What shall I do next?

​You know what it's like: you have a list of small, but not essential, things to do, and you've been avoiding them.

At other times, your creativity has taken a dive, and the best way to get it going again is to make a list of tasks to complete and do those tasks in quick sprints, so you approach each one fresh, but only for a short period of time.  A bit like circuit training for tasks.

I was recently introduced to a really fun app that's great for when you're procrastinating about small tasks or need to shake up your routine.

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It's called Tiny Decisions as is available on both Apple and Android (there are other apps out there). Tiny Decisions is free (with the ads or you can pay a little to take the ads out).

What you do is make a list of things that you need to do with one item on each line in your online notepad and then you can simply copy it to your clipboard and import it straight into the app.
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This then builds a wheel for you to spin and choose what to do next. You can even tell the app to only choose an item once so you don't get the same thing come up time and again.

So, you've got your list and created your wheel, what do you do next?

Split tasks to up creativity
Set aside time to do this creativity uplift

1. Turn your phone ringer off
2. Shut down your email
3. Get notebook, pens, pencils ... anything that you may need to do the tasks you have put onto your wheel
4. Open up the timer on your phone and set it to 15 minutes. Try to avoid using a physical timer such as a cooking one as you are more likely to keep looking at it counting down. You are only using the timer to stop start your tasks.
5. Spin the wheel, start the time and begin your first task.
6. Stop when the timer ends.
7. Repeat steps 5 - 7.
   

Rules for completing the tasks to up your creativity

• Try to use pen and paper rather than a computer or phone unless the task specifically calls for technology as you will spend more time accessing the system than doing the task
• Brainstorm ideas onto the paper.  
• Usual rules apply - everthing gets written or drawn down regardless of how strange they may be.  Try to use different coloured pens / pencils for each idea as these will make it easier to understand when you come back to them later

How does this help creativity?
When we swap activities and do them in short sprints it helps to stimulate our brains.  If we give ourselves long periods of time to complete an activity, the activity will stretch to fill the time and we will not necessarily be more productive.

Short sprints helps us focus on the task and ignore the the thoughts in our head saying that we have other things to do or that we can't do the task.

Yep, the first time you do this it will seem strange and you will only get a few things down but if you do this once or twice a week, you will start to find that these sessions are really productive and you will begin to create libraries of ideas from these.

Can it be used for anything else?

Yes, if you find that your motivation has just gone, for whatever reason, then you can do this for simple tasks around the house

As a bit of fun to get my mojo back, I set up one with things that I needed to do around the house but also with things that I like to do such as crocheting. 

I spin the wheel and spend an hour doing it then spin it again. 

​This way, the tasks that I don't want to do get muddled up with the things I want to do and stops me putting off things like sorting out my boxes after a show because I know a good thing might happen next.

#decisionmaking #dontputitoff #decisions