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| ©2018 wytchwynd photography |
Welcome to this week's blog and let me start this post with a question...
How
many times have you come across at least one of the following statements……… You Can’t Move a Mountain or Take Baby Steps? Or that old chestnut “When you eat an Elephant take one bite at a time”?
I
am pretty certain that every single one of you will have heard these things
before.
Of
course you have – because that advice about breaking projects down into their
component parts is repeated many times by well wishers when you begin tackling
something big.
Small Steps Do Matter
It
is far easier to focus you attention on putting “one foot in front of the
other” that it is to look at the entire route ahead of you and suffer from
overwhelm.
Breaking
tasks into smaller chunks helps you to view the large task as more easily
accomplished. The added bonus of this is
that it reduces our tendency to “put things off” because we just don’t know
where to begin.
Have
you ever asked yourself why this method of working does exactly that – it
works!
You
are doing approximately the same amount of work but for some reason this one
step at a time method is very helpful to each of us.
It
works because, breaking tasks into small ones helps us to see the big task as achievable
and actually within our capabilities.
This then, is precisely why we cease to defer starting the project.
So now let us take a
look at some of the reasons we prefer to eat an elephant one bite at a time
Our Brains Are Limited
Human
memory is flawed and it is definitely limited, we simply cannot remember
everything.
Memory
limits can vary slightly between people and studies have shown that the average
working memory capacity is only 3 to 5 items at a given time. Trying to remember more than this number will
lead to certain things “falling out of your brain”
“If we
rely on our memory, we’ll stop at every step of the task and think, ‘What am I
supposed to do next?’” explains Dr. Gratias, “Those stops are opportunities to
get distracted, get off track, or miss a step.”
Simply,
breaking a larger project down into smaller to-dos helps us to easily identify
what step we should take next.
There
is one more important note to make about this:
You
should not do this process in your head (because, in case you already forgot,
your memory is not that good).
These individual steps
should be written down as a task or check list.
You can then refer back to that as the roadmap for your project if you
cannot remember what comes next.
You Work Better With
Specific Goals
Imagine
that you have a major project on your plate:—
for
example, you are handling the launch of a totally new website for your company
or organisation.
At
first glance, your goal seems very simple, you just have to get the new website
ready. Whereas, that is really a vague objective unless you qualify it with the
following questions:-
Just
What is “ready”?
When
does the site need to go live?
How
will this happen?
So
I hope that you now see that “getting the entire website completed” provides
very little direction!
Regular Feedback Keeps
You On Track
Large
projects can span many weeks—sometimes stretching into months or even years. Imagine
that you have invested all of that work into a project, only to discover at a
much later date that you have been working totally off track.
Breaking down these large projects into smaller
parts is really crucial: It provides an opportunity for feedback and to make adjustments
where they become necessary.
Feedback
can be seen as demotivating, particularly when it is harsh or constructive, but
science proves that feedback of any type - whether it’s positive or negative - inspires
us to keep moving forward.
In
a study of 157 participants who played a brain-training game, it was discovered that:
·
Negative feedback decreased feelings of competence, but still
increased immediate game play.
·
Negative feedback motivated participants to repair their
short-term performance.
·
Positive feedback fostered longer-term motivation in the
participants.
The
results indicated that both positive AND negative feedback are helpful in terms
of making adjustments and staying committed to the task at hand. That is something that would be missing if you
attempt to tackle an entire goal in one fell swoop.
“Breaking a large project down into smaller
tasks allows you to get feedback, make course-corrections, and stay motivated
toward the completion of it,” summarizes Dr. Gratias.
Humans Hate Waiting For Results
“As humans, we are not excellent at delayed
gratification,” says Dr. Gratias, “We like to see progress, and we like to see
progress quickly and often.
You
are probably familiar with the satisfied feeling that you get when you are able
to cross something off your to-do list. So let us take a quick look at what is
happening in your brain when you tick the box or scribble out the task?
At
this point your brain releases dopamine—a neurotransmitter that is connected to feelings of
pleasure and motivation and you like the way that feels, so you will make your
best attempt to repeat that success.
This
is something that neuroscientists call self-directed
learning, and it is one of the reasons why splitting up large projects is
so helpful.
By
breaking those long-term projects down, you open the door to experience more
frequent rewards (and dopamine rushes!), which inspire you to keep taking steps
forward.
“You are wasting opportunities for an
adrenaline rush by making a task too big,” shares Dr. Gratias, “We are working
with our own desires for reward and feedback by breaking a large task down into
its component parts.”
In Conclusion
Productivity
is personal and what works well for you might backfire for another person.
When
we feel overshadowed by large and daunting projects, the concept of segmenting
that assignment into smaller goals is probably the most universally-helpful a productivity tip we
can get.
“There are certain characteristics of how
humans think and work that are common,” concludes Dr. Gratias, “Breaking down a
large task is very useful for people who are feeling overwhelmed or are not
making progress on their projects and tasks.”
So the only thing that
is left for you to do is take that major project (the one that you have
continuously pushed to the bottom of the list), split it up into individual
tasks, and get to work.
ooo000ooo
My 28 page 2019 Workbook containing lots of Personal Development tools is now on sale.
Currently it is only directly available from myself
The cost is £12 + shipping (payable via PayPal).
To order a copy please contact me.
Business Developer / Coach Emma Kersey said this about the 2018 Workbook
"Sorry I didn't get round to fully utilizing the e-book but please know that just reading it helped massively........... just needed a push and the book did that so thank you"
ooo000ooo
About Dave I am a coach; speaker; radio presenter and founder of The Blue Sky Company. I am also a therapist and owner of a virtual light centre called Rainbow Bridge. My therapy work includes music therapy; crystal therapy and I am qualified as a Reiki Master / Teacher and currently studying a Colour Therapy course,
If you would like to know more about the blog or my therapy work etc, then please email me.
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