How to Get Things Done

People often* ask me, “How do you Get Things Done?” I usually laugh and quickly change the subject to try to make them forget that they asked the question in the first place, but today I’m finally ready to share my secret.

How do I Get Things Done? By engaging in simple Work Avoidance™.

Have a big project to complete? What a perfect time to organize your underwear drawer! Need to do the laundry because your kids don’t have any clean clothes to wear to school tomorrow? Vacuum the drapes instead! How about mopping the kitchen floor? Now is the time to finally till up that garden plot you’ve been meaning to plant since last spring.

As you can see, as long as you have something more pressing to attend to, you can accomplish any number of tasks just by convincing yourself that these other tasks are more pressing. “I should have taken a toothbrush to this tile grout weeks ago.” “These dishes are filthy; I need to take care of them right away [despite the fact that they’ve been languishing in the sink for days]!” “I can’t believe I waited this long to organize my magazines!”

Don’t have any pressing tasks to accomplish that could overshadow your everyday household chores? The future is always there to help you out: honestly, you could be getting those Halloween costumes together or out shopping/thinking about what you could get/feverishly making something for a Christmas gift for [insert treasured friend or relative here] or wondering what romantic Valentine’s Day celebration you are going to come up with for your significant other.

How can you Get Things Done? Just follow the Work Avoidance™ plan. Any task, real or imagined, monumentous or trifling, tedious or enjoyable can be accomplished by merely having something else more important to do. Tell yourself, “It’s okay to put off [that more important thing], because I’m doing [this thing], and [this thing] is also important, and I’ve been meaning to do it, anyway. I’ll do [that more important thing] when I’m finished with [this thing], and maybe [that other thing], too. I’m working on [tasks], and that’s what’s really important.”

With Work Avoidance™, you’ll accomplish all those things that you’ve been meaning to. Well, not all of them. Just most of them. The ones you’d rather do before the others. The point is, most of the Things will Get Done.

Good luck.

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