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Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

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Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#71

Post by Brajeshwar »

I agree and practice Points No. 2, 3, and 4, but the main title of the post and Point No. 1 isn’t, at least in my opinion, a good one.

If I leave something “unfinished” intentionally when I could have finished it, I would likely not sleep right, eat with ease, talk to other people, so on and so forth.

However, I agree that if time is a constraint and the task is “lengthy,” I suggest keeping it to a stage of completion at a stage and then picking up the next day/time.

Many smart people want to keep something ready for tomorrow because they tend to be lost when there are no instructions on what is next. My suggestion would be to have a “Default,” which can be a simple set of instructions in plain text, something along the lines of, “If I’m stuck and have no clue what I have to do — then here are the defaults - do this, then this or that.” These can be bigger-picture goals or the “waypoints” for your daily/weekly tasks that you have to do.

I have been practicing the idea of the “Defaults” for a pretty long time but I got a lot more clarity and definitions from “The Power of Defaults.”[1][2] These are the things I keep on the top of my mind and return to when I’m stuck, confused, or doubtful.

If I have to be really prepared for the next day, I just keep it ready the night before.

1. https://julian.digital/2021/12/20/the-power-of-defaults/

2. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#72

Post by teh_klev »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #52
betenoire wrote: post #44

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leav…

I think it’s different if someone is waiting on the immediate output of your work. But in your example, if the HR person needs to process 1000 documents this month and mine is one of them, I’d much prefer they use this process to help them actually get through all that, rather than struggle to start every day and get less done over the course of the month.

> I think it’s different if someone is waiting on the immediate output of your work.

I partially agree, something needs to be on fire or a complete showstopper for that to happen. My only other reason would be helping out a colleague who's trapped in a gravity well of fail and needs a bit of help and support.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#73

Post by teh_klev »

Atrine wrote: post #30

> I said no to low-impact tasks. This oversimplification is terrible advice. I've seen many people refuse "low impact" work that's just flat out required for things to operate. Talking about keeping systems stable, working on tickets while they are on-call, and generally doing things that make work easily transferrable to others. These people that "refuse low impact work" end up being terrible teammates a lot of the…

> working on tickets while they are on-call

That's why they call it "on-call", you only work if you get the call. If you're on-call and being expected to work on unrelated tickets then you're now adding many hours/days to your working week, and somewhere near and just over the horizon is burnout town.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#74

Post by gausswho »

betenoire wrote: post #44

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leav…

Your eloquent aghastery makes me smile and want to elucidate.

But I can't. I am still waking, slowly. And I am Ok with that. Because I believe I will when awoken move smoothly.

Leaving a bit at the end lights my lantern to tomorrow.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#75

Post by mupuff1234 »

betenoire wrote: post #44

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leav…

I think the point is that it's much harder to start something new then it is to just complete something that you already know exactly what to do.

Kinda like how it's harder to start writing from a blank page.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#76

Post by betenoire »

mupuff1234 wrote: post #75
betenoire wrote: post #44

I don't like this tip at all. I get the sentiment, getting started is the HARDEST part of the day for me. But if I can finish something now, why wait until tomorrow? It's a golden rule sort of thing. I'm imagining the HR person saying, "It will only take a few minutes to fix this for you, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow". Examples are endless. There are better ways to get myself going in the morning, than to leav…

I think the point is that it's much harder to start something new then it is to just complete something that you already know exactly what to do. Kinda like how it's harder to start writing from a blank page.

Right, and I get that. My point was there are better ways to achieve that than simply not finishing your work

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#77

Post by thfuran »

el_benhameen wrote: post #63
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how do you really know if the problem is fully understood? I often think I’ve understood a problem multiple times, and only reach a true understanding through repeated testing and fixes.

Sure sure, but a complete but incorrect understanding of the system is, to me, still better than an incomplete one. If I have a complete system in my head, I can use that to jumpstart my thinking the next day and then get to a correct understanding. But an incomplete understanding is even more confusing the next day because of all the loose ends.

A complete but incorrect understanding is just an incomplete understanding with some extra confusion.

Re: Leave work slightly unfinished for easier flow the next day

#80

Post by galaxyLogic »

I think the point is you take the problem home with you and let your subconscious work on it evening and night and then next day you are in a better position to do the right thing about it.

However note that nobody pays for you to work on it, or have your sub-conscious work on it on your own time. But if you really want to do a good job then that's the way to do it.

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