How do you take repetitive tasks and get them done?
Tasks that done all-at-once would be a large endeavor?
Lately, I have found myself breaking them down into bite-sized pieces.
Sometimes doing them for only a few minutes at a time.
I call this task whittling.
And it makes quick work of even the most mundane tasks.
Bit by Bit, Piece by Piece
A while back, I wrote about attacking large projects by eating that elephant 10 minutes at a time.
I also discussed that I am not buying any more hard cover books.
Based on these two, I have developed an interesting reading habit.
“I read a little bit of my books here, there, and everywhere.”
Most of my reading is done on my iPad. But, with Amazon’s Kindle app I can also read on my laptop, my iPhone, and my desktop systems.
Since the Kindle application keeps my place no matter where I read, I find myself grabbing a few pages here and a few pages there. Before I know it, I have finished another book.
I will read a few pages on my desktop computer. Then later, some more on my iPad. And even grabbing a few more pages on my iPhone while waiting somewhere, like the doctor’s office. (The iPhone reading is not ideal, but gets you by in a pinch.)
What to Whittle
I define task whittling as getting a task done a little bit at a time.
This is not to be confused with multi-tasking. I am not talking about flitting from task to task, but rather coming back to a task that is repetitive and probably not to be done all at once. Priority work should be done in one sitting and should not be whittled.
Whittling is not just for reading. It works for other tasks, too.
I do some of my writing the same way: bit-by-bit. Coming back to it at a later time.
Cleaning is a another task that is good for whittling. You may not have time to clean out your entire desk, but you could do one small portion per day.
What else can we whittle?
Breaking it Down
Want to begin task whittling?
Try this: Commit yourself to reading 20 pages a day.
It will get you started in whittling down that book that has been sitting on your desk unread.
Once you begin, you will probably find that you read more than your prescribed amount per day.
Before you know it, you will have whittled that task away to nothing.
And you’ll be on your way to being a master task whittler.
Do you whittle your reading? What other tasks do you whittle?