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03 January 2019

A Universal Theory of Getting Things Done...

Everyone wants to get stuff done. Right?

If you are like me, you have ideas that you want to get done, but you lack a structured approach to doing it. I am guessing that you will need help.

It is not that ideas are not available out there. The problems are two. One, they are disparate, not integrated. And two, sometimes they are contradictory. 

Steven Covey asks you to prepare the list of your 'Urgent / Important' things to do, Another author tells you that just a 'To Do' list is useless without a 'When to do' list. As per the conventional wisdom, you have to schedule your tasks in the To Do list. That is not correct, says David Allen in his book 'Getting Things Done'. As per Allen, you have to group your To Do list by the location where theywill get done. For example, identify all the tasks that are to be performed at or near MG Road in Bangalore. Then when you go to MG Road, complete these tasks. There will be many tasks like writing this blogpost for example, which can be done in the computer. Complete them one by one as you sit in front of your laptop at home or office as the case may be...
 
Grouping tasks by time as against location, can't you see the contradiction already?

Over the last two years, I have been thinking about the problem of disparate and seemingly contradictory theories on getting stuff done.. I followed each one of them on a piecemeal basis. That was not effective approach. Every time I wanted to do something, I used to get stuck. Even now I get stuck, I am not a superman. 

Over  a period of time the idea of integrated theory started germinating inside me. Why am I getting stuck in tasks? I asked myself. Where am I going wrong? What could I do to improve my so called 'hit rate"? That is where I thought of Universal Motivation Theory (UMT).  It is an integrated approach to getting things done. It integrates the following ideas and concepts. Each of these ideas is propounded by different experts. There are contributors from Stand up Comedy, academia and business. 

The diagram below summarizes the UMT.


1. First step is to determine what you want. You have to identify your goals. These goals should be personal and realistic. Once you know your goals, identify the important and not urgent tasks in your life that are required to achieve the goals. Read the book '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Steven Covey for more details.

2. Put the tasks in the Calendar that you track regularly. This is the step of Effective Scheduling

3. Work consistently. Follow the Chain Link Method of Seinfeld. 
One budding standup comedian asked Jerry Seinfeld how he generated material for his comedy act. Seinfeld said that consistency is everything. You have to write material every day. Seinfeld follow a method that he calls 'Chain Link Method'. He plans to write everyday. Everyday, as he finishes writing, he adds a link to a chain and places it prominently in his office. Now the only thing he needs to do is to ensure that the chain is not broken.

4. Measure your progress. Improve everyday. Checkout the interview with Angela Duckworth for details.
Angela Duckworth talks about the difference between the performance of peak performers and others. She asked a top athletic coach the following question. Top athletes run 5 miles a day, I also run the same distance everyday. How come I am not a top athlete? The answer given was that the top athletes improve their performance everyday. They measure their performance regularly and strive for incremental improvements on a regular basis. If you achieve 0.5% improvement everyday, you would have improved by about 150% in a year. That is a huge improvement in a year. 

5. Do Deep work. Read the eponymous book by Cal Newport. Check out my blog review of the book.
Cal Newport, in his book, 'Deep Work' defines the term and comes up with a strategy to do deep work. Deep work is defined as a work that is important to you that only you can perform. You cannot delegate it to others. He asks the reader to commit to doing deep, uninterrupted work to meet those tasks. In parallel, you must also do the following. Do not take any work that will not add value to you, learn to say 'No' liberally. Also delegate all the non-value adding tasks where possible. Finally commit time to deep work, during that time do not allow any distractions, only exception is to allow positive distractions that will encourage you to progress on the work.

6. How do I handle distractions? you may ask. The answer is easy. Create your own positive distractions. Checkout the details in my blog review of the book 'Manage your Day to Day'
Distractions are inevitable no matter what you do. They will prevent us from doing any form of value adding work. So how do you handle it.
In the above book, Cal Newport, the author of 'Deep Work' provides a strategy. Considering that distractions are inevitable, why not make use of them. Why not create your own distraction, known as 'Positive Distraction' that will help you in your work?. How do we do that?  One easy way, and the one which  I use the most, is to work under the constraints of a timer. Keep a timer for say 30 minutes and start your task. Do deep work for those 30 minutes. Nothing is allowed to distract you during that time. Try it. Trust me, it is very effective.  

All the above steps are useless unless you start. So the All encompassing theme of the UMT is 'Start Now'. If you have some idea, start working on it NOW. Start writing that story now. Start making those calls NOW. 

Take action NOW. Then follow the steps in the UMT. And watch miracles happen.

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