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Michael Dolan
Defining Your Work
One of the most powerful new behaviors I coach clients on during workflow coaching sessions is the practice of defining clear, concise next actions for all of the projects they are committed to completing. If done consistently, this simple practice can substantially impact your ability to be in action on the projects and commitments that are most important to you.
On the surface, it may seem that defining next actions would be a simple, natural thing, but there’s actually quite an art to it.
DEFINING THE NEXT ACTION
When you’re in the process of getting through a stack of “stuff” in your inbox, one fundamental question that you’ll implicitly ask about each thing is “is this actionable or not?” For those things that are actionable, but that you can’t do right now in less than two minutes, you’ll want to define a next action and keep it on a list in your planner or PDA.
Let’s take an example from my life. While I was on my last business trip, my wife mentioned in a voicemail that she wanted me to finish childproofing our house. We’ve got a one-year-old who’s starting to get into everything - and since I’m the one responsible for household/hardware-related chores, it’s my responsibility to install the various latches and gates that we’ve bought for the job.
In the old days, before I learned about GTD, I may have just written down “childproofing” on my to-do list and moved on. But now, since I know it will take me several steps to get the entire childproofing project done, the first thing I do is add something like “childproofing installed” to my projects list (see this article for more on defining projects).
Once I capture the project, then I think for a moment about what actual physical, visible next action or actions I need to do next in order for that project to move forward. Well, first off, I need to install about 9 safety latches on the drawers and cabinets in out kitchen. Ah, but wait, “install safety latches” is not the next action. In order to install the safety latches I will first need to go out to the back shed to get my power-drill. Since the latches themselves are already sitting in a bag in my kitchen, I’ll be good-to-go as long as I’ve got my drill in hand and I’m in the kitchen. So, I’d probably add something like, “Get power-drill from shed to install latches,” to my list of next actions.
"CHILDPROOFING," VS. "GET POWER-DRILL..."
Notice the subtle but powerful difference between seeing “childproofing” on a list, versus seeing “Get power-drill from shed to install latches.” The former is a somewhat vague trigger, while the latter is a very specific, physical and doable next action that tells me exactly HOW to get that project into action. Without the clearly defined next actions, my list would be a series of yet-to-be-made decisions about how to proceed. I’d suggest that, at least on a sub-conscious level, you’ll be a bit confronted by each bit of uncertainty of exactly HOW you are going to do all of that THAT, and you might just end up sitting down on the couch and watching TV instead!
"HOW?" IS THE KEY
The more clear and doable each next action on your list is, the more likely you’ll be to get into action. The key question to ask yourself when defining next actions is: How? How are you going to set that meeting up? How will you decide which plan to present? How will you clean the gutters? And sometimes you’ll need to ask it several times until you’re able to define the actual next action. It’s always there; just keep looking until you distinguish it.
If it seems to you that all of the time it takes to clearly define and store your next actions is a waste of time, just remember: you’re going to have to define your work sometime, why not do it when you’ve got the mental energy and space to actually think about it, rather than in the heat of the moment when your attention may be compromised by the 3 other things you need to do, the phone ringing in your ear, and the cry of your baby wanting to be picked up?
The basic concept is to slow down a bit when you’re defining your work, so that you can speed up when you’re actually in doing mode – because that’s when it’s really going to count.
So, give it a try. Start your own practice in the art of defining next actions. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be off the couch and into action on your work and in your life before you know it.
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