How to Decide Which Projects to Drop
Feeling overwhelmed? Figure out which projects you should drop, stat.
Sometimes, we’re just overcommitted. One clue that you’re overcommitted: you realize that no matter how much you do, you really can’t get ahead. I have three writing deadlines each week at the moment. I’m overcommitted.
My Facebook friend Sam calls himself “the One Mouth Band.” I don’t ask why. He might say “People would be too freaked out if I told them I had three mouths.” And what would I say to that? No matter how many mouths he has, he just announced a project that solves overcommitment. He promised a group of fellow musicians that he would drop 100 projects per week until his remaining to-dos fit in his head without stressing him out.
Just the thought of doing that fills me with longing mixed with dread.
His idea’s a good one. We don’t get overwhelmed because we take on too much. We get overwhelmed because we don’t drop as many projects as we should. I don’t regularly drop projects. I only drop them when I’m feeling overloaded.
How to Decide Which Projects to Drop
New opportunities to donate my time arrive daily. All it takes is saying “yes.” But opportunities to drop projects don’t show up. People don’t call and say, “You’re doing such a great job running our monthly bacon-tasting group that we want you to resign so you can have more free time.” No, people are sneaky. When you’re doing stuff for them, they know better than to offer you the chance to quit.
All the gurus tell you to set goals and start projects. Sam is telling us to drop them. Sam is my new guru. Yay! Let’s drop projects together. Grab your list of projects. We’ll figure out which ones to drop.
How to Eliminate Excess Projects
Go through each item and ask, “Why do I need this?” Asking “Why” helps you find the bigger goal connected to a project or to-do item. One of my projects is “make a million jillion dollars.” I work really hard at it. Why? Well, I dunno. Maybe to get a bigger house. (But I like my house.) Or a nicer TV (I never watch TV) or a bigger computer (which would make distractions even easier). If the bigger goal seems irrelevant or outdated, that’s a sign you can drop a project. If a weekly project is to fill out a certain report for your boss, ask your boss why. You just may find the report is left over from a prior boss and can be safely eliminated.
How to Identify the Most Important Projects
You may find many of your projects relate to the same larger goal. If so, figure out which project is most effective at working towards that goal and punt the others. Each week I scavenge the local junkyard for toasters. I buy toasters on eBay. And I send my zombies dumpster diving on trash day to find old toasters. Why? Because toasters are the ideal source of spare parts for my obedient robot army. Robots are more reliable than zombies. But three separate projects related to toaster acquisition are silly. Goodbye, junkyard and eBay. From now on, toaster acquisition is just for the zombies. Even if they do have an unfortunate tendency to accidentally toast body parts. (Why do you think I’m upgrading to a robot army?)
Make Sure the Projects Match Your Goals
One of my projects is “update online Facebook profile.” Why? Er, because the Great Mark Zuckerman in his infinite wisdom programmed me to … OK. This is a project that doesn’t have a real goal. Nuke it. You may find that lots of projects that seemed like a good idea at the time don’t actually relate to any real goal in your life. Eliminate them, mercilessly.
In my new book that’s coming out September 2010, Get-it-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More, I give you a whole system for making sure your projects always support your goals. Order your copy today at WorkLessAndDoMore.com.
Hmm… My next 23 projects include “darn socks,” “buy new socks,” “find old socks,” “investigate interdimensional wormhole behind dryer,” and “get more sandals.” All of those projects serve my goal to have warm, well-protected feet. If you find that a single goal is taking up an inappropriately large chunk of your life, consider dropping many of the projects related to that goal.
Drop Projects Faster Than You Take On New Ones
Systematically dropping your projects won’t help if you say “Yes” to new projects faster than you drop the existing ones from your list. Begin building boundaries in your life where you learn to turn down chances to take on new projects. Practice say things to friends like, “I’m sure fighting for non-toxic wallpaper paste is a truly important cause. I’m afraid I can’t take it on as a project right now. I hope you understand.” If you need help saying No, review my episode on How to Say No Gracefully.
Sam wants to get to the point where his entire project list fits in his head. I’ve been there, and the memory fills me with bliss. Real bliss. The kind of bliss most people get only by meditating for 40 years.
The way to bliss is dropping projects that relate to outdated goals, that are redundant, that don’t lead to achieving goals, or that focus you way too much on socks. Dropping a project doesn’t mean you can never do it. It just means dropping the intention to do it any time soon. Letting it go so it doesn’t occupy your mind. So you can relax, feel good, and pretend you’re on a tropical island, swimming in a giant swimming pool full of tasty tropical fruit juices.
… Until the robots arrive. Bwah ha ha ha ha ha!
RESOURCES:
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/relationships/professional/saying-no-to-difficult-requests
my episode on how to say no gracefully
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
Overworked Man image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
