Get Away From It All: Doing the 'Someday' Tasks

Blog post by Jamie McHale on the RookieOven blog about Get Away From It All: Doing the 'Someday' Tasks. Read about Scottish startups and the tech community from founders.

Jamie McHale | Monday August 29th 2011

Thanks to the organisational efficiency of one of the UK’s largest broadband providers I was recently left without Internet access for a period of over a week. I used the chance to take a working holiday. I found it amazing how much can be achieved when you change your day-to-day environment.

Everyone has a bucket list of ‘someday’ tasks that would be useful for their startup, business, or personal development. However, these lower priority tasks never get the attention they deserve.

When you are working on a startup idea – particularly if you are generating some income from client work on the side – you can easily fall into a routine pattern of work. You focus on the same goals. You churn out the same work. You develop bad work habits (BBC News, Facebook, Twitter, repeat).

Yes, you might be working productively, but are you really laying the ground for growth?

Getting away from it all can help you get those ‘someday’ tasks done. It is these tasks, although they seem less important, that can really help you achieve your main goals in the long run.

It may be simple things, such as setting up all the spreadsheets to account for your time and effort properly; tweaking the company blog to develop a community of interested users; or providing some general support materials on your website. The completion of tasks which provide small but important building blocks for your business will provide you with a psychological boost that progress is being made.

So, rather than worrying about taking some time away from the desk why not change your surroundings for a few days and see what you can achieve.

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