Back in September I wrote a piece titled “8 things at a time.” In it, I discussed overloading as a student, ordering priorities, and ultimately focusing on one thing at a time. In three-months-ago me’s words, if you—referencing myself hereafter—continued to push things off, “then guess what: you’ll be a senior with eight months left at Stevens and a lot of catching up to do.”
Other than driving traffic to a three-month old article and quoting myself, the purpose of resurrecting this piece from the bottom of thestute.com is that I am now a senior with five months left at Stevens. Three months ago I made pleas to myself—and inevitably future me—to start learning a new language, take a spring break trip, ditch old habits, hit the elliptical daily, join a new club, or just ask a prospective special someone out already.
To my surprise (and a bit to my chagrin), I’ve begun to chip away at that list. Unfortunately, in three months’ time I’ve found a new set of goals and obligations to append to the list of already intimidating items: make my thesis memorable, finish those game designs, dial down the silliness, prepare to look for a job—look for a job.
With a slew of new tasks to complete and goals to achieve, especially when there are existing unfinished ones already, the only solution is to bite the cliché bullet and make tasks “actionable.”
My use of scare quotes around “actionable” is deliberate. When I read articles that promise “7 ways” or “science-proven” methods to bolster productivity, I cringe. I’m not mercilessly opposed to “listicles” or vehemently opposed to clickbait (provocative or misleading content with the purpose of garnering traffic). Despite the eye-rolls they induce, articles discussing productivity will discuss one essential concept to catalyze efficiency and help get more done: actionable tasks.
If you google that term, you’ll encounter an ocean of articles and listicles that discuss the concept at length. In a nutshell, making tasks actionable is the act of breaking down tasks into smaller, more doable tasks that can be done—macro to micro. For example, instead of finish my personal portfolio website in one day, spending several hours working and probably hitting a mental wall, I could spend less than 30 minutes on completing a section of the project, such as organizing my work or writing my bio.
The downside to making tasks actionable, and the main reason why I could never get behind the concept, is that if you have been procrastinating or are already overwhelmed by things to get done, then doing little bits of time-sensitive stuff is simply not in the cards, because it probably needs to be done now if it’s been pushed off too long. Thankfully, we have new things to do everyday, so perhaps one task could benefit from this methodology. Unfortunately, as more tasks compound, time dissipates, and we’re back to square one.
I’ve been utterly unsuccessful in implementing actionability and meagerly successful in crossing off items on life’s to-do list. At the risk of sounding preachy, I’ll confidently contend that taking a breath, a step back, and a few minutes in a day to at least think about removing myself from the macroscopic level of problem to tackle just one microscopic portion of it is perhaps the best action I can take, and the best task I can make actionable.
To avoid feeling trapped by what’s yet to be done, sometimes recognizing that there is a way out is enough to keep plowing along. From there, it is inevitably up to me to take action. Though at that point, at least I’m more in control of life and have some say about whether I sink or swim (or get a job already).
