The Surprising Strategy to Accomplish what Matters: Doing Less

Overwhelmed by your to-do list? If you are constantly saying ‘yes’ while dreaming of a future with a manageable workload, room for creativity, and time for self-care, this session is for you. Come learn strategies to employ minimalism at work, which brings clarity and focus to only the most essential items. Leave with an online toolkit including templates for saying no and communicating priorities, and practical methods for limiting scope creek, so you can accomplish what truly matters.

View the TOOLKIT: Doing Less to Accomplish what matters on Google Drive at bit.ly/Toolkit_DoingLess

1. The Surprising Strategy to
Accomplish what Matters:
Doing Less
Jacqueline L. Frank
Instruction & Accessibility Librarian

2. This cruise was awesome!

3. This cruise was awesome!
•Now what?
•How do we balance work & fun, like this conference?
•How can we push back on the culture of business?
•How do we maximize impact?
•I’m not an expert, but I’ll share what I’ve learned about how doing
less can help us have a bigger impact

4. Gut check:
•What is most important to you?
•What immediately comes to
mind?

5. Oh, that dreamy
future…
•I would have more time for
_______?

6. In reality
•What gets in the way?

7. Outline
1.The BIG Picture
Doing less maximizes your impact
2.Individual Exercise
How are you spending your time?
3.Practical Tips & Strategies
Toolkit: Doing Less to Accomplish What Matters

8. The BIG Picture
Doing less maximizes your impact

9. Who’s heard of:
•Minimalism?
•Essentialism?
•Slow librarianship?

10. Minimalism
“The intentional promotion of the things we most
value and the removal of everything that distracts us
from it.”
~ Joshua Becker

11. Essentialism
“By [determining] what is essential, the pursuit of
less allows us to regain control of our own choices so
we can make the highest possible contribution
towards the things that really matter.”
~ Greg McKeown
Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

12. It’s not time management
We’re not talking about doing it all, in less time

13. Essentialism, cont.
“Essentialism isn’t about getting more done in less
time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about
getting only the right things done.”
~ Greg McKeown
Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

14. Essentialism illustration
Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, p. 6

15. Pareto Principle
•20% of our efforts yield 80% of the results

16. Most things are not essential
•We need space to think, and see the big picture, to
determine what is truly important
•Paradox: we need to do less, to create space, to in turn
do the things that really make a difference

17. The importance of
•Play = creativity
•Antidote to stress
•Broadens perspective
•“stimulates the parts of the brain involved in
both careful, logical reasoning and carefree,
unbound exploration”
(McKeown, p. 87)
•Sleep
•“Sleep is what allows us to operate at our
highest level of contribution so that we can
achieve more, in less time”
(McKeown, p.99)
•Our highest priority is to protect our ability to
prioritize”
(McKeown, p. 101)
Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

18. The importance of, cont.
•Time to think
•Deep thought/deep work
•“We need space to escape in order to discern
the essential few from the trivial many”
(McKeown, p. 64)
•Highly selective criteria
•If it isn’t a clear yes, it’s a clear no
(McKeown, p. 109)
•Helps discerns the vital from the importance-
of-almost-everything
•Work with your manager or team to develop
criteria
Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

19. The power of subtraction
•When faced with a challenge, try to
find a solution by removing
something, rather than adding
something
•e.g. communication challenges
•Instead of creating a new tool to
communicate, what if you eliminated
one?
Podcast: Hidden Brain, Episode: Do Less, 6/6/2022

20. Slow librarianship
“Slow librarianship is really about being driven by
reflection, solidarity, and our professional values,
rather than achievement culture, individualism, and
white supremacy”
~Meredith Farkas

21. Individual Exercise
How are you spending your time?

22. Determining priorities:
Brain-dump exercise
•(3 mins) Write down all your to-dos
•(2 min) Underline 1/2 items that are more important
•(1 min) Box in your top 10
•(1 min) Star your top 3

23. Congratulations!
•You now have your top 3 priorities (for this season of
life)
•Protect the majority of your time to work on these
•If everything else can’t get done in the remaining
time = you are doing too much
•Use the Toolkit for things that don’t fit.

24. What can you eliminate?
•What about the half of the list that did not get underlined?
•What would happen if you stopped doing these? Would
you get in trouble? Can you let go of any of those?
•Are some of them on the list to ‘get to eventually’ but they
are not happening anyway?
•Can you delegate anything?
•Can you ask your boss for help eliminating them?
•Cross off as many as possible, and if delegating, add a
note about who to delegate it to
•Use the Toolkit for help delegating & saying no

25. Alternate exercise: How are you
spending your time?
1.What is one essential thing you are currently
under-investing in?
2.What is one non-essential thing you are
currently over-investing in?
3.How can you shift some time from
non-essential things to the essential?
Podcast: Greg McKeown Podcast, Episode #293

26. Practical Tips & Strategies
Toolkit: Doing Less to Accomplish What Matters

27. The Toolkit includes:
1.Individual exercises and questions to ask yourself
to help determine what is essential
2.Tips & strategies for aligning your time with your
priorities
3.Scripts for saying no to what isn’t essential

28. The power of delay (non-addition)
•Not adding something is easier than giving something up
•Simply delaying a ‘yes’ gives time to determine if it’s worth
your time
•If yes, you can still delay a project until you have time to
effectively work on it
•When it comes time to work on it, re-evaluate if it’s the
most important
•Current projects: can you extend the timeline?
•Shift your mindset: if you have too much on your list, some
things are already being delayed – can you stop worrying?

29. Batch it
•For items you can’t eliminate entirely, but aren’t a top
priority
•Group items that have an end-date, and won’t return again
•Consider making it a priority to knock these off your list (without
adding to it) to make more space
•Group smaller items into a time-block to accomplish them
more efficiently
•E.g. administrative duties like timesheets, requests for time off,
etc. – can you complete these once a week, rather than
responding to each request as it comes in?
Kendra Adachi’s The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done

30. Ahem, email
•Check, but don’t respond (at the same time)
•Only respond once a day, with a time constraint
•Do you have to reply to that group email?
•Filter most important emails

31. Progress, not perfection
•Start early and small
•E.g. if you have a big project, presentation, etc. take 4 minutes
writing down ideas right now
•“What is the minimal amount I could do right now, to prepare?”
(McKeown, p. 200)
•“Done is better than perfect” (for the little things)
(McKeown, p. 199)
Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

32. Go big on what really matters
•Little things: done with minimal effort, so you can focus on
the big things that really matter
•Big things that really matter: take the time to do them right
•Slowing down to contemplate the big picture naturally leads to this

33. Determine your Top 3
•Prioritize, and re-prioritize often:
•Identify top 3 priorities weekly, monthly, each semester, etc. based
on the timeline of your work
•For work and life
•Protect your clarity, and time to find it

34. Zoom out
•Think big picture to clarify the main goal:
•e.g. Improving User Experience > furniture assessment,
implementing hybrid workshops
•e.g. Health > exercise, eating, sleep, etc.
•e.g. Joy > friendships, music, reading, etc.

35. Break it down
•After zooming out, determine the single, most important &
tiny next step
•e.g. within health, if exercise is the most important next step, start
exercising for 1 min each morning
•e.g. if publishing an article is a top priority; break it down into tiny,
easy steps, such as 1) identify possible publications/journals to
publish in, 2) select top publication, 3) read author guidelines, 4)
write abstract, etc.

36. Eat the frog
• Mark Twain famously said, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s
best to do it first thing in the morning.”
•Tackle big or complex tasks first before working on your less
important items.
•Ensure you’re getting to your most important work every day
•Gives sense of accomplishment
•Reduced stress & anxiety, and frees up mental space to
keep tackling smaller items on your to do list
•Go with the flow the rest of the day in a more relaxed mode

37. Protect (and schedule) your time
•Schedule your top priorities first: block off your calendar
•Add an extra 50% of time on top of what you think it will/should
take.
•Mark as ‘private’ to prevent meeting requests
•Schedule time blocks far in advance, & decide what
priorities to focus on when the time comes
•Also schedule time to follow up on the little things, so you
know you have a set time for that, and don’t get distracted
•Micro scheduling: scheduling time for each task, each day
•Completely fill up an ideal schedule 8-5 so it visually shows you
how much you can actually and realistically get done

38. Or, don’t schedule time…
•The problem with a too-full calendar is never enough time
•Emphasizes the lack
•Keep all free time on the calendar schedule free
•Emphasizes the white space
•Allows room to decide: what’s the most important thing I can do
with my time, right now?

39. One thing a day (or week)
•Note 1 thing on the calendar each day/week that is the
most important thing to get done
•Do it first, whenever possible - even before email
•Then go with the flow the rest of the day
•Busy day with lots of meetings: main thing = show up
•One day of every week: main thing = email/follow up/little
things

40. Weekly planning meeting (30 mins)
1.What you need to do (brain dump),
2.When you will do it (schedule time)
•Micro scheduling OR one thing a day
3.How to handle what doesn’t fit (delegate, say no, etc.)
Suggestion: do this on Fridays, to have a plan for the next
week ready to go

41. Hope-to vs. Have-to
•Reminder: “Living is so much more than accomplishment…
[and] accomplishment can get in the way of living” (minute 3:00)
•New way to frame a to-do list
•Things might move from hope-to, to have-to, based on
timeline
•Add fun things & things you do every day to your list
•changes mindset of those activities to be just as important
The Lazy Genius Podcast, Episode #362

42. Digital de-clutter / one place
•Cal Newport’s 30-day digital declutter challenge
•Use only technology you truly need for 30 days
•Determine one place to keep track of to-dos
•Email: utilize tasks/follow up
•Google docs has checklist option
•OG paper
•Don’t stress about having to remember little tasks – add them to
one place and trust you will follow up
•Co-locate > prioritize > eliminate

43. Say no, and delegate
•Make no your default answer – can take the thinking
out of it
•If you do need to say yes to an additional project,
committee, etc. de-prioritize another
•Delay before saying yes
•Delegate or remove non-priority items
•This is hard: Templates in the Toolkit might help,
but won’t make it easy
•So let’s practice

44. Word-for-word scripts for saying no
•Does anyone have go-to language for saying no?

45. Word-for-word scripts for saying no
•Scenarios included in the Toolkit :
•You’re asked to take on a new project
•Asking your boss to help reduce your workload
•Telling colleagues/others you are reducing your own workload
•General responses:
•Thanks for thinking of me, let me get back to you.
•I’m going to pass on this.
•For your boss: “Yes, what should I de-prioritize?” (McKeown, p. 141)
•Unfortunately, I have a full workload currently, and do not have
the capacity to take this on right now, and do it well. Thanks for
thinking of me though.
•With humor, reply with a simple: “Nope!”
•AI: generate scripts for future scenarios

46. Practice saying no:
Pair & share exercise
1.Each person, share with your partner:
•A situation when you have a hard time saying no but would like
to, or something you’d like to remove/stop doing
•Identify why you would need/want to say no (out of scope, quick
deadline, too busy in general, etc.)
2.Together: Pick a scenario, and brainstorm language for
saying no
•Build on this standard response, if it’s helpful:
•Unfortunately, I have a full workload currently, and do not have
the capacity to take this on and do it well. Thanks for thinking of
me though.
3.Practice: role play and practice saying no to each other

47. More scripts for saying no in the Toolkit :
•Please share your scripts with me to add:
•Anything you wrote down today
•Add a comment in the Toolkit
•Send it to me directly

48. Take-a-ways
Now what…

49. The main points:
•Permission to do as little as possible
•There’s no magic wand (unless you’re Harry Potter): it’s
an ongoing practice, that is difficult and will remain
difficult for most people
•As we leave filled with lots of new ideas, I wanted to
leave you with a potential way to approach your work,
and to encourage you to find room for joy, sleep,
creativity, and play
•I hope this helps you think about what we’ve just
learned at the conference, and determine what will
have the biggest impact
•“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished”
~Lao Tzu

50. More questions to ask yourself,
from the Toolkit :
•What do you value the most? What distracts you
from this? (Jac McNeil, Inc.)
•What’s the worst thing that would happen if you
never did this?
(Greg McKeown Podcast, episode #293)
•What can’t be done by someone else (e.g. exercise,
relationships)?
(Greg McKeown Podcast, episode #293)
•Can I do it halfway and be done? Not everything has
to be perfect – have courage to be rubbish (when it’s
not a good use of time)
(Greg McKeown Podcast, episode #293)

51. More questions to ask yourself,
from the Toolkit : cont.
•What can I take away, or subtract, to solve a
problem?
(Greg McKeown Podcast, episode #293)
•10 minutes/10 years - what can I spend 10 minutes
on that I will be thankful for in the next 10 years?
(Greg McKeown Podcast, episode #293)

52. Resources, also in the Toolkit
•Toolkit : Doing Less to Accomplish what Matters
•Podcasts:
•Greg McKeown Podcast, Episode: #293, MASTERING PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY: LESSONS FROM AN EXECUTIVE
ADVISOR AT GOOGLE WITH LAURA MARTIN (PART 1)
•Library Leadership Podcast, Episode #110, SlowLibrarianship with Meredith Farkas
•Hidden Brain, Episode: Do Less, 6/6/2022
•The Lazy Genius Podcast, Episode #362, A Simple Strategy for Your To-Do List
•Articles & Blog posts:
•Julia Glassman‘s THE INNOVATION FETISH AND SLOW LIBRARIANSHIP: WHAT LIBRARIANS CAN LEARN FROM
THE JUICERO
•Meredith Farkas’ Slow librarianship and prioritizing life over work
•Books:
•Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
•Cal Newpart’s Deep work
•Cal Newpart’s Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
•Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less.
•Kendra Adachi’s The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done

53. Thank you!
Questions?
Jacqueline L. Frank
Instruction & Accessibility Librarian
[email protected]

54. Summary Image
Summary Graphic: Michael Kitces, www.kitces.com; Source: “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown

55. Creative Commons License
Please attribute Jacqueline L. Frank with a link to the original presentation.
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons and the double C in a circle are registered trademarks of
Creative Commons in the United States and other countries. Third party marks
and brands are the property of their respective holders.