How to Achieve More by Doing Less

Do you sometimes feel like it’s all too much? There’s so much to do and so little time that just the thought of it can paralyze you or your make you nauseous. Whatever it is, you’re ill at ease now and unable to think clearly. So you try to decide on just one task, but before you even start it, your mind is worrying about the next. Whenever you feel like this, you are in reaction mode instead of action mode. And whenever you are in reaction mode, you are not in control. This post is about giving you back that control!

Step One: Breath to Overcome Your Paralyzation

An ice cold shower usually does the trick. But if you don’t want to go to that extreme, then take ten deep, slow breaths. This will transport oxygen to your brain, and allow you to take a mental step back and away from your tangled web of thoughts.

“Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant. Being selective – doing less- is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.” [amazon_link id=”0307465357″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Four Hour Work Week, 2007, p 75[/amazon_link] by Tim Ferriss.

Step Two: Write Down All Your Tasks and Worries 

Writing everything down helps to clear your mind and distance you from those cluttered thoughts. This step is based on Anthony Robbins’ techniques for overcoming procrastination and Stephen Covey’s advice on how to define the important from the unimportant tasks.

1. Start writing about everything that’s been occupying your mind. And keep on writing until you feel more relaxed. Don’t pay any attention to the grammar just concentrate on your worries/your to do list/ your action list.
2. Describe how you feel about each task and ask yourself why you’ve been procrastinating over some of them.
3. Write down what the consequences will be if you do and if you don’t do something about it. Can you live with the consequences of either decision?

Step Three: Make a Clear To-Do List

Organize your writing from step two into a clear to-do list and complement it with any new tasks that come to mind.

Step Four: Define Your Goals in Life

Write down what you need to become a happy human being. Stephen Covey calls this a personal mission statement. Take a good look at this mission statement and remind yourself of your long term goals. In this way you are able to reset your mind, place back into it only what is most important, and gain back your focus on these things.

“What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things.” Timothy Ferriss, The Four Hour Work Week, 2007, p 70

Step Five: Prioritize Your To-Do List

Timothy Ferriss believes “lack of time is actually lack of priorities” and I completely agree. He says the goal is not to do more in less time, but to achieve more by doing less. I have experienced this idea, and it has been a true revelation. It made me aware of the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. The online Oxford dictionary defines these terms as follows:
– Efficient = “(of a person) working in a well-organized and competent way.”
– Effective = “successful in producing a desired or intended result.”

So we need to be more effective and we can do this by prioritizing our to-do list as follows:

A. Define The Tasks That Can Be Deleted. Ask yourself if you really need to take action in all areas on your list. Are there things that don’t to be achieved for you to reach your long term goals? Then these are the tasks that don’t align with your mission statement and they can be deleted from your to-do list. Erase them, scratch through them, cut them out even, but feel the relief as you do so.

B. Put First Things First. This is a quote from the book “[amazon_link id=”0743269519″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The 7 habits of highly effective people”[/amazon_link] by Stephen Covey, and it helped on more than one occasion when I was back in University. Every time I’d get overwhelmed by the curriculum, I would just think about this “Put first things first” principle, and I would find the strength to carry on. I’ve found the best application, is to organize your to-do list by putting the things you need to attend to at the top and the things that can wait a little at the bottom. And when I say need, you need to also include in this the things that will help you to reach your goal. So for example, you should get the most crucial and consequential things, like last year’s TAX return done quickly, but you should also make time for your first deep sea diving lessons.

C. Define the Long Term Activities That Contribute to Your Goals in Life. The famous motivational trainer, Anthony Robbins, uses the acronym “CANI!” an awful lot. It stands for ‘Constant And Never-ending Improvement’. CANI! Consists of simple changes which you make every day and that gradually improve your life. These small changes will bring you closer to success and happiness. Anthony Robbins’ principle is similar to, and probably derived from a Japanese tradition, called “Kaizen”. The only thing necessary is the devotion to making the time every day to enable that small improvement. So you can’t think: “I will do it tomorrow”, because that will be a day wasted. For my part I might meditate for ten minutes, work on my physical fitness for 15 minutes, or read about a new subject for an hour. You know, something that I’d always wanted to explore but had never found the time. Yours may be the same or completely different, but just make sure you pursue those activities every day. And you know what? You can even do all of them at once!

For Further Reading About How to Be More Efficient and Effective, I Recommend:

• [amazon_link id=”0743269519″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People[/amazon_link], by Stephen R Covey
• [amazon_link id=”0684845776″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Unlimited Power[/amazon_link], by Anthony Robbins
• [amazon_link id=”0671791540″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Awaken the Giant Within [/amazon_link], by Anthony Robbins
• [amazon_link id=”0307465357″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Four Hour Work Week[/amazon_link], by Tim Ferriss