Master Your Time With 8 Critical Tasks and Discipline

“When you're committed to cutting out all the BS and doing a small list of things that you know need to get done, you also notice just how much fluff you put into your day."
Experiencing Love Ep 139

Hello, and welcome to Experiencing Love. I'm your host, Philip Joks, and I'm so glad that you're here. Right now, I'm really experiencing the truth of Parkinson's Law due to the artificial deadlines I've given myself. If you don't know what Parkinson's Law is, it's the idea that we will expand the work we have to fill an allotted time for completion. So, pretty much, whatever deadline you set for a goal, you will find a way to either stretch or shrink the work that you have to do in that timeframe.

I'm really experiencing that now with the deadline I gave myself yesterday, that every day I have to be off of all screens by 1 a.m. I was having a problem staying up way too late doing various things on various screens. It could be watching videos, playing games, even doing work. So, with that timeframe, with that deadline I've given myself, I've noticed that at night I'm almost racing and scrambling to do whatever I can get done, which is interesting because I didn't do that all day. All day I've had the same deadline. And yet, it's only when the deadline is nearing closer and closer that my brain decides it's time to get to work.

I'm sure you've experienced something like that, maybe in school. My favorite example was always school projects. And it doesn't matter how much time I have, I always completed a school project maybe three to four days before the deadline. In high school, I had some projects that were expressed to us at the very beginning of the year, and we'd have eight to ten months to complete, and yet it would still be last minute. And it's because we fill our time with the work that we have.

I remember I had one main experience that was the opposite of Parkinson's Law. And I found that it took a lot of discipline and willpower to do. It wasn't something that was natural, at least not for me. It was my second year of college, in my second semester, and I decided to do this thing where I would carry around a little notebook and at the very beginning of the day, I would decide what are my eight critical tasks for that day. I decided eight things that I wanted to get done that day that had to get done. And the point was to build up a streak and see how many times you can complete your eight critical tasks without missing something.

As you may imagine, at first, there are a lot of things you have on your to-do list. And so it becomes really easy to write down eight to-dos every day. The first few weeks were like that. I had no trouble coming up with things to do, even just ideas. And with my determination to keep my streak alive, I would get everything done.

After about three weeks, maybe four, I found that it became increasingly difficult to come up with eight critical tasks. The reason being, in those three to four weeks when I was just starting, I was able to get done with every single thing that I was putting off until that point. It was because of this eight critical tasks notebook and practice that I found myself for the first time ever, nearly two to three weeks ahead in my classwork. And this was also during one of my most challenging semesters. Up until that point, I found myself completing homework ahead of time, reading ahead with lesson plans, and I never have done that before. What it also taught me is that I have way more time throughout my day than I ever gave myself credit for.

When you're committed to cutting out all the BS and doing a small list of things that you know need to get done, you also notice just how much fluff you put into your day, just how much you might drag your feet going from one thing to the next, just how slow you may eat just to avoid whatever the next to-do is. It was a very interesting feeling, and I'm trying to think of why it didn't last for me because of how effective it was. I think it was because back then it was before I did any self-awareness work, any emotional intelligence practice. And so, I did not know just how sad I was and unfulfilled, and I didn't know how to put it into words. I didn't know how to have a conversation with myself. I wasn't journaling at the time. And so, I was dealing with a lot of chaos in my own head and not knowing how to actually deal with that chaos.

I think eventually what happened was I may have missed a day or there was one day that I did six out of eight tasks and because of that, the streak broke. And once the streak broke, the discouragement set in of just how long it'll take me to rebuild that streak and wondering is it even worth it? And ultimately, after trying multiple times and failing, and trying and failing, I just gave up altogether. I'm not exactly proud of that decision, but it's history, it's part of my past and there's no point in lying about it or fluffing it up. I quit and I've returned to that practice every once in a while, every few months, sometimes years. And I do it for a little bit, yet it doesn't stick. And I wonder now, in me bringing this up, is it time for me to do it again? Give it another go? I mean, maybe.

I guarantee if I looked hard enough, I can find all my old notebooks, my old critical tasks. You know what? In talking about this, I'm going to set a critical task to just find my old notebooks. Who knows? It may just inspire me to do this again and reach that ultimate level of productivity that I've only reached a few times in my life. This time, I have the knowledge and the skill set to be able to make sure I’m emotionally and mentally up to date and capable. I don't know, maybe this could be fun. Maybe I can make it a challenge with other people in my life.

I think a lot of things are easier to stick to in life when you include other people. Partly for accountability partners, but also for coaches, for cheerleaders, for teammates. When you have anything that you want to do, anything challenging at all, bring other people into it. Whether it's help for you or an opportunity to show someone a helpful habit or a new skill, get people involved so that you can stick with it better. From experience, I know it's way easier to falter and to quit and give up if you're doing everything in silence and on your own. I bet part of me doesn't give this up, recording this podcast, because I know this isn't something I'm doing in silence.

I do take pride in being able to tell someone that I've recorded and posted every single day this year so far. It's the middle of May. It's about to be June, and once June is done, that's half of the year done. To me, that's phenomenal, getting this far. And it's helped having people that I report to. It's helped having people that I talk about this with. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of accountability.

So, yeah, that's just what's on my mind. That's what came to me right when I pressed record. Today has been an interesting day so far. I had one of those mornings where right as I was about to follow the plan and stick to the routine that I've been doing every single day, I chose spontaneity. For whatever reason, I decided that today was the day I wanted to start reorganizing everything that's in my attic. My mom mentioned it a couple of times in passing over the last few weeks. And I guess it just was a seed planted in my mind that's been germinating and sprouted into the flower that was me going up there and putting in the work.

I brought with me a speaker, my little notebook, a studio light, and two vacuums. Oh, I also brought lots of garbage bags and a box cutter and a roll of paper towel. So that was my full kit and I just decided to put things together. I was thinking about it before. One of my great skills that I have is being able to organize things, being able to make systems out of what seems like chaos. I truly enjoy finding patterns and creating ways to maximize those patterns. Make it easier for everyone. Sometimes a mess looks a lot worse than it really is. I could say the same thing about problems. Sometimes a problem can look much scarier, much more daunting than it really is. Sometimes all it takes is a simple system that allows you to manage that mess, manage that problem. What I really enjoy doing is coming up with solutions. Or better yet, coming up with automations or systems. Anything like that, which I'd be able to use at a later time. I love this idea that the work I'm putting in now has a direct and unknown output later.

I've had these incredible moments in my life where I've built up skills and finished projects years ago. And they were projects that I thought were a fail. I thought they busted. Until I realized that all those years later, the skills I learned in doing the project became very useful. It actually made me giggle and kick my feet in realizing that everything I did in the past wasn't for nothing. It's helping me right now. So when I come up with solutions now, I get excited at the idea that it's not just to solve this one problem in front of me, it's to prevent many more problems later down the line.

Now don't get me wrong, that was just one of many things that could have been on my critical task list this morning. And yet, I didn't spend all day doing it. I spoke with my mom, and she was telling me how committing to reorganizing the attic is something she would have to set aside an entire day for. I realized that with that mindset, it'll never get done because we'll never have a full day to do anything. There's always going to be something else to do, whether it's something small like driving to the post office, or maybe doing laundry, or something a bit bigger like cooking lunch and dinner for the family. There's always going to be something that we have to do. So, I didn't finish today. I just made sure to get started.

I worked for about two hours before I got tired, took a break. That break turned into lunch, which then turned into another little break, which then turned into a nap. And that nap was phenomenal. And then that nap turned into a bit more fun time, and then dinner, and then more fun time, and then more work. Yeah, that's pretty much how my day goes. And it's not ideal. Maybe having a critical tasks list will be very beneficial in reining it in a bit. And if it's something I do, I'll report on it as soon as I do so.

Honestly, if you get the chance, give the critical task list a try, and it doesn't have to be the number eight. I chose eight because I believe the initial number was five, and I like to be an overachiever. Make a small list for yourself, three to five tasks, and try to see how many days in a row you can do this. If you do a number like eight, you will find very quickly that you'll start running out of tasks to do. Don't do too many that you overwhelm yourself, but do enough that it fills your day and gives you a sense of pride. You go to bed.

I think it's worth it, and I hope you trust me in that. I hope you have a fulfilling rest of your day. Remember to always fill up with love, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one. I love you.

Ready to dive deeper into the power of Parkinson's Law, critical task lists, and personal growth? Listen to the full episode of "Experiencing Love" for more insights and inspiring stories from Philip Joks. Your journey to productivity and self-awareness starts here. This Episode On Spotify

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