Three Ways to Work Better, Instantly

I could see in her eyes that she was upset.

Instead of taking time to have the conversation I hurriedly said “We’ll have to talk about this later, I have to go to work.”

Realizing that this was a terrible way to leave the conversation, I added: “There’s a project that's been on my to-do list for, like, the last 3 weeks now; and I just can’t figure out what to do about it.”

We’ve all been there — that moment when the demands of the day overrule the desires of the heart.

I hurried out the door, into the car, and sped off towards the freeway.

Moments later, as I sat in traffic on the way to work, I couldn’t help but feel angry.

I resented my commute for taking so long that I had to leave the house a full hour and a half before I needed to be at work.

I resented my job for making me leave the house to sit in that commute in the middle of an important discussion.

But most of all, I resented the fact that I knew these feelings, and the words I had uttered to my wife, were all lies.

The words we use become the emotions we choose, and if you keep reading you’ll discover three ways to use those words more intentionally.

So if you’d like to feel more power and control over your day, if you’d like to actually achieve more of the goals you set for yourself, and if you’d like to chip away at the armor of pessimism many of us wear on a daily basis keep reading.

You’ll be glad you did!

“Have To”

Now, the first lie I started cutting out was “have to” — and upon closer inspection, there really aren’t many things we?actually?“have” to do.

My father would say: “the only things you have to do are die, and pay taxes” but there are some who would would say even that list is too long.

What I’m not going to advocate is changing “have to” to “get to” — that’s a fine practice and if it works for you keep it up; but for many it seems a bit disingenuous. Like putting lipstick on a pig.

Instead, I’d argue that you finish the thought.

What happens when you add “because ___” after that statement?

eg. I “have to” go to work because ___________.

The?human brain craves justification, so don’t stop at “have to” — that’s selling yourself short.

Instead, expand on the rationale; what is it you hope to accomplish by doing whatever it is you believe you “have to” do.

Here’s an example: instead of saying that I had to go to work, I could’ve said that I am expected to be at two meetings, and I agreed to go and help the team identify opportunities to expand our client list. They’re counting on me to be there.

Does it take more time?

Yes.

Does it seem a bit silly?

Yes, but that’s the point.

You don’t, technically, have to go to work. Ever.

You can stay home. You can jet off to Tahiti. You can do anything you want.

So instead of creating an situation in which you’re lying; just tell the truth. The whole truth.

As this practice becomes habit, it’ll not only take less time but you’ll also find you’re more motivated to do whatever you set out to do because you’re focused on the outcome; not the steps in-between.

“I Can’t”

It was 3am, and the website was not even halfway built.

I had hit a wall, mentally, and had been stuck on an element of the design for what seemed like years.

“WHY CAN’T I FIGURE THIS OUT?!?!?!” I wanted to scream.

And had I done that, my brain would’ve supplied me with myriad answers to that premise; the premise that I couldn’t — in fact — figure it out.

How many times do you ask yourself that same question?

Maybe you see it pop up while you’re on the golf course, after missing that short shot you exclaim “Jesus, [your name here] why can’t you get that ball onto the damn green?!”

(No? Just me, eh?)

No matter where you find it, the phrase “I can’t” is a self-limiting statement.

More on that in a minute.

For now, let’s head back to my office where I sat staring at the impasse.

Instead of muttering some form of “why can’t I” to myself, I chuckled — those old habits really do die hard — and took out a piece of paper.

I wrote: “How else?could I?figure this out?”

The simple act of asking “how could” instead of “why can’t” is a slight, but powerful, pivot.

This ‘pivot’ was what psychologists refer to as?reframing.

Looking at a problem from a different perspective.

Instead of asking my brain to solve for “why can’t I?” I asked it to solve for “how can I?”

The effect of this is not only dramatic, but can be applied in almost any scenario in life.

And sure, maybe the answer to your question is “if I took more golf lessons” but the point is you’ll get an answer that’s empowering.

The next step is totally up to you.

The “To Do” List

You may be thinking to yourself “Greg, how is a to do list a lie?”

Shhhh. We’ll get there.

First — a story:

She was quiet for a moment, and then she grabbed it with both hands and lifted it up for a closer look.

It was long, and intimidating.

“Does it always look like this?” she asked.

“Yes” I said, “…and frankly I have no idea what to do with it anymore.”

Thankfully, she did.

My coach knew exactly how to help me create a task list that was more manageable, and significantly more valuable.

She showed me how to “chunk & rank”

Chunking & Ranking is a practice of both chunking your list into categories, and assigning an importance to each item.

What’s Chunking?

Chunking is the practice of grouping items in your task list by relevance or category.

Think of a grocery list, that’s organized by aisle.

So all the produce is grouped together, all the dairy etc.

Chunking reduces the cognitive load on our brain and makes decisions simpler. This is why most restaurants group appetizers, entrees, desserts, red wine, white wine etc. on the menu.

Got it?

Ok, So What’s Chunking & Ranking?

Now that your list is chunked, let’s assign a value to each task.

This is similar to?the “DOLP” system?that David Bach made famous in his book “The Automatic Millionaire”

(sidenote — if you’ve never read that book?get yourself a copy?immediately; it’s life changing)

Essentially, you’re grading the tasks within each chunk based on their importance (to you) and impact (to you).

Rank things in this way:

1 — This would be nice to accomplish

2 — This is helpful to accomplish

3 — This is critical to accomplish

Take whatever is ranked a 1 or 2, and push it to the bottom. Your only mission is to accomplish the 3’s.

When that’s done, if you have time, accomplish the 2’s and then the 1’s following that same pattern.

“But Greg, what if I didn’t get to the 2’s or 1's? And also, what part of this has anything to do with lying?”

The lie is that we have to do anything that’s on our task list.

If you’re like me, what gets your juices flowing is making an impact; and seeing that impact translate into an increase in your income.

That doesn’t come from running around crossing items off a list.

That comes from getting clear on where your time makes an impact, and where that impact drives income.

As you repeat this chunk & rank process a few times, you’ll notice some of the same phenomenon that happened to me:

• My task lists got shorter but I still got things done; important things.
• I felt more energized at the end of the day.
• I got better at delegating 1’s and 2’s to others, I even hired a VA.

In fact, this whole blog post was written by a VA (Kidding!)

Seriously though, nobody is going to respect your time more than you, so put this “chunk & rank” into action and watch your impact grow along with your income.

I hope you found these three ideas valuable enough to implement, and if you did please consider signing up for my monthly newsletter — which is equally valuable and full of things intended to help you get better.

Here’s?the link to check it out

This story originally appeared on November 1, 2021 at https://blog.gregoryoffner.com/3-ways-to-work-better-instantly-c339accec7a7