I want to share a bit of a funny idea with you. This is something that I haven’t really seen discussed in the productivity space but is something I’ve had to deal with recently and I wanted to share my thoughts in case you’ve ever felt the same way.
What am I talking about?
Have you ever felt yourself come to a crossroad while working on a project or perhaps just in life in general where you’ve asked yourself: “what do I do now?”
For me, this feeling often comes about after I complete lots of tasks on my to-do list and finish off a project or big piece of work. I get to the end of that body of work and it feels great to have finished something, but I’m not sure of the next step. I still know what my overarching vision is and I’m clear on my goals, but in terms of identifying the very next thing I should do or start working on, I’m stumped.
Let me give you an example:
Last year, I spent the large majority of my side-business time (probably about 75%) working towards the creation and launch of my Personal Productivity Toolkit. That was a massive project! Since the launch, I’ve been working on other important jobs that were put off while I was working on the product launch. But since the new year, there have been a few occasions where I’ve really had to stop and ask myself: “what do I do now?”.
Let me be clear; the end goal hasn’t changed. I’m still working towards growing my website revenue and one day (hopefully) working for myself. But at the moment, I’m not totally clear on the next steps I should be taking to reach this goal.
Sure, I have a list of things I can do. My Asana account has still got plenty of tasks occupying the various projects. But that’s not to say I should do any of them.
A big part of productivity (as I’m sure you know), is about working on the most essential activities and prioritising the things that will advance you towards your goal the quickest. With that in mind, I don’t want to rush into working on tasks that aren’t important when I could be working on things that will have a real impact.
So, here in lies the problem; how do you identify the tasks you should be doing when you don’t know what to do?
Here are some things that I’ve done to help identify the “critical few” from the “trivial many” (as Greg McKeown puts it).
1. Revisit and refine your goals
As I said before, I’ve always been very clear on where I’m headed and what I’m trying to achieve. But if you ever reach this intersection and you don’t know which road to take, you have to remind yourself of the destination you’re trying to get to.
If possible, refine your goals even more.
In my case, I know I’d like to work for myself and I have a target that I need to be making, at least, $5,000 a month in order to cover living expenses before I can do this. By breaking this down into quarterly milestones, it makes the goal clearer and more attainable. e.g. if I’d like to reach $5,000/month in 1 year from now, I should aim to make at least $1,000/month within 3 months from now and then scale up from there.
The benefit of doing this is that it makes that far off goal seem much more attainable and can make identifying the next action a lot easier.
2. Review any of your “someday” tasks
You know all those tasks you’ve been putting off for “someday”. Well, now could be the perfect time to revisit them.
All of the things I know I’m going to do (just not now), I keep tagged as “someday” inside Asana. Other ideas and projects I might do, generally get stored in Evernote purely because I haven’t committed to doing them yet.
Clearly these things are worth remembering, otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone to the effort of writing them down and tagging them for later. Perhaps there’s something there that’s worth picking up and putting into action…
3. Don’t rush, whatever you do!
This part’s important. Whatever you do, when you find yourself asking: “what now?” don’t go aimlessly rushing into the next task without taking the time to determine if the work is even worth doing.
I want to emphasise the importance of asking yourself: “Is this thing even worth my time?”.
That’s it. Not much else to say here, but seriously, don’t rush! I know I have a tendency to rush into things and it almost never works…
4. Enjoy taking the time to explore your options
This is the fun part.
Take the time to explore your options so you can identify the tasks that are going to have the biggest impact on your progress.
- Write in a journal. I don’t do this every day, but I find myself asking “what now?” I find that documenting my experiences and exploring ideas with a pen and paper can be really rewarding.
- Talk to people in your field. Or if you can’t talk to the right people, listen to podcasts and read books by the people you want to be like. Identify the patterns and commonalities that people in your field have in common.
- Go for long walks. Thinking through your options always seems to be easier when you’re out in the fresh air.
- Discuss your options out loud. Talking through your options and goals out loud isn’t as odd as it sounds. By saying things out loud instead of in your head you’re forced to communicate your ideas in a concise and logical way. I like talking through my options with my wife, Hayley, and even though she won’t have the answer, by verbally talking through what I need to do, I can start to find the answer myself.
YOUR TURN
Even if you’re not currently asking yourself “what now?” I would challenge you to step back and think through how you’re currently spending your time to see if that’s really the best way it could be spent.
Have you ever felt stuck and not sure what to do next? What have you done to move forward? Let me know in the comments below!