Another benefit to this reverse hierarchy of Tasks is that you’re working your way toward the things that interest you the most. It’s much easier to maintain focus and motivation throughout the day when you have something to look forward to.

I fully appreciate not wanting to start the day with something that’s not exciting or motivating. All the more reason to just get it out of the way. It’s the pebble in your shoe. Take it out before it makes real trouble. Front-loading your day with the easy stuff is its own form of procrastination. Getting more onerous chores out of the way first makes the rest of the day feel easier. Like when running with weights on, you feel lighter and stronger as soon as they come off.
Another

The key to creating flow is balancing the challenge of a task with your skill level.

The quality of our time is determined by our ability to be present.

Our

Reining in your attention can prove difficult because our minds are incompetent time travelers. They have a tendency to get lost in both the past and the future. How often do we catch ourselves fixating on things we can’t change, or worrying about things we can’t predict? That’s a lot of time and energy siphoned away from the only place where we can actually make a difference: the here and now.

You can choose to focus on all the reasons why you can’t, or you can look for some small way in which you can
. If you’re not happy with your life, then ask yourself, What tiny thing could I do tomorrow
that would make my life a little bit better?

Iteration sounds more complicated than it is. Once you ask yourself a small question, like What small thing can I change to make this better?
, you’ve already started a process known as the Deming Cycle, after W. Edwards Deming, the father of kaizen
.
42
The Deming Cycle provides us with a four-stage framework for continual improvement: “Plan → Do → Check → Act.” Let’s break that down.


Plan:
Recognize an opportunity and plan a change.

Do:
Put the plan into play and test the change.

Check:
Analyze the results of your test and identify what you’ve learned.

Act:
Act on what you’ve learned. If the change didn’t work, go through the cycle again with a different plan. If you were successful, incorporate what you learned to plan new improvements. Rinse and repeat.

Though kaizen
originated as a method to improve the quality and company culture of the Japanese automotive industry, its application is universal. When applied to our daily lives, kaizen
can become a critical change agent. By bringing our attention to the little things, we can effect change while we avoid overwhelm. All we need to do is solve one small problem at a time. Each solution builds on those that came before it, and therefore these small steps add up quickly, effecting massive change over time.

Change is critical to productivity and growth—personal, professional, or otherwise. It can be a powerful way to alter our circumstances, but it can backfire. Large changes trigger our fear response. The more afraid we are, the more we need to calm ourselves. Many a great productive gesture or action has resulted in an equal or greater measure of inactivity. Peaks where we believe anything is possible are followed by shadowed valleys where we think maybe nothing is.
So

Progress provides momentum. Momentum helps you cultivate your patience.