Sophie Chiche, founder and CEO of becurrent, a unique system that helps people achieve “productivity with purpose,” was working with a client recently. The client referred to a few items on her to-do list as “heavy,” and claimed that all the energy immediately drained out of her every time she looked at them. 

Knowing the next step in any task can be the key to productivity

Chiche had seen this many times before, and she knew exactly what the problem was: her client simply didn’t know what the next step was for each item on her to-do list. For each task that the client wanted to avoid, the ones that so thoroughly drained her energy, there was a “next step” that Chiche’s client was mentally unable to identify. Not knowing what to do next – whether personally or professionally – can have a number of root causes, but they generally break down into four distinct categories, says Chiche:

1) Not having enough information about the item to properly complete it.

2) Not wanting to do the item (which in itself can have many reasons).

3) Not having the [fill in the blank] time, money, or necessary skill.

4) The item is aspirational; that is, writing it down will inspire the writer to actually do it (but often it doesn’t).

Often, people don’t find what they need to finish a task.

Regardless of which category an unfinished task falls into, the overarching approach, according to Chiche, is to identify a specific an action to take. For example:

For item 1 – the next action is to gather more information.

For item 2 – this might require a person to confront someone (an unenviable task, to be sure).

For item 3 – the next action is to commit to a decision: to be done or postpone the task.

For item 4 – commit to a larger purpose or drop it.

The first action – gathering more information – is a critical one, given how often it has to be done, and the surprising lack of success people have in achieving the goal. According to a recent Gallup poll, 30% of work hours are spent looking for items or information people need in order to complete a task. What’s more, 40% of the time, they won’t actually find the items or information they need.

Still, many of the “next steps” are elementary – so elementary that they can get easily overlooked. The key, according to Chiche: think small. 

“If you can break every task into much smaller tasks, it becomes a relatively simple exercise,” said Chiche, who also holds a master’s degree in psychology. “If you identify a task such as ‘call Kate for her birthday’, and you don’t have Kate’s number, the very next action is to simply call John to ask for Kate’s contact. Once you get that, it is easy for the brain to process and say ‘Oh, I can do that.’” 

If an action on the list was passed on by someone else and a person doesn’t want to do it, or they don’t know how to do it and are embarrassed to ask for assistance, Chiche suggests that the very next action might be to summon the courage to either refuse to do it or ask for more information.

If someone doesn’t have the time, money or energy to take that action, they should declare it done for now or postpone it. Chiche’s becurrent system labels those items as ‘when there is more time’ or ‘when more money is available,’ so it can stop rattling around and becoming “energy sucks.”

Aspirational items (“get healthy,” “get wealthy,” “meditate”) get onto the list simply because people are not doing them. The next step – a big one, according to Chiche – is to make a commitment to a higher purpose. 

For Chiche, the loss of 200 pounds was one of those aspirational goals. The higher commitment she made? To love herself.

“Only when I started loving myself was I able to feed myself healthy foods,” recalled Chiche, who authored a book called War and Piece of Cake, detailing her astounding weight-loss journey. “And I don’t work out because it’s written on my to-do list. I move my body because my life is much more enjoyable when my body is in motion.”

One way for people to avoid items that can’t be accomplished is to make sure that what gets on the to-do list are items that a person can – or wants – to do. But in the professional world, that isn’t always an option. In that case, it’s important to figure out the reason it’s not getting done, then apply one of the common-sense approaches to remove the bottleneck. 

Even if some tasks get dropped or postponed, it’s better than having them sitting stagnant on the list. 

“Sometimes, just saying you’re not going to do something, or being at ease with putting it off indefinitely, can ease a lot of tension and declutter your life.”

Media Contact
Company Name: Becurrent
Contact Person: Kate Branna
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Country: United States
Website: https://becurrenttoday.com/