LEADING

How to get a lot more done and feel less pressured

by Jeff Haden: Bestselling non-fiction ghostwriter, speaker and columnist for Inc.com.

Feel like following a rigid schedule does your output more harm than good? Try this instead.

I tend to divide my workday into blocks. Within minutes of waking up - we’re usually up by 5.30 a.m. - I sit down to write at least one Inc. article. Then I spend four to five hours writing a book, whether mine or someone else’s. After lunch I shifted to construction work, rehabbing one of our rental properties or building new houses.

My “schedule” isn’t rigid, though. Some days I spend more time on Inc. work. Some days I spend the whole day on a book. Once in awhile I’ll spend all day working on a house.

Without realising it, I basically follow what Oliver Burkeman calls the 3-3-3 technique.

Here’s how Burkeman breaks down a normal workday:

Spend three hours on his most important current project. Burkeman decides the day before what he’ll work on, and the goal for the progress he intends to make during that three hours.
Complete three shorter tasks, usually urgent to-dos or sticky tasks he’s been avoiding. While most take just a few minutes each, some are longer. (Calls and meetings also fall into this category.)
Dedicate time to three maintenance activities, things that need daily attention to keep things running smoothly. These don’t have to be work-related. For Burkeman, email is a maintenance task, but so is exercise.

Notice the 3-3-3 isn’t a nine-hour schedule. The first block is three hours, but the other blocks involve three items.

Do I follow it perfectly? Nope. For one thing, I normally spend closer to six hours on two of the most important current projects. Roughly speaking, my most important projects are writing for Inc., writing books, and preparing and rehearsing keynotes. Rarely do I work on more than two of those three, and sometimes only one.

As for three shorter tasks, I usually have at least a few things I need to do to ensure the next day goes well: prepare for writing by doing a little research, talk to clients, order supplies, line up tradespeople for construction projects, etc. In this category, I’m close.

The same is true for maintenance activities. I work out nearly every day. I keep my inbox relatively empty. Once in a while (not nearly often enough), I organise my tools. Although the list varies, except for working out, I do perform at least three maintenance tasks every day.

So, no, I don’t perfectly adhere to the 3-3-3 technique.

And that, in some ways, is the point. As Burkeman writes, the method is intended to be “non-comprehensive in terms of tasks.” It’s not a tool for finding time to do everything you wish you could do in one day. Nor is it a tool to organise your entire day. The goal is to:

Work on at least one thing that really matters,
take care of a few things you’ve been avoiding,
and do a few things that keep your professional and personal life running smoothly.

It’s also intended to take less than a workday to complete: three hours on your most important task, a few hours on shorter tasks and maintenance items. For Burkeman, that usually adds up to about six hours.

That makes the 3-3-3 technique much more flexible than the average personal productivity system. Want to spend more time today on your most important project? You can. Need to spend a little more time today on some smaller action items? You can. Feel like really making a dent today on your bookkeeping, or feel like taking a long walk with a loved one (which could be considered a most important and a maintenance task)?

You can.

As Burkeman writes, “I have far more that I feel I need to accomplish than can be accomplished using a rule like this. But you know what? A rule like this is still the best way to accomplish the most of which I’m capable.”

Planning to do less provides you with the freedom to do more, and to not feel restricted by the relentless grind of a productivity system that is impossible to follow over the long term.

Knowing what you will do tomorrow is important. But so is knowing that you can adjust or adapt to what the day brings can matter even more to how productive you are, and to how you feel about your day.

And how you feel about your life.

Useful resources:

Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry from forklift driver to manager of a 250-employee book plant. He has written more than 30 non-fiction books, including four Business and Investing titles that reached #1 on Amazon's bestseller list.

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