Have you ever struggled to get the ball rolling? Stuck on another one of those dreaded days where you just can’t seem to get into “the zone” and achieve something measurable. It could be so easy.
Sitting in front of a blank canvas is terrifying. As it should be. Staring into the deep blacks or blinding whites of your screen almost feels like someone looks back into your soul. It knows you. All the potential, ideas and solutions you could come up with, yet somehow struggled to manifest. They already exist somewhere and wait patiently for you to bring them into existence. Further along, even if you manage to actually have some ideas, what now and where to start? A solution in sight, emerging from the depths of yesterday’s work. You shouldn’t have finished.
This is not another hustle-bro recommendation where you’re gaslit into constant doubts of “Why wouldn’t you try to finish everything? Work a little bit more and just get it done. A little bit of overtime ain’t hurtin’ nobody. Sprint everywhere until you burst into flames.” While a double-dip candle burning example may be extreme, the general mantra can still hurt you on less intense approaches.
Why not have easy days, every day? Some of us don’t need much to get moving and a key ingredient is readily available.
The art of momentum
I have to admit it. If I have the chance to, I tend to keep the easiest of tasks unfinished. I could have finished them earlier but intentionally decided not to.
That one part of the wireframe I’m not quite happy about but already have an idea on. The non-breaking error in my still uncommitted codebase where I already know how to fix it. Stuff that doesn’t actually matter and no one notices. Take a quick note on my to-do list, pack up, brush down and go home, even into my weekends.
Come Saturday, I have a panic attack because deeply embedded into my thoughts are the fractured memories of having forgotten a thing. An important one. I should have done something I can’t quite get the grasp on. Why didn’t I at least write it down?
Wait, stop! I did and we’re trying a different reality here. Breathe.
Come Monday I take a relaxed sip of coffee mate, fire up my favorite notes app, double check my ridiculously undemanding assignment instructions, take a hearty laugh at them and swiftly go on to work on “the thing”.
Finished in a blitz, not even an hour in and I’m already going on my first victory lap. Turns out easy pieces of work are easy to do. What a great way to start the day and boost motivation. Time to tackle some more duties. With the power of inertia unleashed, all challenges are mine to take. Nothing can stop me. After a successful and joyful day I leave a trivial undemanding task undone and roll on my merry way towards some downtime relaxation.
Next day, rinse and repeat. What a bliss. Start each day with a victory. Why wouldn’t you too?
Obviously quite the luxury you don’t have all the time. Sometimes the law of chaos has another idea on the optimal way to start your day. Yet, like many parts of your life, using momentum more frequently is a goal you can strive towards, a muscle to train and a great target to aim for.
The alternative?
Now, compare it again with the learned misconception in a worker’s mind of hardship and a one-dimensional world of one set of solutions. Do the most difficult and ultimately most demanding task first, they said. Or worse yet, do the busy thing … and be busy the whole day, while accomplishing nothing of matter.
I’ll say, do the important stuff second, when you’re already on a roll.
Easy days are not those days where you have nothing to do. On the contrary, it’s when your plate is chock-full, you manage to progress forward amidst all the chaos and still “enjoy the process”. Ready and set-up for the next day of awarding challenges ahead.
Go easy. Don’t finish. You’re running a marathon, not a sprint.