A Case for Task Completion

Before you guess that the DEUCE Blog has jumped the shark, there’s something important beyond the title for you here. Yes, we are chronically advocating for beyond-the-surface-level expressions of work, but this is a different message. 

The fact of the matter is that if you simply did more things you could create more value, experience more fulfillment, and accomplish longer term goals.

I’ll never forget the period I had between the end of my brief baseball career and the start of working in the “real world”. I was on fire. Conversely, one of my best friends was terribly depressed. Noticing the contrast, she asked me for one bit of advice and what I told her then is what I’d tell anyone today:

Make a to-do list everyday. 

I didn’t even have a job and I was accomplishing a remarkable amount of work (and I’m benefiting from much of that work still to this day) simply because I made a list. The act of basic task completion was such a rewarding cycle that I was happier and more productive than ever. I read nearly a hundred books in a short span with this technique. 

Today, task completion gets me out of my depressive ruts and feelings of overwhelm. I’ll make a physical list of both important and seemingly nominal tasks on paper. Moments later I’ll be watering the plants in my house while consolidating the trash while printing a document that needs to be signed while listening to a podcast that fuels me and all the sudden I’m taking action on four tasks. It’s invigorating. Physically crossing these items off feels better than you’d think, too.

Of course, the big tasks like “get a raise this year” or “complete a postgraduate program” are the kinds of obvious tasks we really want to finish, but those are too big and too hard in my opinion. My advice? Make your list of daily tasks long and full of not just key daily duties but a host of tiny tasks that you can tack on to your day that seem insignificant. I love to through things on there that would be “nice to have” and the momentous act of task completion swallows them up, as well. Things like “Read twelve pages of book” and “4-Minutes of Hip Mobility” add up. 

Productivity yields productivity. Try it!

11/18/21 WOD

DEUCE ATHLETICS GPP

Complete 4 rounds for quality of:

 8 Barbell Lateral Split Squat (ea)
4 90º Turn Box Jumps (ea)
5 Wall Walks (ea)

Then, complete the following for time:

 1 Bull Run
50 Goblet Squats (45/40)
50 Single DB Ground-to-Overhead (total)
50 DB swings
50 Offset Push Ups (total)
1 7th Street Corner Carry

DEUCE GARAGE GPP

Take 10:00 Minutes to Find a Max Distance Broad Jump…

6-6-6-6
Eccentric RDLs (31X1)

Then, Complete the following for time:

100 Double Unders
80 KB Swings (70/53)
60 Thrusters (45/35)
40 Pull ups
20 Burpees

Then, complete the following in as few sets as possible:
60 Sliding Hamstring Curls