Ten Ways I'm Dealing with Perfectionism and Overload

In my position as a school administrator, one task that I have is to ensure that the physical plant is in good shape and is conducive for learning.  From major repairs to routine cleanliness, I have to make sure that the building and grounds are ready.  Just before the Christmas holiday, I hired a new custodian and dutifully assigned him to his area.  Almost immediately, I began to see improvements in one area and began to receive complaints in others.  Seeing that the custodian was always busy and seemed to want to do a good job, I decided to see if his assigned square footage of floor space was excessive.  When finished with the measuring and analysis, I determined that he was, indeed overburdened.  Not wanting to approach his new employer and complain, he tried his best to clean his assigned area within his allotted time.  In doing so, he either worked past the required hours or hurried through all his rooms, leaving them in a state that did not reflect his presence.  I immediately reduced his workload to a reasonable level.

 

During my workday, I find myself in similar circumstances.  Many tasks land on my next actions lists.  Some of them are superior-designed while others arise out of my Key Areas of Responsibility and simply appear.  Still others are self-imposed and are born due to my always looking for things that I can improve.  Since I also deal with issues that arise with others during the day, tasks, many times, come flooding into my office and onto my desk faster than I can dispatch them.  Unfortunately, the number of tasks mushrooms to astronomical proportions.  I find myself having to make a choice of either trying to accomplish all of them and not doing any of them well or spending an inordinate amount of time getting everything done but getting them done to the level that pleases me.  It got to the point that I had to switch back to my Palm due to the fact that my paper-based system expanded to the point of bulging at the seams.

In an effort to fix the problem, I spent some time in reflection to determine how I could still get it all done and maintain my sanity, as I’m a perfectionist and just have to have things done perfectly.  Here are some of the strategies I’m beginning to incorporate:

• Make more use of my Someday/Maybe lists to park some of the tasks.
• Place the Someday/Maybe lists further back in my system so they are not so visible except in the weekly review.
• It is a GTD sin to place due dates on next actions.  I am now placing due dates on the next actions that I can reasonably expect to complete during the present day.  I keep only those visible.
• Recognize that my perfectionism is a problem and begin implementing the 80/20 rule in all my tasks.  At least this causes me to addresses the perfectionist tendencies that I have.
• Delegate more.
• Recognizing that each project (defined as having more than one step) represents a investment of time and takes substantially more than the two-minute rule allows, I have begun allocating time on my calendar, blocking out time for projects just like they were appointments.
• Taking recurring tasks and building them into a routine that requires no thought, just execution.  This reduces the time involved because think-time is eliminated.
• Prioritize the tasks – another GTD sin – and concentrate on the important tasks first.  If any tasks are left undone, at least I got the more important ones done.
• Sharpen the Saw.  A Covey concept that says to pay attention to the non-work related areas of one’s life.  Similar to a post that I wrote on risk-taking, it is more structured and targets various aspects of one’s life.  This makes us more efficient at work.
• Review the rules that I’ve imposed on my tasks.  Many of my tasks are self-imposed and, therefore, subject to my standards of success, which can be changed.

I may still have bulging lists and undone tasks, but at least since beginning to look at my own expectations, procedures, systems, and exploring my willingness to violate some established GTD standards, but I’m going home less stressed and the accomplished tasks are being done to my standards.

Comments

[Mark Moloney]

Good post. I think keeping the 80/20 rule in mind is the best defence against poorly focussed perfectionism. It's still absolutely worth getting the most important parts as close to perfect as possible (the "20%"), but less emphasis can (for lack of time) be placed on the less important parts.

[Tana]

I don't think you are breaking GTD rules by having deadlines and prioritizing tasks. With the latter, I had to learn to put only the things I was truly committed to doing on my next action lists and put the rest on my someday/maybe lists. Someday/maybe can happen this afternoon - it doesn't have to be off in the distant future. For instance, I have two running lists of errands to make - one of things I need to get done this week, and the other of things I'd like to do when I'm out and about and in the mood to make a few more stops.

With hobby projects (just an easy example), everything goes on my someday/maybe list unless I have actually committed to a project by buying materials or beginning work on the project. Everything on my next action list needs to be done this week (or at least see significant progress) - otherwise it is on the someday/maybe list. My someday/maybe list is just below the surface, and when I have time and opportunities during the week, I will do things on that list as well.

Finally, every day I make a list of six most important things I want to do today. They may be time sensitive or they may simply just be very important to me today. It is certainly not a comprehensive list of everything I want to do today - It's just a list of the things I want to make sure I work on. During the day I do many other tasks, most from my next action lists some from my someday/maybe lists. Six things aren't so many that you get overwhelmed, but they are enough that they can make a significant impact on your productivity in general. If you look at how many of the things you are assigning deadlines to and how many of those things you are actually accomplishing, you may find that the six most important things list would play a key role in helping you succeed. Just a hunch...

[Jeff]

Great post! As a newbie to your site, what system or planner do you use to manage and track your lists?

[Bert]

Jeff-
I had been using a paper-based binder system that I developed myself. However, due to the excessive number of responsibilities that I have, I have since switched back to my Palm Tungsten C. On it, I'm running Iambic's Agendus program, which takes the datebook, task list, notes, and contacts, which are separate programs, and puts them all into one. They then threw in a splash of color-coding, icons (which I use to identify projects), and the ability to link tasks and appointments with contacts.