This is part three in a series regarding F.C.E.C., my four letter acronym that outlines my productivity methodology. In the first part, I talked about the f-word, Focus. In the second part, I discussed Commit(ment ) as the next step you have to take immediately after focusing on a problem, task, or goal. If you haven’t had a chance to read those posts, it’s probably worth your while so that this post makes some sense.
For those of you old enough to remember Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, here’s the condensed version of today’s blog post:
You can stop reading now, that’s really all this post is about.
Actually, it would be unfair to stop there, since you would never know what the “E” stands for. While “Just Do It” distills the concept down to it’s bare minimum, something is lost in the condensation (just like those Reader’s Digest books). In some ways, it’s just too simple. But from another angle, that’s exactly what the “E” in F.C.E.C. is all about.
E stands for Execute
You know, getting out there and actually doing what you’ve focused on and committed to doing. While focusing and committing are half or more of the battle, you still actually have to do something to accomplish your goal. Sitting back and focusing/thinking about something gets you started. Committing to actually doing something gets you closer. But until you begin executing, you really haven’t done anything.
So it’s important to take this third step and actually execute. Do whatever it is that needs to be done. Keep your focus and commitment while you’re doing the job and it will go much more smoothly and get done with fewer detours and delays.
Execution is the part that separates dreams from accomplishments.
For instance, my garage is a disaster. I know this. My wife knows this. My kids know this. Our cats know this. If we lived in a less rural setting, the neighbors would also know it. We’re back to the point where we can park all three cars inside, but there isn’t much room to move around when the cars are in there, and what we do have in there is disorganized, dirty, and constantly getting lost.
I’m clearly focused on the problem. I know what needs to be done. I’m committed to doing it, but I haven’t actually set a date and time to start. And frankly, I just need to get started. Sometimes execution lags because the task at hand is just too big. Honestly, with the state of our garage it’s going to take many, many hours to get things into a better state. That’s what causes me to balk everytime I want to start.
But there’s a trick out of this stalemate. The first thing to do in the execution is break big jobs like these into smaller tasks that can be executed in a manageable amount of time. That means that “Clean the Garage”, which induces terror in my soul and reduces me to a quivering mess gets broken down into sub-jobs. The first one is “sweep the living daylights out of the garage to get rid of the first two layers of gunk hanging around in there”. Sure, we’ve been hovering near 100 degrees, even this late in the year, but that’s a task that I can start and finish in a reasonable amount of time. More importantly, it will be a visual cue that something can actually get done and make the garage look better.
Then I’m going to clear the shelves on one side of the garage and begin collecting up some of the items scattered on the floor. While I don’t want to take you on a complete listing of all the project steps, you get the general idea.
As you can tell, focus and commitment remain vital in the execution phase. If you start working (executing) and lose focus, you’ll end up doing ten other things and never get the first one done. You have to maintain your focus and keep committed to the task at hand.
So start racking your brain for a task that you’ve been putting off. Focus on it. Get the darned thing clear in your head as to what you want to do. Then commit to doing it. Really make a commitment to getting it done. Break it down if you have to, but regardless of whether that’s required or not, get started. Execute.
Honestly, it really is that simple!
