A useful mental distinction for batch processing tasks.
There are things you know how to do, and things you can probably do. These are not the same as eachother, or the same as difficulty. One requires doing a thing, and one requires verifying the thing can be done and adapting to changes. It interrupts flow and forces decision making.
Admin work is deceptive because it's functionally simple work, but requires an endless chain of decisions. Most email is quick, but any email could be something you don't know how to handle right now, and you don't know which till you read it.
So deal with it all at once, then do the decisionless work later. The point isn't to speed up the decisions, which has limited gains because decisions are unique, but to remove the potential for interruption.
I keep a shortlist of things I know are doable to grind away at. Primarily maintenance tasks and a few simpler tasks which are difficult but predictable. Taking out the trash and doing dishes are great. You know where it is, where it goes, and exactly what it entails.
I also enjoy programming and am comfortable with a subset of basic scripting tasks, so I keep have a running list of things to write or tweak. I can do an almost infinite amount of that mundane work, so long as it requires no judgment.
Don't ruin a burst of productive energy with hard decisions.
- Rew
Nightly Notes
It's nice, having things to do.
I mean that in more ways than I think I do.
- Rew