If you tend to procrastinate big tasks, no amount of someone telling you to “just sit down and do it” is going to help unless you first uncover the roots of your procrastination.
Procrastination is not the disease; it’s a symptom that results from many causes.
Three of the major causes of procrastination include:
- a task that feels too big to complete in the time you have available.
- a task that involves skills beyond your capacity.
- a task that involves a level of energy and effort you don’t have available.
Even when these factors are present, there’s a way to make some small progress and trigger the dopamine that will help you gain momentum on the project.
My favorite solution is what I call Work Packets.
What is a Work Packet?
A Work Packet is a clearly-defined, containable unit of work. It feels complete on its own, even if it’s one piece of a bigger project.
The key element that defines a “packet” is that it is a completable task that offers a natural stopping point for a break within a larger project.
Here are some examples, in different contexts:
- Fitness: a circuit of a few exercises that you do for 15 minutes.
- Cooking: cutting up vegetables that you’ll use for making dinner later, or setting up your mis-en-place.
- Building a Website: writing one page of your copy.
- Research and Analysis: setting up your research parameters.
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How to Create Work Packets
Here are the steps to create work packets:
- Think about a project or task you need to do that feels too big or overwhelming.
- Spend 5 minutes writing down the different steps in the project. Each should be a clearly defined action — meaning that it has a clear and obvious stopping point.
- Estimate how much time the task will take you, then add some buffer time.
List all the work packets with their time estimates and put a check box next to them.
If there are aspects of the project that are beyond your skill, list them and make a note to find someone who can do them.
How to Use Work Packets
Now that you have your work packets defined, look at your calendar to see where you can fit them in.
Depending on your available time, you can stack multiple work packets together.
For example, if you only have 20 minutes in your kitchen, you can cut up one group of vegetables. If you have an hour, you might be able to cut up all the vegetables.
As you go through your work packets on the project, check them off on your checklist. This list will
- give you the dopamine hit that comes from completion.
- serve as a visual reminder of where you left off, so you can pick up with the next step when you resume.
- serve as a progress report for anyone who is taking parts of the project that are beyond your skill.
Work Packets Give You Momentum
When you chunk your big tasks down into work packets, it becomes easier to get started and to stop before you’re finished without feeling incomplete.
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