It's All Too Much
the overload dilemma is wrecking us
I’m not sure if it’s age, or the nature of what I do, but I use ToDoist a lot to help make sure I keep track of the thousand things I need (want?) to do. I have to write it down, or I’ll forget. I’m so reliant on the stupid list to make sure I keep my shit together that I even have an IFTTT action hooked up to Alexa to add items directly to ToDoist from (almost) anywhere in my house.
It keeps me from forgetting things, but when I take a step back and look, it can be too much.
Time to be Young
When I was younger - you know, in the days before smart phones, I had …time. I took hours to play with the settings on a synthesizer I owned to make new sounds - or new scales (short story - I messed with the math of modern music). I transcribed pop songs to play on a set of midi devices in my house. I took the time to learn how to bounce tracks on an analog four track recorder so I could record myself playing all parts of a saxophone quintet. I don’t apply any of that anywhere today, but I think the focused deep learning those experiences brought me have helped me a lot in life.
I didn’t need a to-do list then - I had time.
Yak Shaving
Yesterday, I wanted to hang our window screens. Eventually, summer will make it to Seattle, and I like open windows, but not bugs. The screens had been stored in a shed, so they were dirty and needed to be washed. In order to wash them, I had to fix the a problem with the garden hose. After they dried, I finally started to put them in, but realized that I probably needed to wash the windows first. It was an afternoon of yak-shaving - which isn’t a problem by itself - it just meant that I didn’t do enough of the other things I had planned.
There’s too much to do.
Not Just My Problem
My problems are no different than yours - or from a million other people. Individually, it’s an annoyance, but almost all of us eventually catch up. In fact, some people enjoy doing to many things at once. They humble brag about how much they have to do - all while creating more things to do. These people are annoying but harmless - until they invade organizations and their let’s-do-everything attitude lowers productivity and morale for a wide circle around them.
John Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) discusses how task overload limits learning and problem solving, and he suggests that there are three types of cognitive load:
Intrinsic Cognitive Load: This is the mental load of the difficulty of a single task. Writing this post, for example, has a higher intrinsic cognitive load than hanging window screens.
Extraneous Cognitive Load: This is unneeded distractions from the task at hand. My favorite example recently is me wanting to analyze some data in Excel, but I’m mentally taxed by working through a cluttered and clunky user interface.
Germane Cognitive Load: This is mental effort expended in order to learn new information. Learning new approaches - or implementing new practices also creates mental load.
The essense of Sweller's theory is that we have limited ability for processing information in working memory, and when cognitive load exceeds this capacity, learning slows or stops.
Let me make that clear. When we do too many things at once, our ability to learn and execute slows or stops. We do too much, so nothing gets done.
Finish not Do
Something I’ve said to my teams for many years is “Less doing, more finishing”. It’s usually in the context of reviewing team projects and seeing a lot of projects in progress at the same time, but none of them seem to get done.
If you chase two rabbits, you will catch neither one.
The One Thing, by Keller and Papasan explains in detail how this works, but the concept is straightforward. Do the most important thing. Finish it. Then do the next thing.
The authors state that spreading efforts across multiple tasks leads to diluted focus and reduced productivity. Instead, they advocate for identifying the critical tasks that will have the greatest impact and dedicating time and energy to completing them.
A challenge is that a lot of teams find it impossible to pick the most important thing. Everything is important (which is potentially synonymous with ‘nothing is important’). The One Thing offers this advice which I try to put in practice.
Go Small. Don’t focus on being busy; focus on being productive. Allow what matters most to drive your day.
Go Extreme. Once you’ve figured out what actually matters, keep asking what matters most until there is only one thing left. That core activity goes to the top of your list.
Say No. Whether. you say “later” or “never,” the point is to say “not now” to anyting else you could do until y our most important work is done.
Don’t get trapped in the “check off” game. If we belileve things don’t matter equally, we must act accordingly. We can’t fall prey to the notion that everything has to be done, that checking things off our list is what success is all about. We can’t be trapped in a game of “check off” that never produces a winner. The truth is that things don’t matter equally, and success is found in doing what matters most.
Point three is worth further discussion. Any fool can say yes. There are a lot of good reasons to say yes. But in business, courageous leaders know when to say “no” (or “not yet”). There’s a bit of an art to saying no, but I’ve found that if you can explain why you’re answering “not yet” (ideally because you can explain why other things are more important right now), the “no/not yet” will be accepted. Also important to note that if you can’t explain why you’re saying no, then you probably haven’t figured out what’s most important yet.
Too much yes, means too many things.
Multitasking
“To do two things at once is to do neither.”
- Publilius Syrus
The authors of The One Thing, as expected, discuss multitasking. I learned the hard way many years ago that I could not debug a performance issue while replying to email and listening to an audiobook. Every time my brain had to switch from one task to another, time was lost, and none of those projects were done well. There’s a substantial number of articles and research showing how multitasking makes you stupid - but too many of us think we can get away with it.
Is it odd that when we have too much to do that we resort to things that make us do those things slower?
We should be doing what Cal Newport writes about in Deep Work. Newport explains why deep work is important, then dives into techniques that will help individuals and teams focus on solving hard problems quickly.
I’ve used Pomodoro timers for years to focus on deep tasks (including this blog post / newsletter). I own a physical Pomodoro timer, but these days use the Pomodoro that’s part of Raycast on my Mac.
Do Fewer Things
The easy advice - yet hardest to implement is to commit to doing fewer things. Do fewer things at an individual level, and do fewer things on your teams.
Sometimes, you can’t avoid it. You’re trapped in a system where people want everything now - but get annoyed when nothing’s getting done. I’ve found that even in scenarios like this that there’s room to say no and focus on what’s most important.
Do the most important thing. Finish it. Then do the next thing. Be transparent about your prioritization and focus on finishing things.
And with that, this post is finished as well.
-A 2:1