Keep Things Simple As You Focus On Your Mission

“…let us lay aside every weight,… and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” Hebrews 12:1 NKJV

Every day, life shows us how complicated it can get. Sometimes we easily simplify what it throws at us by solving whatever the problem was. Other times, we increase our capacity to manage the complications.

The same holds true for how we work. With how busy work gets, I like to simplify what I can in order to make room for the complex projects at hand. I determine what my brain should think about because it just takes pleasure in looking for what’s not missing and tries to figure out what I have no business with.

Over time I realised that something was always putting several objects in focus, basically causing me to lose focus on the main thing. Just like a camera would shift focus across multiple objects in view, my brain was doing the same.

To fix this, I started implementing two tactics that may just help you too.

1. Declutter

This can come in several ways, from organising your work environment to letting go of responsibilities, and so on. The basic principle is to reduce the number of things that could distract you. For me, the hack I’ve implemented for about a decade now was to clear out my desktop on my PC and have folders for everything!

I realised that every time I powered on my PC and saw the crowded desktop with several files and folders, I would suddenly get overwhelmed.

According to a 2009 US study, clutter makes us feel stressed, anxious and depressed.

So instead of engaging my brain wrongly by allowing it to look for the file I need to work on, I give it one less thing to worry about. My filing system has a tree structure where folders have subfolders which also have subfolders. I can easily put on my PC, see an empty desktop and just open one folder (that’s always backed up) that gives me access to my entire workspace. Cool!

2. Delegate

I have a friend who always accused me of my inability to delegate. I felt bad and thought it was a skill everyone naturally had until I realised that poor delegation comes with the package of being a perfectionist.

Many workaholics would rather do the work themselves than give it to someone who would mess it up. He wasn’t a workaholic, so I forgave him for not understanding my personality :).

I however held on to what he said and started working on that weakness.

While this isn’t a skill I have mastered, I’ve been able to manage it using documentation. I have a thing for writing detailed briefs, checklists and processes. So instead of giving you an entire brief over the phone, I’d send it to you first then have a phone conversation.

Writing these documents was like a brain dump for me and I’d use collaboration apps like Google docs. This way, if I left out anything, I could easily update the document and everyone involved with that brief or process would see it in real-time.

While this doesn’t apply to all work environments, it has been a lifesaver so far. Dumping everything from my perfectionist mind onto paper gives me one less thing to store in my brain.

Putting systems in place helps you fulfil whatever mission you’re running with. It doesn’t matter how divinely inspired your work is, if you always focus on the wrong things, you’ll never be able to mark that assignment as DONE.

So, keep it simple.