You many have heard of the concept of “Next Action Lists” which are a part of the Getting Things Done methodology. I don’t really use the methodology, but I do use something that vaguely resembles the Next Action part of it. And I’ve found that a really useful Next Action is just looking up people’s phone numbers and writing them down.
Imagine this item is in your todo list:
–Finish Functional View diagram for Currency Trading system
And for the sake of argument you have that item in a vanilla Outlook Task.
As part of creating that functional view, maybe you need to call three different people and ask them some questions. I’ve found that often just having to look up those people’s phone number is a big enough excuse to make me put off that task. It’s stupid, I know, but it’s just the way it is and I bet there are lots of people out there just like me.
So, I’ve gotten in the habit of making this my Next Action:
–Look up the phone numbers of everyone I have to call and put them in the Outlook Task.
That’s a really small action. It doesn’t have any of the mental baggage involved in preparing yourself to (gasp) actually talk to another human being. You don’t have to think about what you’re going to say or ask, or if that person likes you, or if they’re in town or out on vacation, or where you’re going to write down what they say, or anything. You just have to look up their phone number and put it in the same place where you’ve recorded your task.
That’s it. But here’s the genius: six times out of ten, I’ll look up the phone numbers, write them down, and then immediately pick up the phone and call one of them. There’s something about those numbers staring you in the face that’s just too inviting. Try it out!
January 29, 2009 at 9:14 am
This is a great one; I do anything to put off or avoid making phone calls. Whatever it takes to get my fingers dialing before my primitive reptile brain fear responses catch up is definitely a useful trick.