Go Micro 2
Wow! My previous post about the Go Micro approach hit a nerve! I received many kudos about keeping expectations low and consistency high by dedicating a very small chunk of time to the same task every day.
When you are trying to accomplish a big task or create a new habit, you’ve got to start small – keep expectations low (10 minutes each day, every day, if that’s all you can stand), ridiculously low if necessary, to gain traction. Go Micro and you may want to extend that stint of time and finish sooner with greater accuracy. You asked for an example and here it is:
Charles, a wannapreneur from Minnesota with a background in construction, wanted to pass the real estate exam and get his license. He has ADHD and always struggled with lengthy reading material and big projects. We agreed that the least amount of reading he could tolerate every day, stress-free, would be 15 minutes. He set a timer and put in only 15 minutes; it was easy, some days he went to 20-25 minutes without effort. He never missed a day. That was in November.
Charles gradually increased his tolerance for reading by 10-15 minutes each week. Now he is up to 1.5 hours a day twice a day and ready to take the exam. The Go Micro approach not only helped him prepare well for the exam, but it increased his interest in the material, plus he learned a method for managing big projects.
Bart M. a software developer and an entrepreneur from Toronto, Canada wrote, “Rebecca, what I love about the Go Micro approach is that it is resistant to the fluctuations that cause me to resist working on a difficult project. No matter the weather, what mood I’m in or the quality of my sleep, I can still crank out that small window of time every day. It all adds up and I feel like I’m making huge progress! Go Micro!”
Lauren, a financial planner and solopreneur in Florida who does much of her own office work, exclaimed, “I Go Micro on a few tasks a day. Until I can afford to hire more help, just a small amount of time spent on each of the four tasks I need to do daily keeps the piles of work under control. Gone are the days when I would expect myself to spend an entire afternoon just cold calling or researching. That just doesn’t work for me.”
Do you want to Go Micro? Get things done, done well and on time? Let me help you get started! Contact me at Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com.
A February 2017 Inc. Magazine article by Dan Scalco titled Four Ways to Stop Procrastinating Right Now provided some helpful tips for managing procrastination such as creating false (earlier) deadlines, donating $5 to a charity for every hour you waste, and moving tasks to the afternoon if you idled away your morning. His first suggestion, however, was the (10 +2)x 5 rule. This process reportedly makes a work task “less intimidating.” The (10 +2)x 5 rule goes like this: do 10 minutes of focused work with a 2 minute break and to repeat this interval 5 times which results in 50 minutes of work. The (10 +2)x 5 rule will keep you on your toes, but it is flawed.
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