powerful system to organize our lives and get things done.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday.
Kevin