I save a lot of my easy or mundane tasks to do later. I call this the “strategy of low-hanging fruit.”
When I have energy, I want to spend it climbing to the top of the tree. All that low-hanging fruit can wait.
For example, recently I was about to launch into a few hours of data entry. Data entry that I want done at some point, but really, that point could be a year down the road and I’d be fine. So I stopped myself before I began!
There is no reason to do low effort, non-creative work when I’m healthy and energetic, unless there’s a real deadline looming.
I’m saving this data entry for a time when I’m stuck in bed, healthy enough to do something besides sleep, but can’t handle anything creative or physically taxing.
Similarly, I’m drafting this blog post while holding a sick toddler in my lap. This is my third post to draft this morning, made possible by my toddler’s lack of interest in my notebook, plus my running list of low-hanging fruit items to do sometime.
I’ve been using this strategy for years, and it always makes me feel miles better about my down times.
Hard First Or Easy First
My strategy relates to another interesting question: should you do the hard stuff or the easy stuff first?
Assuming there are real deadlines attached to all the tasks at hand, I actually prefer doing the easy stuff first to get it out of my brain space.
Or, if there are lots of easy tasks that are similar (e.g. email), I prefer to group them all together and knock them out in one sitting.
But in these scenarios, I’m not talking about creative work, or work that can wait for another time.
In general, use your energy for the hard stuff. The easy stuff can wait.
What do you think? Do you reserve easy tasks for later or knock them out right away?
Image via.
