We all know it can be intimidating and daunting when faced with a huge project, right? The thought of the many big tasks before use can be paralysing. Our confidence is knocked, and we stop making progress because the tasks before us seem so monumental as to be impossible. Soon enough, we start to procrastinate.
See ‘Why Do We Procrastinate?’ for more.
There is a way to stop procrastinating and start tackling those big projects though – by breaking larger tasks into smaller ones. In the rest of this piece, we’ll cover how to use the Rewind and Reduce Method to do just that, so you start to concentrate on what you can do in the present to chip away at larger tasks and work more efficiently.
That way, both performance, and productivity will improve.
Before we can delve into the rewind and reduce method, though, we ought to clarify what we mean by a task in this context.
Defining a Task
What a task is might seem obvious to most of us. However, if we seek to break down big tasks into more manageable ones, we need a plan. We can’t come up with a solid plan without clearly defining a task.
If we intend to split a large project up into several smaller tasks, we must first decide how long each of those smaller tasks should take us.
When we set ourselves tasks, they shouldn’t be too broad, like ‘write an email’ or be something that can be broken down further like ‘create a presentation.’ Instead, the tasks we set ourselves should be specific things we are able to complete within a time frame we think is reasonable.
Only with this definition of a task will we be able to break projects down using the Rewind and Reduce Method.
Now, let’s find out more about it.
The Rewind and Reduce Method
There are many ways to go about breaking down tasks. But the Rewind and Reduce Method is great for those of us who want to increase our productivity and achieve all we aspire to. It will help us set reasonable deadlines while systematically breaking down large tasks so we can consistently finish them to a high standard.
Once you’ve tried this method, you won’t look back.
Using this method can:
- Speed up and streamline workflows, so we can complete work much faster.
- Reduce stress levels.
- Enable us to complete more work without having to struggle and become more productive.
Now we know the benefits of the Rewind and Reduce Method, let’s go through the steps.
Step 1
The first step in this process is to rewind. Start from the final goal and work backward. By doing this, we’ll be able to spot the main milestones we will need to reach along the way to finish the project successfully.
The goal of a project varies, but it is always there. It could be something like reducing business expenses, increasing customer satisfaction, or generating more leads for a business. Being clear about our goal will help ensure teams all sing from the same hymn sheet and work effectively towards a shared goal. Research has shown setting clear goals helps boost productivity. See our post on goal setting for more.
Working backward from the end goal in this way will save time and energy and provide you with clear direction as you work toward your goal.
To see this step in action, let’s imagine we’ve been given the task of creating a presentation to outline our company strategy.
By working backward from our goal, we can:
- Find out who our audience is.
- Brainstorm ideas. Find out how to have more productive brainstorming sessions from this post.
- Carry out in-depth research to find vital information from credible sources.
- Plan the presentation.
- Create clear presentation slides.
- Do timed run-throughs of the presentation to ensure it suits our audience and meets all criteria and expectations.
Step 2
Now we’ve pinpointed the main milestones to focus on, we can move on to the next step of the method. This is when we break down each milestone into manageable tasks that we can usually finish within an hour. We are reducing the size of the tasks.
We must then make an informed guess about how much time we’ll need to spend on each task. The closer we can get to a list of tasks that each takes under an hour to finish, the better. It’s also easier to accurately gauge the time a task will take if it’s bitesize.
Then, it’s on to the final step.
Step 3
In the third step, we must add all our estimates for each milestone, so we come up with a timeline that’s reasonably accurate and will help us meet those pesky deadlines.
Let’s go back to the example we used in the first step to show what this might look like.
- Come up with an angle and plan the presentation – 1 hour.
- Carry out in-depth research to find vital information from credible sources – 1-2 hours.
- Create clear slides for the presentation – 1 hour.
- Do a couple of timed run-throughs of it to ensure it meets expectations – 30 minutes.
Total time to complete the project (approx.) – 4.5 hours.
In effect, we’ve summarised the task before us.
This example wasn’t a particularly big task, but hopefully, it still serves to illustrate the point.
And there it is, a simple plan created using the Rewind and Reduce Method that’s sure to keep us moving towards our goal, so we can work efficiently and become more productive.
Simple, right?
Wrapping Up
Big projects can a long time to finish, perhaps weeks, or even months. There’s nothing more frustrating than investing time and energy into something, only to realise then you’re two-thirds of the way there, that you’ve wandered off track. That’s where the Rewind and Reduce Method comes in to help us work more efficiently and improve our productivity.
The deal of breaking things down into manageable tasks works for everyone who doesn’t want to feel daunted or overwhelmed.
If you tend to procrastinate, learning how to break down larger tasks with the Rewind and Reduce Method might just keep you on track.
Why not give it a go?
Good luck!
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