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This is Optimal Work Daily,

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Episode 1318. Be focused

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on your outcomes, not your

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tasks, by Karl Pullein of

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karlpullein.com. And I'm Dan, I am

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your personal narrator, and I'm here with you

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every single day, including weekends and holidays, reading

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to you from these great blogs that cover

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all kinds of work-related topics. And

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today, we're going to hear from one of our

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regular authors, Karl Pullein. So, let's get right to

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it now as we optimize your life. Be

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focused on your outcomes, not your

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tasks, by Karl Pullein

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of karlpullein.com. There's

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a common misconception about being productive, that

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productivity is about completing a lot of

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tasks each day, and to become more

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productive, all you have to do is

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complete more tasks. Of course, this

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is not true. Becoming more

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productive is about doing work that

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matters, so your measurable output increases.

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Completing two tasks that move a project

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or goal further forward is going to

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produce far better long-term results than completing

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a hundred tasks that have no impact

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on any of your important projects or

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goals. Stop picking

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the low-hanging fruit. We

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have a natural tendency to go after the

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low-hanging fruit, to check off the

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easy tasks, because doing so makes us feel good.

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We get that dopamine hit, and that puts a

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smile on our face, and has us wanting more.

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So, we populate our to-do lists with

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even more easy, non-important tasks, just

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so we can check them off and get that dopamine hit.

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It becomes a vicious circle. We put

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more and more unimportant tasks on our to-do

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lists, hoping for more dopamine hits. Of

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course, we tell ourselves we are completing important

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tasks. After all, we must have

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a clean desk so we can focus better on

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our work, and we need to make sure we

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have enough staples in our top drawer, just in

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case we run out while stapling important documents. Oh,

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and we should check our email just one more time,

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in case something important has come in. Begin

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the day with a simple plan. We

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All have a good mix of easy routine and hard work.

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The project new to complete each day. Difficulty:

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Start when you're not clear about what work is

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important. Prioritizing your work is a

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big part of becoming more productive. This

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is why beginning a day with a plan

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based on what current projects are important is

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vital. However, the routine work can

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very easily take over the day if you're

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not careful. A sign

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time each day and week for your

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routine admin work. There.

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Are a couple ways you can make sure that less

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important routine work does not take over your day. One.

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Way is to assign One day he tweet

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for admin work. This. Could be

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Friday afternoon, for example. Fridays.

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Are famously difficult to focus on important work

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because we are often thinking about our plans

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for the weekend. If. That is

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the case. You could assign Friday as your admin

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and clean up day. You. Could even make

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sure you have enough staples and your top drawer. This.

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Means you only have easy tasks to do on

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Friday and you don't need a lot of focus

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to get them done. Another. Way

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is to allocate a time slot each

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day to do your admin and routine

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tasks. Giving. Yourself one hour

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a day to just get the routine.

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Easy tasks complete. Will. Help you

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stay focused on the important project work for

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the other seven or eight hours each day.

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I assign one hour a day for all

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my routine admin work. I usually a

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sign the ended the day to do this because they

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don't need a lot of concentration to do it. But.

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You can choose any time of the day or week to do it.

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Focus. On your desired outcome. The.

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Key to better productivity is to focus on

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the outcome you want, not the tasks that

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will get you there. We. Often

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add unnecessary tests when we're planning out

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a project. For example, send email to

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Get Twenty Nine Teen Planning template. Nine.

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Times out of ten, a phone call would get

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the desired result faster. You. Might also

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find that you have tasks such as: talk

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to John about the presentation, order. And

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lower down on your list. Have. A task

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saying. Asked John for the twenty

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nineteen sales forecast. These. two

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tasks could be completed either by one phone call

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or walking down the hall to talk to john

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But because the tasks are not grouped together,

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you miss the second one. That

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means now you have to communicate with you twice

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instead of once. When you set

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up a project, you need to be very clear on what it

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is you're trying to achieve. What's the

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desired outcome for the project? David

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Allen, in Getting Things Done, writes

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about this, and Tony Robbins in his Time

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of Your Life course puts a lot of

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stress on outcome thinking. The

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tasks help. They are signposts along the

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way. More often than

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not, the shortest distance between where you

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are now and successfully completing the project

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is not through completing all your tasks

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in the right order. More

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often than not, the fastest way to completing the

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project is a simple phone call or going out

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to see the client or customer. I

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use Evernote to plan out my projects

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and not Todoist. I can

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add tasks and steps I think will be needed

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to complete the project in a list at the

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bottom of my project note. And

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once I am satisfied I have everything needed to

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get the project completed, I go through

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the list removing tasks I feel are

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not necessary. What I end

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up with is a list of absolutely essential

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tasks. This often reduces the

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number of tasks required to complete the project

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down by half. If you

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are serious about becoming more productive, focus

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less on your tasks and more on what it

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is you are trying to achieve. The

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goal, the completed project and the outcome you

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desire, are what you are looking for. Not

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completing 10 tasks so you feel like you

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have accomplished something. As Jim

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Rohn said, quote, don't

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mistake movement for achievement. It

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is easy to get faked out by being busy. The

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question is, busy doing what?

5:41

You just listened to the post titled,

5:43

Be Focused on Your Outcomes, Not Your Tasks,

5:46

by Carl Pauline of carlpauline.com.

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Terms. And conditions apply. And

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thank you to Curl whose last name by the

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way is spelled P U L L E I

6:53

am and they do have his website linked in

6:56

this episode description for yes. Carl.

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Is a renowned productivity and time management

7:00

coach who's helped thousands of people around

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the world get better at managing their

7:04

time and become more productive using technology

7:06

they carry around with him every day.

7:09

And. You can check out his podcast which is

7:11

called the Working With Podcast. Corals,

7:13

Also written three books on productivity and time

7:15

management and he's also got a couple of

7:18

courses I'd encourage you to check out there

7:20

called Time and Life Mastery and Your Digital

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Life. Curls. Purpose is to help

7:24

people learn how to manage their time so they

7:26

can enjoy their lives and build a life they're

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truly proud of. His. Featured over on

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Optimal Living Daily every once in awhile as well.

7:33

See you can check out that show for more.

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And. Again, be sure to come by Carl

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police.com to show him some support. You.

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Can also find so much more

7:41

about Coral plus his podcast, coaching

7:43

courses, webinars, books and much more.

7:46

All right there on the site

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for you. And again that is

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Carl police.com. And. That is

7:52

can do it for today. I appreciate you subscribing

7:54

are following the show wherever you get your audio.

7:57

And I'll be right back with you tomorrow. Where

7:59

you're optimal? Life. Oh wait.