The Daily Grind: A Matter of Momentum
If you want to understand personal productivity, you’ve got to understand the concept of momentum. For all the organizing systems in the world and early rising skills in your time zone, you’ll only ever get so much done without bringing momentum into play.
Some people say the purpose of productivity is to give yourself more free time to spend relaxing, not working. I disagree. The purpose of productivity is to give yourself more time, whatever you choose to do with it. You should definitely have downtime regularly, but one thing momentum allows you to do is work faster and faster with each completed task throughout the day. In this case, we’re talking about being productive so that you’re even more productive in the hours following.
The Big Difference: Productivity With and Without Momentum
You start the day with a coffee and by making a list of the tasks you need to get done. At nine in the morning, you start working, slowly picking off the tasks on your list as and when you feel like it, so long as they’re completed by the time you have to clock off. It doesn’t matter if you do them in a slow and relaxed manner, it just matters that you don’t have to stay back late. This determines your maximum working speed.
On the other hand, you could start with a list you prepared at the previous day. This helps with one thing in particular: it removes any obstacles to getting started and building momentum. You start with the first task on the list and set a timer. You’ve set a dash: you’re going to work furiously and unwaveringly for ten minutes, and then reward yourself with a two minute break. If at any point in that ten-minute period your concentration wavers, you start from scratch and delay your break. There’s incentive to work not just quickly, but without distractions.
You set the timer again for your break, but unlike most people you don’t take the whole two minutes having a cigarette or looking up jokes; you give yourself one minute to stretch your legs and one minute to review your tasks, mentally preparing for the next dash — which is going to be twice as long, but with a twice as long break.
This is just one method for keeping yourself focused, on-task, and working pretty quickly. The key point is that it gets you working a little longer, a little harder each time, and you only get to reward yourself if you succeed at working hard.
Why Momentum Matters
If you’re in an employment situation, there might not be much incentive for you to work as hard as possible and build momentum throughout the day. If I could offer one good reason to train yourself in working harder and faster as the day progresses, it’s that one day you might find yourself self-employed and you’ll discover that time is money.
For every minute you’re slacking off, you’re not earning money, and let me tell you: the habits you built working for someone else will persist even when you work for yourself.
There can be a staggering amount of work to do in this situation, whether you’re building a business (whether as a freelancer or as a company) or maintaining one. I know of way too many freelancers who start working before most people are awake and don’t clock off until nine or ten at night.
Many of these people are working at full-blast all day, but the truth is that most people who work insane hours could probably work a lot less if they just applied the concept of momentum-building to their work day. If you’re well-organized already, it’s easy to begin. If not, you need to get started with a system like Getting Things Done, because if your next actions are not known to you before the start of your work day, you will spend time figuring out what to do next and losing any and all momentum.
Get Prepared the Day Before
If you don’t do anything else, do this one thing: map out your tasks the day before. Before you finish up work each day, make it your final task to set up a to-do list for the next day. There are so many benefits to working this way: anything tasks you need to complete from that day are still fresh in your mind, you give your mind twelve hours to mentally prepare for the next day at work, and you remove the biggest obstacle to being productive, and that’s not knowing where to start.
My preferred system is to use Things on the computer for planning projects and capturing tasks, and then transferring daily task lists to a paper-only format to aid in focus.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Joel Falconer
Offering a unique perspective and insight on productivity based on his experience as a writer, musician, family man and manager, Joel Falconer has been published online and off, and brings to Lifehack's readers practical advice you can use to be more efficient and effective.
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Comments
Shanel Yang says on March 9th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Great post, Joel! I hate to stop any creative flow just because it’s time to quit. But, if I must, I’ll at least quickly jot down the next few things I want to get to as soon as I sit down again.
Or, if I’ve already finished a big task and still have time on the clock, instead of letting my mind drift away from work just because I can, I’ll immediately direct it to questions about my next big task. There’s a delicious luxury to it when I don’t have to think about it yet but I’m letting my mind wander over it with little “what ifs” and “how abouts” anyway. Then, my mind usually finds something exciting and runs with it. That’s when I know I can quickly jot those ideas down and safely get up from my desk with plenty of stored momentum for the next session. : )
Daily Jump Start Guy says on March 9th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Excellent post Joel. The momentum factor is so important and this lays it out well. It’s like trying to get a 747 off the ground…initially it takes a huge burst of energy..but once at altitude the momentum takes over. Nice work.
DJSG
Enrique S says on March 9th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Nice post, Joel. I’ve posted on my blog about doing three things before you leave the office at night. It doesn’t matter what they are; the point is to lay a foundation for the next morning to jump start your day.
Catherine Cantieri, Sorted says on March 9th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Cool post. I already prepare the next day’s to-do list the night before, but I might start instituting the timer as well.
Derek says on March 10th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Joel,
You nailed it on the head. I have always subscribed to the theory of momentum whether it by physical (metabolic), productivity related, or just regarding general positivity/integrity/etc. When you start off wrong, it becomes increasingly difficult to pull out of it. Conversely, when you start on the right foot, all you need to do is continue riding that wave!
I’ve always believed in the momentum of habits as well. It is far easier to break our negative patterns the moment they start. Once the pattern has begun, and the habitual momentum builds, it becomes more and more difficult to break the pattern mid-cycle. So it is important for us to identify some of the warning signs ahead of time.
Thanks for this. You’ve won me over to your feed.
Derek @ NüHabits
Stop by sometime.
Tumblemoose says on March 10th, 2009 at 12:50 am
I use a to do list every day and it really keeps me on track.
One of my favorite sayings in relation to business is, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person”
True.
George
Vincent says on March 10th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Hi Joel,
I agree that preparing a to do list the night before help us to get things done and keep the momentum going the next day. The timer helps to limit the amount of time I spend on the tasks and I found that if I did not use the timer, the tasks will expand to a larger amount. This mean that using a timer for our tasks will help us to speed up our work and it also help to give us a sense or urgency.
Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger
Laurie | Express Yourself to Success says on March 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Prepare for tomorrow today is great advice – especially when today is Friday and ‘tomorrow’ is Monday. Sometimes, when I’m really busy, I prepare for the afternoon before I leave for lunch!
ikhnaton2 says on March 11th, 2009 at 3:52 am
I’m sorry but I’ll not say it’s a great post like majors. This post can be summarized in one sentence instead of wasting people time and energy look for some momentum.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome says on March 11th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Great tips, but with everything balance is needed because there’s a trap in productivity where we become over productive and never take downtime until the momentum has us moving so quickly we’re afraid to stop because of the damage it’ll cause.
Isobel Joaquin says on March 11th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Brilliant post! Momentum is really important and it’s such a challenge to keep it.
With momentum our productivity level increases because it gives us the drive to do even more.
Anelly says on March 11th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Day by day i schedule my tasks and is much easier like that. Secondly i try to focus on what i have to do and not to interrupt tasks.
Eric says on March 11th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Just don’t forget to stop and smell the roses along the way. Yep you neeed momentum to get what you need to get done, done. I felt like Joel does here, when I was 30, now at 55, not so much. I was cutting myself off from my creative, spontaneous fun side (YES FUN!), by being too task oriented. The problem is if you really think this way, you will always be frustrated with yourself and others, when things don’t go right. Really, all you worker bees, think about it.
MIchele Bohbot says on March 13th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
My days are also very busy. Taking time to make sure tomorrow is planned makes my life a little less hectic. Thanks for the idea! bisous-Michele
busymom says on March 19th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Things looks like a great application for Macs. What is a similar one for Windows? I know there are lots of these, just wondering if you know of one that’s really similar to that one, because it looks super.
Maybe I just need to buy a Mac!