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💡 The Big Idea: Why Less (Options) Often Lead to More (Progress)

The elimination of possibilities is never comfortable. Our primative brains often interpret scarcity as an existential threat. Whether it pertains to job offers, food choices in our refrigerator, or potential dates for the weekend, we are biologically wired to preserve our options.

In this newsletter, I’m going to explain why less can actually lead to more.

You Can’t Do It All

David Allen taught us in Getting Things Done that we can do anything, but not everything.

The more tasks or projects we try to get done in a day, the more diluted our efforts become. And the less progress we actually make.

But the real cost comes from leaving the door open to other options, and isn't obvious to us at the beginning.

We often start with a simple, realistic-looking list for the day. But then we log on to Slack or get to the office, and things go sideways. We are quick to accommodate when someone makes an additional request. We quickly rehearse a best-case scenario in our heads and convince ourselves that we can squeeze in “one more thing.”

After all, we don’t want to let people down.

The trouble is that those additional requests tend to breed like rabbits. Before long, our margin is gone, and we have overextended ourselves.

But still, we may be able to summon some superhuman level of discipline and willpower to pull it off. Sometimes, if we hustle hard enough, we’re able to squeeze it all in.

That’s actually a bad thing.

Getting it all done at a breakneck pace convinces us we can do it again. So we continue to overload our schedules, trying to eek out every ounce of efficiency we can. Each time, the goalposts move. We consistently shift expectations that become increasingly harder for us to live up to.

I call this the Productivity Hamster Wheel. More efficiency leads to more work, which drives demand for even more efficiency, which leads to even more work, until eventually, we fall on our faces, and the whole thing comes crashing down on top of us.

So how do we overcome “expectation creep?”

By embracing constraints.

Constraints are not actually a bad thing. The elimination of options is an opportunity to be more intentional with our time, energy, and attention.

Here are a few ways you can leverage constraints to do more of what matters.

Embracing Time Constraints

The first type are time constraints. I sort of hit on these already, but this is simply being realistic about how much we can actually get done in the time we have available to us.

The big thing that helps me embrace time constraints is my time-blocking practice I wrote about a few weeks ago. Time-blocking is effective because it forces you to decide when you are going to do the things on your task list, which makes you be more realistic about what you can get done during the day.

But the thing that really makes it stick is discovering what your work rhythms are like

It’s fairly common to overestimate what you’re able to get done with the time you have to work with at the beginning. But after a few iterations, you have the feedback you need to make more realistic plans.

The sweet spot for me is to pick 3 big tasks I want to work on each day. Any more than that and I struggle to get it all done.

I also never use time blocks that are less than 1 hour in length. This forces me to be a bit more realistic about how long things will take and builds in a bit of margin that makes my plans a little more resilient.

In the short-term, this approach often leads to accomplishing less. But the more sustainable pace actually helps me do more in the long-run.

Turns out, embracing time constraints not only makes your work day less frantic. It also makes you more productive.

Embracing Creative Constraints

Another type of constraint are creative constraints. These are self-imposed constraints that limit the scope of what we’re working on. By forcing our brains to focus on one thing at a time, it’s easier to make meaningful progress.

One of the methods I use for this I stole from Shawn Blanc, who wrote about a technique called The Note. At the end of his work day, he would take a notecard and write tomorrow’s writing prompt on it. Then he would put the notecard on his keyboard so when he woke up in the morning he knew exactly what to write.

I do this exact thing every day. When I sit down at my computer to start work for the day, I simply turn the card over, write my three tasks for the day, then prop it up in my Ugmonk Analog holder on my desk.

Another way to embrace creative constraints is to simplify your tools. More powerful tools often come with more compelling distractions. This is exactly why devices like the FreeWrite exist. Oftentimes, the simpler our tools are, the easier it is to focus on the task at hand.

And as my Focused co-host David Sparks likes to say, focus is a superpower.

😎 Something Cool: Supercharged Links Plugin

​Supercharged Links is an Obsidian plugin that lets you apply specific styles to the links in your vault based on your note metadata like tags or properties.

I was recommended this plugin by a LifeHQ beta tester as a way to help people visually track which of the How-Tos and Deep Dives they’ve gone through. Thanks to the Supercharged Links plugin, the note links have a blue banner wand 🔍 while the review property is set to unread, then turns green with a ✅ when the property is updated to read.

This is really powerful when you combine it with the Meta Bind plugin, which allows you to update metadata properties by clicking a button.

📚 Book Notes: Boundaries by Henry Cloud

​Boundaries by Henry Cloud seems like the natural choice for this week’s book in a newsletter about constraints. After all, boundaries are basically constraints designed to help keep the good stuff in and the bad stuff out. If you could use a little help setting up effective boundaries (and honestly, who couldn’t?), this is a worthwhile read.

To download my mind map book notes, click here.

— Mike

P.S. LifeHQ (my epic done-for-you Obsidian vault) launches TOMORROW! I’ve been working extremely hard on this, and can’t wait to share it with the world. But if you already know LifeHQ isn’t for you and don’t want to get any LifeHQ emails this week, just click here.

P.P.S. LifeHQ will be $197 at launch, but as promised, here’s your discount code for being an email subscriber 🙂 Use code OBSIDIANZEN for $50 off either version (with or without the community).

P.P.P.S As an Obsidian 101 customer, you can actually use the cohort code in the course material to save $97 on the LifeHQ + Community option since I'm rolling the cohorts into the community. Use the code PKMSTACK if you want to join the community and the next Practical PKM cohort (scheduled for January 2025). But you'll also be able to jump in the LifeTheme cohort starting November 11th if you want 🙂