Sometimes, the simplest tips are the most effective, particularly when promoting productivity. While tools like the Eisenhower Matrix or the after-action review certainly have their place, they are ill-suited to those moments where you just need to get through a long, arduous task.
In these cases, why not just keep doing one more?
Just Do One More (And One More, And One More, And…)
That’s it. Just do one more task or step, and keep doing just one more. Rinse and repeat.
This approach helps minimize the obstacle that the sheer size of an objective creates.
Let’s say you were tasked with stuffing envelopes for a business initiative, and there were a lot of envelopes to stuff, as in, a lot. The stack fills a table, piled high with enough correspondence to keep you busy for the foreseeable future.
This would be highly discouraging, right?
Probably! However, by repeatedly committing to “just one more,” you can more easily make progress without the task overwhelming you.
Which sounds easier, after all: a few hundred more or just one more?
This is the key to this strategy’s efficacy. A big task is a lot to tackle, but many smaller ones aren’t.
So, Doing Just One More Can Help You Get a Lot Done
Using this simple mind trick, you can make it far simpler to accomplish a large task! However, make sure you do take a break at some point (another key element of remaining productive).
