The 10-70-20 Rule - The Solution to Procrastination

“You may delay, but time will not.” - Benjamin Franklin

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” - Karen Lamb

“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.” - Olin Miller

“Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.” - Unknown

It doesn’t matter how much has been said about procrastination but the fact of the matter is that we all do it. Especially, when it comes to longer tasks or projects, which you know will keep you busy for weeks, even months.

What if I told you that there is a magical way to complete tasks on time and leave the big ‘P’ in your ashes?

We’ve all heard, in some way, of the Pareto principle, more commonly known as the 80-20 rule, which states that 80% of outcomes can be attributed to 20% of the causes for a given event. However, what will help you battle procrastination is the 10-70-20 rule, which kind of sounds like Pareto Principle’s more confusing cousin. This, in reality, is much simpler and is something I have applied to most of my day-to-day tasks and projects for as long as I can remember.

I used this rule for the first time during my academic years with great success but never really thought much of it. It wasn’t until I started working and made use of this great tool more and more, that I realized its utility. As I started using it I learned that it was an easy, painless and motivating way to get things done efficiently and on time. A lot of fancy claims right? But I can assure you that it has worked wonders for me.

So let’s gets get started. This rule simply says that for any task or project (no matter how big or small), you start on it as soon as you can and work tirelessly to get it 10% complete. Leave it lying there for as long as you can afford or time permits and then come back to it to complete 70% of the remaining 90% chunk and then sleep on it a bit more. Finally during the last few days put that finishing touch in by doing the last 20%.

By now you are asking yourselves, why are these chunks broken up in such a way? Why not 15-75-10 or maybe 5-80-15? You can go ahead and try that too, but what I explain below will pretty much stay the same.

The All-important first 10%:

This chunk holds the prestige of being the chunk which is most important in the process as well as being the hardest to complete. Usually what most people do when they get a task or project is that they get busy with something else and forget about it for a while. Depending on their tendency as to whether they are firefighters or planners, they will get back sometime in the future.

The idea behind this 10% and getting to it ASAP is that when you are assigned something (or take up something) you are new and fresh to the idea and at this point you are highly motivated (well, most of the time). This is the time where you lay the groundwork for the task and jot down what needs to be done and how you would do it. Timelines would help too.

When you are done with this, give yourself some space. The idea here is that you will be much more motivated to come back to this task/project since:

1. Now you know what needs to be done

2. You also know that 10% of the work is done already

Experts agree that people procrastinate because they fear or dread, or have anxiety about, the important task awaiting them. However, this small step will (mostly) eliminate all the doubts and anxieties early.

The Sandwiched 70%:

This is where most or you work will be performed. Since all the planning is out of the way, all that remains is the actual task. The idea here is that since the groundwork has already been laid down by you, you will feel more comfortable coming back to this task.

You can break this 70% into chunks too, but it is more depending on the task and the person doing this task. However, be cautious to not go overboard and stop just short of completing the actual thing. Why? There’s a very good reason and the next section covers just that.

The Home Stretched 20%:

Just before you start celebrating, there’s the matter of completing this last 20%. Why leave it just short of completion you ask? Simple! This gap will give you some breathing space and a day or two to let it all sink in and ponder about what you did right and what might be improved. Some people call it reflection, others call it rumination. You can call it whatever you want.

The idea is to step back from the action so that you can see the whole picture. I am a huge believer of the fact that sometimes the most powerful, effective and beneficial thing you can do to move forward is to take a step back and this last chunk helps you do just that.

Then, all you need to do is go back and complete what you started. Simple! Right?

There you have it… a great way to approach your next project. A bit of a secret before I leave you, this article was written using the same format.

Do let me know of your successes attempting the 10-70-20 rule. I would love hearing back from you.