Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 31 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Minimum and maximum limitations
— From The Art Of Less Doing: One Entrepreneur’s Formula for a Beautiful Life by Ari Meisel (read 2 chapters for free)
Productivity guru, Ari Meisel, is back! In a previous post I had shared his idea of The Hour of Power. Today I’ll share his concept of minimum and maximum limitations that comes from his awesome book The Art of Less Doing.
Let’s remember that Meisel found himself very sick and unable to work more than one hour a day for a while, so he became incredibly productive during the little time that he had to work. Nowadays, he’s made a point of continuing to set limits for his work: he gets everything done and still has plenty of time to devote to his family. “The fact of the matter,” Meisel says, “is that everyone functions better with constraints.”
We’re likely very familiar with setting time limits. We’ve talked about Parkinson’s Law before (here, here, and here). It’s the law that says: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. And if you only have a certain amount of time to do something, very likely you will get it done within that timeframe. Thus the importance of setting time limits to avoid open-ended projects that never get done. Deadlines are important.
And setting limits can apply to physical spaces too. Meisel explains, “If you’re a pack rat and have rooms filled with clutter, tell yourself you’re permitted one box of clutter per room and that’s it!”
To further understand the process of setting limits, Meisel goes into detail about the concepts of minimum versus maximum limitations. “Minimum limits are actually more challenging than maximum limits. It’s easier to be restrictive than to be expansive. For example, it’s much easier to say ‘I have to turn the TV off by ten o’clock at night’ (maximum limitation) than it is to say, ‘I will read ten pages of nonfiction every night’ (minimum limitation).”
Minimum limitations are very effective when it comes to creating habits. “Once you create a habit and couple it with another, your rate of potential success skyrockets.”
Let’s think of exercising with this concept. Find something that you love to do (Activity 1) and set a small goal. Then find something else you love to do (Activity 2) and tell yourself you cannot do the second activity until you’ve finished the first one. For instance, you cannot watch Netflix (Activity 2) until you’ve taken your yoga class (Activity 1). Meisel says this is even more effective if you can combine both, thus setting yourself up to win: “Tell yourself that you can only listen to podcasts [Activity 2] while you’re on the treadmill [Activity 1]. In that scenario, you’ve set up a restriction to help you succeed.”
Time, as we saw earlier, is an easy limitation to set. Money is another one. But you can work with setting constraints in any area of your life that you want to improve on. “This process of setting limitations can almost become a game, and you need to figure out how to work within your restrictions. […] Find a balance between challenging [yourself] and being realistic in terms of [your] lifestyle.”
Save the date! Ari Meisel will be at the Business Library in New York City on July 17, from 6-7:30 PM. It’s a free event. Registration and details here. I look forward to seeing you there!
ACTION
TODAY: What is a limit that you can put on yourself today for the benefit of your work, time or leisure? How about working with Parkinson’s Law and setting a time limit to finish your work at a certain time? That way you can go home to enjoy your family or to enjoy non-work-related activities.
FUTURE: Think of a habit you’d like to establish. What kind of minimum limitation can you think of to create the habit? Remember to find your Activity 1 and set a goal. Then do not indulge in Activity 2 until you have finished activity 1. Linking those activities will help you stick to them and create the habit you want. Let me know how it goes!
Do you know someone who would benefit from setting limits? Please share this post with that person via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!