When reviewing John Maeda’s 10 laws of simplicity, I found that Law 1—Reduce and Law 3—Time resonated best with me. I have found that during previous projects, I tend to jump straight into what I want my end goal to be before going through all the smaller steps and processes to ensure I achieve what I envision within my end goal, therefore overcomplicating my workload.
When researching Law 1, I decided to look at ways to condense my workload and organise my tasks to avoid getting ahead of myself and missing key steps. Ways in which I can implement law 1 into my work life would be to identify unnecessary tasks, make sure I narrow down my research to avoid widening my workload, de-cluttering my space to avoid becoming distracted and seek feedback more regularly to ensure I am staying within the brief or on task with my project.
By implementing this law, I can ensure I focus on the tasks at hand, increasing my productivity and reducing excessive stress.
Another law that I felt resonated with me was law 3 – Time. I find when I set lots of tasks at once, I struggle to prioritise and end up procrastinating which to complete first, I also find myself swapping between tasks, leaving some half-finished and not returning to them until they are due, therefore rushing vital tasks. There are many ways to implement Law 3 into my work life can help me. The first is by enhancing my schedule, making sure I prioritise tasks from most to least important or by the date they were set, ensuring I get all tasks completed. Another way I can reduce task switching is by grouping similar tasks, allowing my workflow to flow much smoother by avoiding jumping to different tasks. During my downtime, I should also take the time to reflect on my completed tasks and organise upcoming projects to ensure I complete them efficiently in my next allocated work time.
By using these skills, I ensure my time is used much more efficiently and save wasted time to complete tasks to my full potential.
