August drones on… and the heat continues to overwhelm energy, enthusiasm. This is WHY I keep talking about motivation, and where you can find it. Today, we’re talking about the productivity method called CHUNKING IT DOWN.

On the flip side, August is uniquely generous, in a way. You have passed at least some of the summer in less structure than usual. And your routine is typically more pleasure/leisure-oriented. When my kids were small, and I was a freelance brainstormer and marketing strategist – I worked a lot of hours, but I never worked in August. I felt like my kids were untethered by August. Odd ideas, worries and questions arose in August. I felt it was important to be with them.

We adults are also likely to have a more free-ranging brain by the middle of August – where we find ourselves, now. We’ve delinked from our routine and our normal expectations. And we’re pursuing the end-of-summer delights – one last day at the beach, daily dips in the pool, barbeques with neighbors, iced tea under a willow tree. We might feel closer to our real selves.

So, let’s assume August is dealing the one-two punch in your life:

  1. You’ve been visited by a big idea, and/or an inspiring clarity
  2. The idea would naturally create an enormous amount of work, just when you feel lethargic and lazy.

How does that feel in the heat of the summer? Overwhelming?

Chunk it Down

What is chunking? Even the greatest of visions can be chunked down into small and achievable steps. Very big ideas begin with a small step. I’ve broken chunking itself, into chunks, below, and provide a celebratory chart for your own chunking fun.

Chunking = Capture + Tasks + Grouping + Action + Tracking and Celebrating.

1. Capture & Indulge the Idea

Take a moment to enjoy the beauty of your idea, this newly found clarity. Indulge yourself in this vision. Treat this idea with the joy and respect it deserves. Do something to daydream your way to the new reality.

  • Make yourself a logo
  • Write the words and color them in
  • Write a page or two about how you’ll feel and how your life will be different once you achieve this new  vision
  • Buy a small token or gift for yourself that will be on hand, and remind you what you want as of right now.
    • A special pen
    • A key for a mythical Jaguar you’ll be able to afford
    • A golden sculpture – your own Oscar, Emmy, Pulitzer, Newberry Award, Grammy, or Tony.

celebrate your ideas

It won’t take long for your brain to PUSH BACK. I can’t do that. I don’t have time. Who do you think you are? Before that pushback derails this precious idea, let’s indulge in even more time and ideation. Let’s chunk it down.

2. Brainstorm the Tasks It’ll Take

To begin the chunking process, you must get ALL THE THOUGHTS out of your head and onto paper (or into your computer or mobile device – wherever you like to record your thoughts). Your brain is not designed as a storage space. Storing all these tasks as they occur to you, creates stress.

Once they are out of your head, you can relax, and begin to feel empowered and play with the steps and tasks with your creative brain. You’re using your brain to manipulate, plan, ideate.

It’ll be more powerful, and more fun.

Our brains naturally think left to right and now to future. If you begin to meet resistance (like I’ll never be able to do this) try Backwards Planning.

 

3. Group the Tasks into Phases

What would be a small step? What might be doable within the first few days, weeks, months?

What are the commonalities of the tasks?

Research or development You may have tasks that are foundational. Who can you talk to? What do you need to know or understand to pull the trigger. Pre-tasks…

Topic/Activity Groups Are some of them about financing the idea? Or about generating content? Are others about marketing or finding sponsors, publishers, or producers? If you can group them by topic, it will streamline your approach to the tasks, and make it more efficient – and therefore more likely – to make them come to pass.

Groups based on Timing  We often think and group tasks chronologically, quite naturally. What is doable now? What can wait? What is way down the road?

Now, even 100 tasks that were overwhelming can been chunked into four or five easy-to-manage groups.

human brains can only handle info a few chunks at a time

4. Take action

“Rewards come in action, not in discussion.”  ~ Tony Robbins

Once you’ve let yourself imagine the beauty of your idea, take a small and specific action. Done? Yay. Keep going.

Keep your goal present as your day progresses, and keep the Task Phase you’re working on, top of mind. When you’re making progress on a seemingly impossible dream,  you’ll feel more productive and less stressed. When you feel less stressed, you find more reasons to act instead of making excuses.

5. Track Progress and Celebrate

You can begin with a full chart of everything it will take, but allow yourself to have the focus of a single week or month in your task list. When things are marked for the week, take the action, mark it as done, or progressed, and give yourself a small and sensory reward.

Task Group Tasks Doable this Week Status Reward
1.
2.
3.
4.

So what is chunking? It’s a method to cut back on details you hold in your brain, and make your  goal more possible. You can stop being reactive and start being proactive by deciding in advance what you’re going to focus on and how you are intending to achieve it, step-by-step.

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