Dunn's Digest: Cows, Eggs and how to make real progress
Life on the Farm:
See more on my youtube channel: www.youtube.com/@TheBeefFedFarmer
Quote of the Week:
Remove “problem” from your vocabulary and replace it with “puzzle” ~ George Mack
What I’m Thinking About:
I find that the first step to making progress is defining what progress would look like.
It is all too easy to dive into a project or task with a flurry of action and ‘doing’. Because doing feels good. It scratches the itch we have to be busy for the sake of being busy.
But the danger is that any progress feels better than no progress; so we give ourselves a pat on the back, followed by a (seemingly) well deserved reward or rest.
What’s not accounted for is efficiency.
Clever, economics-y people would measure efficiency by the ratio of ‘useful output to total input’.
Useful output to total input. What real, valuable progress was made and how much time, energy and resources did it take to make it?
In other words, was it worth it? Or was I just ‘doing’ for the sake of doing? Was I briefly quelling my existential anxiety and feelings of insufficiency?
We must define what we want progress (aka ‘outputs’) to look like. By taking the time to define the goal initially, we not only become more efficient but also gain clarity over our true goals, sidestepping the allure of mere busyness and potentially even subconscious self-sabotage.
Question:
Where have you been working away mindlessly without defining your goal?
In good health,
Harvey