I’m going to repeat one of my main points from yesterday, because I’m not sure it came across clearly:
Successful people are focused. And focus means choosing one primary goal at a time, to the exclusion of all others.
Of course, you are doing all sorts of things every day. Many of them have nothing to do with your primary goal. Life happens. That’s obvious. There is nothing wrong with doing all sorts of things that aren’t related to your primary goal. But if you have more than one primary goal at any given time, you are diluting your efforts and slowing yourself down.
Please notice that I’m not talking about having multiple “things to do” every day. It’s a given that we all have many “things to do”. The question is how many “primary goals” we have. When I look at my list of “things to do” for today, I had:
1) My daily Simplelogy routine to set my daily task list
2) Several sessions of email
3) A couple hours of consulting time
4) A language-study session
5) A writing-practice session
6) Several hours of work on my book proposal
7) A bit of annoying personal accounting
8 ) Some reading in a magazine (background research)
9) Some revisions to my web site
10) A bit of work on a software library I’m writing
11) Blogging (right now)
Of these “things to do”, #1, #2, #3, #7, #9, #10, and #11 were just things that needed doing that had nothing to do with my primary goal. (My primary goal right now is to write a Snowflake document for my next novel. When I finish that, my primary goal will immediately shift to writing the proposal for my next novel. I am focusing as much of my time and energy as possible on writing that pesky Snowflake.)
#4, #5, #6, and #8 DID have something to do with my primary goal. In total, I spent 4 hours and 35 minutes on my primary goal, which is not bad at all.
Now imagine that I had 3 primary goals. So in addition to wanting to write a Snowflake document, maybe I ALSO have a primary goal of writing a cool new software product AND a primary goal of building a shed out in the yard. Then instead of having 4 and a half hours on ONE primary goal, I’d have had an hour and a half on THREE primary goals. And you can’t get much done in an hour and a half.
I’d also be splitting my mental energy three ways. In all likelihood, I’d be more excited about one of these than the other two, so two thirds of my productive time for the day would be spent on things I was LESS excited about. That’s not good. Your primary goal should be the thing you’re MOST excited about. (In Simpleology 101, this is called a Major Target. In fact, you have a long-term, medium term, and short-term major target. What I call a “primary goal” is that short-term target–it’s the next really important thing you want to get done.)
Honestly, I don’t think you can have more than one thing that you’re MOST excited about. Whatever that is should be your immediate primary goal. If you have more than one, you are diffusing your mental energy and splitting your time.
Now a few of you made comments that I’d like to respond to:
Lynn wrote:
My assumption is you are focussing on one primary goal during a set time period – is this correct? And that your goal has been scraped away until it is small enough to be called more a task than a goal? I ask this because I have several “projects” that have deadlines, and if I focused only on one project, to the end that the others are left undone, then I would not keep my commitments. Yet, if I work at each project a bit at a time I am more likely to get them all done by their deadlines. To do this I have to break the projects into a series of tasks. I’m assuming my ‘tasks’ are the same as your ‘goals’?
Randy sez: What I call a “primary goal” is a short-term project (something you can achieve in a few days to a week or so) and it should be the thing you’re most excited about. This is the thing you should be pouring all your excess time and energy into. Of course, there are always long-term projects that need time put into them. For example, I am doing consulting more or less continuously. But that’s for somebody else. It’s not for ME. My primary goal is something for ME.
Bonne wrote:
Well Randy, I’m all for focus and I’m going to look at Simpleology. It’s true that all people who are really great at something are very focused on it and don’t worry about developing weak areas that will only improve to mediocre at best. That being said, as a mother first and writer second, there must be two primary goals.
Randy sez: Being a mother is just part of your life. Being a writer is too. Neither of these is really a primary goal. A goal needs to be specific and concrete and objective.
You probably have a long-term target to “get your novel published”. That is a good solid goal. It’s very specific. (You want to publish a novel, not just write some words.) It’s concrete. (A novel published is concrete, not abstract.) And it’s objective. (It can be verified by anyone that you published the novel or that you did not.)
Likewise, your medium term target might well be to “develop your skills in writing a character.” Again, that’s a good goal, and it’s a subtask of your long-term goal. It might take a few months to do that.
A reasonable short-term target (a “primary goal”) might be to “read Dwight Swain’s book on characters and apply it to your current book idea.” You could do that in a week or so. It’s a good goal, IF you spell it out and then put your energy into doing it. If you don’t clearly specify your goal, you’re likely to not put nearly as much energy into it, and it might take six months to go through the book, simply because you never clearly stated it as a target and never focused your energy on it.
A good time-management process would have you clearly spell out your long-term target, medium-term target, and short-term target. Then it would focus your attention on getting the short-term target (your primary goal) completed as quickly as possible.
Camille wrote:
I’m sorry, but I gotta defend some of us MT’s. If someone is using the phrase ‘multitasking’ as an excuse for not getting much done, then they aren’t really multitasking, they’re just spinning and twirling. Also, as a MT I’m more likely to complain than brag about it. My busy home and my office admin job require me to do multiple tasks at once.
There may be some misunderstanding about the term. If someone professed be working on multiple GOALS at once, I would agree that they’re not going to get much accomplished.
Randy sez: Multitasking is fine when you are dealing with “just normal life”. You gave an example of about ten things you can do all at once. Those are all fine. They’re normal everyday tasks. My comment was about people who want to “multitask” on several different “primary goals” at once. And that is a prescription for defocusing your efforts. But you noted that in your comment, so I think we are violently in agreement. 🙂
To be effective, we need to spell out our targets, long-term, medium-term, and short-term. Of course, we can have many of these in mind for the future. But at any given time, we need to be pursuing exactly ONE short-term target with high intensity. This is the one I call the “primary goal” and it should be whichever thing you are most excited about (or which is most pressing on you).
I promised yesterday to talk today about “taking action.” This is extremely important.
One problem I see a lot is people who are “working on it.” That is most always a statement that nothing is much getting done, but it sure would be nice if that task would just sorta solve itself. Let’s be brutally honest. “Working on it” is a dodge. It’s fuzzy. It means almost nothing.
Whenever I hear myself saying “I’m working on it,” I’ve learned to ask myself exactly how I’m working on it. Have I broken it down into a series of steps I know how to do? Am I taking action to actually do those steps? Or am I taking action to learn how to do those steps?
There are really only two actions you can take:
1) Doing a task.
2) Learning how to do the task.
A successful person is a person who takes action. “Thinking about it” is not taking action. “Working on it” is not taking action. “Doing it” is taking action. “Learning how to do it” is taking action. Nothing else is taking action.
Homework assignment: Is there some project you’ve been telling yourself that you’re “working on” or “thinking about”? Are you REALLY taking action on it or are you not? This is a tough question, but it’s one I regularly ask myself, because it cuts through the bull.
Wow, I’m up late enough to be the first poster!
Whatever shall I say?
First, thanks for responding to my comment. I want to get into Simpleology some more before commenting back so I know we’re on the same page.
Second, thanks for the reminder about what constitutes taking action. In some ways it’s encouraging because when you’re in the learning process it can feel like nothing “real” is happening. It’s good to remember that progress is being made.
I consider creative composting as progress also, because for many things time is required to gather sufficient creative energy to solve the problem or complete the task. I try to do productive physical things while letting my brain wrap around a problem and shake it down, but it can be valid to just take some down time for it too. Just not every week!
Thanks for the violent agreement.
So, to cut right through it: My initial goal was to write a novel. In my multitasking mania I checked out about 57 books from the library on writing, joined a writing cult (thanks) and discovered an endless source of info/distraction in the world of writer’s blogs.
I don’t want to be fuzzy. I just want to finish the stinkin draft. I’m reasonably excited about this. So I sent back the books and I’m, um, working on cutting down on the blogs. (What crack-head invented Blogger, anyway?)
Getting it pubbed is a long term goal. Getting the 1st draft done is a medium term goal(?) So what would be a short term goal? Should I set up a daily word count goal? (duh) How can I enforce this?
(Turning off the mental editor I acquired with those 57 books might help a little.)
I experienced the same emotions as Paul D when I had entered the Simpleology site. BUT the Snowflake Guy recommended it right? So, I thought why not? I’m only at Day 3 but I have been enjoying the course from the start.
My only current goal is to master the Craft (of writing fiction, that is.) My Content is already Pulitzer Prize winning stuff. (How’s that for humble?)
My daily tasks, cores and errands are such that I can only work on my goal for about 2 hours most evenings and a great deal during weekends. Fortunately the rugby world cup tournament is over so that leaves me with much more time during weekends.
Oh yes! Because the winter in the southern hemisphere has been over for some time, the lawn around the house needs to be fertilized but… I’m working on it.
Thank you for answering my comment and clarifying primary goals. I admit I looked at simple.ology and said – don’t have time for this. I already have a time management system that works well for me, and from what I see its not a whole lot different. That said, the reminder to stay focused is definitely needed and heard. So my primary goal is getting my WIP into the hands of a literary agent. I’ll let all these other duties circle around that camp.
Thanks, Lynn. I looked a simpleology, also. But I saw my learning curve on it was going to eat too much of my time — which is spread too thin as it is.
However, Randy, the reminders about targets is right on. And I did so need that brought back to my attention.
It’s awfully hard to teach this old dog a new trick.
One focus, one goal. I do this, but my problem is that I have four major life categories, each requiring a primary goal. For example, my primary goal for writing is my middle grade novel, my for family it’s to finish the chore board, for Christian Writers’ Group International (CWGI) it’s to complete Board minutes and then straighten website issues, and for the newspaper I edit, it’s to address a difficult issue.
When I’m working in a segment, I’m focused, but I’m struggling to segment my daily/weekly schedule to hit each of these major categories when constant interruptions, unsupportive family members, and daily life flux prevent a schedule.
Simpleology doesn’t provide for this tracking need. Ideas?
I haven’t been tuning in to this blog, or any blog for a while. But the title time management caught my attention on one of my infrequent visits to my email. I have recently begun cutting down on activities that don’t do anything for Me and streamlining my home so that it is easy to clean and find things. That would probably have been my primary goal at the time and its almost finished. I will then finish my book and have it published. That will be my next primary goal. However, since I sing and play guitar as well as have an interest in art, I have enrolled in two short courses for song writing and painting with watercolour. The painting will be just for fun but if I get good, perhaps I may illustrate a book someday. Song-writing is something I would do in between to have a break occasionally from the book but again, the book is my primary goal. So how do others with multiple interests manage their time. I have my tasks and events written in a diary. It gives me an idea of how much time is spent doing what. I also work part-time as a carer/cleaner. The hours are flexible and fit in with what I want to do. I suppose I have been trying to make everything fit like a jigsaw. I also tried simpleology but became impatient because there were other things I wanted to do while doing that. The principles are good though and I have used the dump all unnecessary things idea. If I had extra time, I would continue with simpleology but then simpleology is meant to create time. I think I just like doing things my way.
Randy, I presume that when you refer to “Thinking about it,” you mean just the cliche, not the action. For me, it happens first in where my thoughts go. Whatever I’m thinking about, I soon want to start doing. If I can keep my thoughts on my main goal, then it keeps happening.
I will check out simpleology, but the truth is, I have tricks that work for my own weird brain, and I know what pulls me off-track and what gets me back on again. I have a very wise friend who used to say: “Has anything worked for you in this area in the past?” and then when I told her what had worked, she would say, “Do more of that.”
She was a skilled teacher talking about tutoring my most difficult learner, but I have found that the principle applies to everything.
I challenge whether “thinking about it” is not action. For example, if I’m engaged with my wip, thinking about my characters and my plot prior to writing, I’ll produce a better product when I sit down as opposed to tapping something out with little or no forethought. That type of meditative time is very useful, although I might not write a word or while I’m doing it. It will likely lead to another action, writing or plotting or something along those lines.
I assume you mean “thinking about it”, as in the vague, wishy-washy sense, a procrastinator’s favorite tool in which there really is no clear, focused, structured thought toward a specific end. “Have you decided what you’re going to do yet?” “Uhmm, I’m thinking about it…”
Randy wrote:
There are really only two actions you can take:
1) Doing a task.
2) Learning how to do the task.
Your summation is so true and so right. For us multi-taskers who write and therein have frequent, new story ideas floating around in our heads, “thinking about it” doesn’t accomplish goals. Thanks for your wise instruction on this topic. Completing a project or task goes a long way to help a person feel good about him or herself.
Well, it’s only day 1 of Simpleology for me, and even though it’s going to take a while to get through all that “stuff” I think it’s going to be good in the long run. The next 40 days should be interesting!
Speaking of “working on it” I’ve figured out already that my Primary Goal is to get my trilogy edited. I’ve been “working” on that for over year, and do you know how much I’ve actually edited? About 10 pages. Yeah, I definitely have a focusing problem.
Well, it’s only day 1 of Simpleology for me, and even though it’s going to take a while to get through all that “stuff” I think it’s going to be good in the long run. The next 40 days should be interesting!
Speaking of “working on it” I’ve figured out already that my Primary Goal is to get my trilogy edited. I’ve been “working” on that for over year, and do you know how much I’ve actually edited? About 10 pages. Yeah, I definitely have a focusing problem.
Okay. I confess I’ve been “working on” my new novel. The problem is, for this book I’m going to have to do some extensive research (something I don’t have a lot of experience doing) and research feels like such an abstract thing to me. I did list a few things I need to know more about, but how would researching a novel break down into tasks to qualify as a primary goal?