mise en place

Context

I have an issue with premature optimisation. Not with my software projects, but in my life. I often, when trying to implement some kind of routine change or enhancement to my workflow, overdo it and try to hit the nail on the head the first time. This leads to the classic analysis by paralysis, where I'm stuck perfecting a system for a given task and end up never actually putting into practice, or worse, I invest so much time into perfecting it and it ends up not working for me.

Perfect is the enemy of good enough.

The New Routine

Today, I put the following simple rules into practice, and will be following these to the tee to the best of my ability:

1. Write down every single task you want to accomplish on one easily referenced notepad. Tasks MUST be small in scope and be able to be completed within a day.
2. Before starting a task, plan how to accomplish that task in step-by-step, excruciating detail.
3. Construct a "mise-en-place" for each task, both in terms of physical and mental preparation needed.

Why?

This workflow forces the following to happen:

• When I take the time to plan out exactly what I need to do to accomplish a certain task, I visualise potential pitfalls and am able to think through everything except the nitty gritty of the tasks, leading to an easy step into "deep work" mode when I am executing without having to stop and think through the problem mid-task.
• The mise step lets me mentally and physically reduce the barrier to entry of starting the task. The philosophy of reducing the ratio of perceived effort to reward (task completion) has already helped me form my workflows in the past.

Conclusion

Okay that's it see you in a month and I'll update if this works