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Time.
It seems there’s never enough of it.
I write this on what was supposed to be my day off. Don’t feel bad for me. I don’t. That’s what happens when you plan poorly and don’t get your work done on time.
It’s not like I’m the only one this happens to. We all seem to have too much to do and not enough time.
Every once in a while, I think I’ve found a solution:
Saying no to more things.
Coming up with a better and more concise list of things to do.
A new planner.
Finding shortcuts.
Coffee.
Last week I tried something called “the sacred six.” I heard about it on “Morning Coach,” a motivational Podcast. The host promised it would “revolutionize your life.” A revolution sounded pretty good.
The idea came from Ivy Lee, a man considered by many to be the founder of modern public relations in the early 1900s. Lee worked for Bethlehem Steel, headed by Charles M. Schwab. Lee lured Schwab with a promise of raising the company’s efficiency by 50 percent in just 20 minutes. Schwab said he would pay him whatever he wanted, if Lee could deliver.
Twenty minutes later, Lee got a check for $25,000.
The idea? You’re supposed to make a list of six things you need to do that day. Then, you number them in order of importance. After that, you start with No. 1 and work at it until it’s completed. And then you go to No. 2, etc.
Simple.
The key is to not get distracted by lots of stuff in between. Start a task and finish it.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
My sacred six became the Unachievable Eight, which became the Turbulent 10. In the end, I probably completed the Tenuous Three. Better than nothing.
I tried again the next day with similar results. Having a list of six instead of 16 is probably a good idea, but unfortunately most of us don’t have a finite amount of things to do in a day. Things pile on quickly.
If you don’t get it all done, that’s OK, according to Lee. If you can’t get your six tasks complete using this method, no other method would have worked.
Maybe we spend too much time trying to figure it out. I can’t imagine my grandparents ever making a “Sacred Six” list. They were too busy working on the farm. Cows needing to be milked and crops needing to be planted were all the motivation they needed. Farming doesn’t allow procrastination.
You can say it was a simpler time. In some ways, maybe. But they still had 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. They still always had more to do, even if they didn’t make “to do” lists.
I’m still willing to give the “Sacred Six” a little more effort. It’s a good reminder to focus instead of multi-tasking ourselves into getting a dozen things halfway done.
Hey, look. I’m done with No. 1.
Käri Knutson may be reached at kknutson @winonadaily
news.com or (507) 453-3523.
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