Feeling Dread? break down your work

I felt his overwhelm through the Zoom. He was working on a problem for his team, and with a frustrated sigh told me, “research is hard.” Since I LOVE research, (I regularly consult mountains of books to give precise answers to tough questions), that statement smelled a little fishy to me, and I couldn’t help but dig into what they meant.

Turns out, that person actually LOVED research too (aren’t rabbit holes so addicting?!), but the added steps of analysis and synthesis made “research” miserable. The solution to the overwhelm? We broke down the work into took two tasks: for the first task, we set aside a 3 hour time box so he could comb through data and enjoy uninhibited study time; for the second task we set aside two hours for synthesizing the research.

You should have seen the look on his face! His eyes filled with light, and he smiled with joy once again.

If you ever reach an impasse, and feel dread moving on - grab a friend and ask them to help you break down your work. I’m serious about grabbing a friend - even though I’ve helped thousands of people break down work, I, myself, regularly get help from a few of my superstar friends (or even a coach), because I can’t see past the assumptions I’ve made about the work.

With help from your friend (or a coach), you can get your work into manageable steps you can handle. Steps that, when you tackle them one by one, you’ll soon see yourself emerge victorious!

Have fun :)