How to Ignore the Small Stuff and Be Productive

In order to plan for the future and reach the next goal you want to accomplish, you have to master productivity. Productivity looks directly at how we are able to use a given block of time to complete tasks in an effective manner. This is a lifelong quest when you want address your personal development. There are always ways you can improve and become more proficient. Utilizing business principles in your personal life for your own development can actually be helpful. A previous blog post looked at one business law: Parkinson’s Law. Getting an understanding of this law will definitely assist you in the area of productivity. This current post focuses on the Law of Triviality, which is another business principle that can be used in our personal life to help us overcome distractions.

The Law of Triviality relates directly to how individuals create a plan of action to take, but then become extremely distracted with the smaller parts of their plan. For example, you decide you want to update your child’s bedroom because they have gotten older. You get caught up in smaller decisions like the color of the bedding and the pictures or graphics you want to decorate the walls with; instead of spending time on deciding on what type of furniture you are going to purchase and the budget of the remodel.

What is the Law of Triviality (Bike shedding)

The Law of Triviality relates directly to Parkinson’s Law and develops this law even further. It was also proposed by C.N. Parkinson. The Law of Triviality (bike shedding) is when someone takes into account all the small components of a decision (like constructing a bike shed- what color should it be) and overlooks the major components of the task (like the cost and where it should be placed). The problem with this law is that it causes you to waste important time on things that are minimal when there are larger, more important decisions that should be addressed. It is when we get lost in the weeds. This is very easy to do when you are at home, because there are so many things that attempt to gain your attention. You have to determine what is important and address that. Is having dinner ready more important when your spouse gets home or is it having all the children bathed before dinner? Prioritizing tasks as well as deciding the steps to complete tasks has to be done daily in your home setting. The Law of Triviality can be applied in your home setting. 

Going beyond the Law of Triviality

Use a brain dump

The importance of using a brain dump can not be stressed enough. It can aid you in organizing thoughts that seem to have nowhere to go as well as help you determine what should be your main priorities. The amount of thoughts and ideas that we have every day is excessive, so utilizing a brain dump can sometimes be the answer between being overly distracted by outlying things or being able to be focused on what you need to accomplish.

Make a plan

Planning can be paired well with your brain dump to get beyond the Law of Triviality. Organizing the thoughts created from your brain dump can assist you in developing a plan to accomplish needed steps. Using a plan to remove distractions can be helpful when you have something that you desire to accomplish. This is a practical step that can allow you greater focus while decreasing those smaller unimportant details.

Set realistic timelines

When you have a plan, making sure that you have a timeline that allows for the optimal amount of time to complete an activity is imperative. Determining a timeline comes with a lot of practice. How long should it take you to reach a certain goal? How much time do you need to complete this task? What is the average amount of time you need to get this done? These are all questions you should ask yourself. You do not want to give yourself too much time, because then the work will just fill the time you allow for it. BUT you do not want to have a timeline that is too short, which then creates undue stress on yourself. There is already a component of stress when you are working towards a goal so additional stress is not something you want to create.

I recommend that you think about things you have already accomplished, recall the amount of time it took, remember the amount of focus you gave the task, and decide about how distracted you were.  Use these steps to determine a timeline for your present goal. Then, continue to track these components during your present task. This will allow you to be more accurate in time predictions for future tasks when you are making timelines.

Maintain focus on your priorities

It is so easy to become distracted as you are moving through life. Especially in your home setting. There are so many things that can get our attention, so many things that require our attention. There is an endless list for all of us. It can be family members, things you want to do, personal activities, chores. It may differ from person to person but everyone has a list of things they have to complete on a daily basis and distractions. Some of these distractions are even enjoyable. Those are the most difficult to ignore. In order to overcome the Law of Triviality, you have to focus on the steps you need to take to accomplish your goal. If you have a scheduled time to work on something specific, make sure that is what you are doing during that time. Resist other activities. You may even need to silence your phone.

Ideas to help you maintain your focus

Self care

Putting your own mental and physical health as a top priority is one way to help you maintain your focus.  When you are in a positive space personally, you are able to address other things in your environment more effectively. This is why self care is so important and should be a regular part of your personal routine.

Rewards

Allowing yourself to have a reward when you accomplish something is a great way to stay motivated. It does not have to be anything big or expensive; it just has to have value to you. Why not allow yourself something you enjoy when you meet that goal?

Timers

When creating your plan, having a certain amount of scheduled focused time can be helpful. Using a timer to signal to you when your focused time is over. This prevents you from having to keep checking the clock and allows you to find comfort in knowing you do not have to focus to something indefinitely without knowing when it will end. Timers work with our children for tasks. We never grow out of benefiting form their usefulness.

Complete other tasks prior to starting

Make sure that you have completed other activities before you begin. If having laundry that needs to be done or phone calls you need to make will distract you from your plan, complete those tasks before you begin. It is similar to a brain dump, but it is task oriented. Do what you feel you have to do so you can focus on what you need to.

Evaluate the outcome

The challenge in everything with task completion is looking back after it is over. You may have put so much time and effort in what you have accomplished that you just want to move on from it. Don’t do this. Evaluating the outcome is difficult if it did not turn out the way you planned because you have to identify your mistakes. If you succeeded in reaching your goal, sometimes you may feel like there is no need to review what happened. You just want to move on to the next thing.

With either outcome (positive or negative), looking back is imperative to move forward. Personal development looks at the past in order to apply successful behaviors to your future. Cultivating more success means addressing behaviors that did not create positive results or even improving behaviors that were beneficial to you.

Resources about the Law of Triviality

Describes the Law of Triviality https://thecodersblog.com/Analaysis-Parkinson%27s-law-of-triviality/

Excellent resource on Law of Triviality and a great breakdown of how it works https://whatsthepont.blog/2011/11/06/bikeshedding-prospering-in-your-committees-parkinsons-law-of-triviality/

Thank you so much for checking out this post. As you can tell, I have a huge passion for productivity.

Follow along to check out my productivity series. I will be posting one productivity law each month throughout 2022 in order to allow us to optimize our performance at home and in our profession. 

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Be you, be well, be focused! Find Your Flourish! |Shanna|

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