Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Micro Productivity - What Can It Do For You?

The best way to eat a giant steak is to cut it up into bite-sized pieces. 

One thing at a time. 

Day by day.

Do these things sound familiar? Well, they are the exact things that are meant by micro productivity. 

You can apply the principle of micro productivity to almost anything that you do in life. From applying to jobs, to cleaning your whole house. For example, you would break down a task like searching for a medical career and search medical job listings at Practice Match - small task on the way to a bigger goal. And for cleaning you would make a list of everything that you need to do and do it in small chunks.

Micro Productivity Matters

The clue is really in the name. It is much more comfortable and less overwhelming to do smaller tasks and reach smaller goals on the way to completing a big one. Breaking down tasks helps us to see that large tasks are very approachable and achievable. It can often reduce our stress levels, and stop us procrastinating for quite some time.

Of course, it makes sense when you take a very long road trip, for example, you break it down into smaller stops along the way. This makes it easier to tackle. 

Brain Space

While your brain is amazing, it does have flaws and limits. We cannot remember everything. And we can’t process huge chunks of information as quickly as we might like to. The average working memory capacity is only 3 to 5 items at a time. Anything over that is likely to cause your brain some problems.


From huge house tasks, to work projects, you need to look at the goals that you have set. A quick look might tell you that your main goal seems very simple, but in reality, that’s actually probably quite vague. And you need to have a look at the list of steps you’ll need to take on the way to completing that they go.

For example, preparing a website for launch sounds quite easy. But when is the launch date, and what does that preparation mean?

This is why specific goals can help you achieve something much better. In fact, the specificity of your goals is actually something that psychologist Edwin Locke wrote about in his goal-setting theory. It is a tried and true method.

Patience is Key

Unfortunately, human nature dictates we are not very good with delayed gratification. And even more so in the age of the Internet where everything is almost instant. We like to see progress as quickly and as often as possible. Which is another reason that setting small goals that you can tick off on the way to your larger goal. 

Each time that you get to check off something that you have achieved your brain will release dopamine, and that will give you a sense of pleasure and motivation. Which will keep you going on the way to reaching that bigger goal.


While it is true that productivity is a very personal thing, and what works great for your neighbor might not necessarily work for you. Productivity, in general, can be improved by taking small steps to a larger goal. And that is why micro productivity is the way forward. Break all large tasks down into smaller, more manageable ones, and you will see your productivity skyrocket in no time.