This article is a part of Series: Productivity System - Myths and Mistakes
- Which advice to take for becoming more productive?
- Why no idea is working for you? Why you couldn’t progress?
- Why can’t you be productive all the time? How to be optimally productive.
- How much time is “enough time” to complete a task?
- Maslow’s Hammer – The all-in-one (Productivity) tool
- How many apps do you need to be highly productive and efficient?
- The “Doorway effect” of multitasking in personal productivity.
- Sophisticated Procrastination. And, How to avoid it?
How much effort did you intend to put into the particular task? (or How much effort the task requires from you?)
If you were able to answer the above question, then it’s almost easy to find that “enough time” to spend on the task.
The relation between “Time & Effort” is more or less inversely proportional. If you are ready to spend your sincere effort, then the task may require less time to complete.
The other way to see it is, your effort is sporadically distributed across the time spent on a task until its completion.
Work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
Parkinson’s Law
We’re focusing now only on the duration of the task, not when to do it.
Too much time = wasted time and effort;
Too less time = ending up in frustration;
There’s a sweet spot between them, where you can have a deliverable ( a completed task ) that has only essentials but is not perfect or polished.
The trick is when to pronounce a ‘task’ as completed. Define the task’s completed state before the start of it. By nature, people try to over-perfect things when they have excess time for the task. Learn to close the task when reaches the ‘enough state’.
Avoid dwelling on a task after it satisfies the expectations that you set prior to the start of the task.
Good effort + Shorter duration = Word done optimally.
When you’re in doubt in the middle about whether the task is completed or not, whether it is the point to stop continuing it, then always consider it is completed and stop.
Give preference for progress over perfection.
I don’t know how much time you require to complete a particular task, but I do know you only need a minute to read the Wiser Workflows Newsletter to digest wonderful ideas like this. Precise, high-signaling content only. I appreciate your wise decision to check out Wiser Workflows and subscribe.