Two Productivity Techniques That Can Help You Do More (by Actually Doing Less)

Not all productivity methods work for everyone. That’s why there are so many of them, and that’s also why you need to spend time figuring out which ones might work for you, even if you have to modify or adapt them a bit. When you’re faced with an unusually large or overwhelming task, the traditional methods you usually rely on may not be helpful. Why not try a one-two, combining two that I really like to make it easier?

The “one bite” technique

Let’s start by trying the bite technique. This requires a little advance planning, but can help you when a task seems daunting. Take a piece of paper (or use a digital document) and write down your task. Let’s say he leads a quarterly meeting at work. Then break it down into the smaller tasks that make it up, which might include coordinating participants, setting an agenda, making sure the technology and meeting space are in order, and keeping track of what is said during the meeting.

From there, continue to break everything down. Coordinating attendees means not only sending calendar invitations, but also determining who should receive one and staying on top of the lists of those who have accepted and declined, as well as sending or scheduling meeting reminders for everyone. Determining the agenda means checking with presenters and managers to see what they are able to present, as well as simply writing a list of topics to cover and allocating appropriate time to each. Checking the technology and meeting space means coordinating with IT, renting the meeting room, verifying that your digital meeting space subscription is paid for, and making sure you will have enough seats for all participants. Keeping track of what is said involves assigning a note-taker, ensuring the AI ​​transcription service is paid for and running, setting up a recording system, and creating a schedule and workflow to ensure minutes are distributed to the necessary parties quickly and efficiently at the end of the meeting.

Obviously, when you take on the responsibility of running a meeting, you know these are all the things you’ll need to do, but if you view the task as one big task – “run the meeting” – instead of consciously breaking it down into smaller tasks, you’re more likely to feel overwhelmed. This is true for everything from planning a vacation to cleaning the house. Practicing breaking tasks into smaller “bites” instead of just jumping into work on a larger product will not only help keep everything running smoothly, but will also motivate you: as you see smaller tasks being accomplished, you’ll feel accomplished and ready to continue.

This is similar to the “one more” trick, which asks you to determine if you can do “one more” thing each time you mark a small achievement. I use “one more” when I clean, now that I have consistently failed for years to follow a stricter cleaning schedule – and it works wonderfully. Becoming familiar with the different ways tasks can be broken down and approached can help you in your personal, professional, academic, and social life. Below is another way to do this if you’re focused on “bites” and need a touch of structure for your next steps.

The “reverse Pomodoro” technique

Breaking down the “bites” of your task is not enough. You actually have to finish the bites. When there is a lot to do, it can be difficult to push yourself or know where to start.

You need to start by determining the order in which you will approach your bites. There are a few simple ways to do this, the simplest being the ABCDE method (in which you quickly assign subjective grades to each task and then start working), and a more complex, but objective option being the Eisenhower Matrix. Pick one and do it because you need to start with the bites.

If you were using a traditional productivity technique, like the Pomodoro method, you would start by working for 25 minutes straight, then take a five-minute break. It can be intimidating though. Frankly, 25 minutes is a lot of time when you’re stressed, even if you’ve developed a vague game plan with one of the prioritization techniques above.

Instead, try the “reverse Pomodoro” method, which is similar to its namesake except inverted. Instead of working for 25 minutes and getting a small break, you work for five minutes and then get a big break. This may seem counterproductive, because working for five minutes and relaxing for 20 or 25 minutes means you have a lot of downtime, but it’s helpful if you’re really struggling to get into the workflow. People who have tried this method praise it because it helps them eliminate the anxiety of working on a large project, because although there is a lot of relaxation, the work East do in these five minutes. Eventually, once you complete a few tasks, you will feel better about the overall project. Don’t be surprised if you suddenly feel like you can work for more than five minutes at a time and slowly transition to a more traditional Pomodoro framework to complete the task. To be honest with you, it’s a bit of a mental trick and it’s similar to the “one more” rule mentioned above. Whenever I tell myself I’m just going to do one thing and then relax, I always end up doing a lot more simply because I feel more accomplished after the first few minutes. If you need to trick your brain a little, so be it.

You can reap maximum benefits here by first breaking down your task into small bites and then completing one bite per Reverse Pomodoro work slot. It takes five minutes to send the meeting invitation via email, then a break. Five minutes for IT to check technical connections in the meeting room, then a break. Five minutes to make a schedule and circulate it, then a break. It’s not cheating to focus on your downtime, especially if you’re not productive enough when you’re trying to work 25 minutes straight. In fact, breakdowns and downtime are essential to overall productivity. It’s better to do something than nothing and once you start accumulating these things, you’ll feel motivated to sprint to the finish line.