Be Specific
When I think of something that needs to get done, I like to jot it down in the quickest way possible. “Dog haircut”. “Mtg prep”. “Taxes”. And that works for capturing a desired action while it comes up mid-commute or as I’m about to fall asleep. But it doesn’t work as instructions for what to do when it’s time to do it.
Case in point: I had “RFP” as a block of time on my calendar for weeks. Every time it was time to do “RFP” my brain was like “lol no”. Instead, I would check my email, finish up some outstanding tasks, or clean out my Omnifocus inbox.
I also started feeling guilty for not having done the thing I needed to do. Luckily, I knew exactly what to do. And that is to be specific about exactly what I needed to do:
Find the RFP email
Read the email
Open the attachment
Read the RFP
Respond to the email
And guess what: with that level of detail in my calendar appointment, I did it the first time it came up.
It felt silly to write down what felt so obvious about each step, but I’d rather feel silly than guilty. And yes, it took a little bit more time to think through and write down the steps, but taking time to plan is worth it when we travel, why not do it for our time? Especially since being specific in the end saved me god knows how many more hours of avoided work.
What have you been putting off for weeks? How could you get more detailed about what needs to happen? What tasks are you putting in your calendar appointments? Reach out and let me know!