Less is more
The “divide-by-two” rule is not something new in the area of self-improvement – so the concept may be recognized under different names. This technique is something that I’ve worked on and customized to help with my own situation. The name is just something that came to me at the time.
The idea is that any task or situation should be manageable if it can be divided, or diluted, to the point where the person becomes comfortable with things, and doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the situation or task at hand.
While facing an overwhelming task, I would simply divide the problem and attempt only half of what was expected – or more accurately, half of what I expected. I would ignore the fact that the “entire” problem was not being dealt with.
If that half was still too much, then I would half it again, and so on, until it became manageable. The beauty of this technique is that, regardless of the size of the problem, you can keep dividing it until you feel comfortable. You will always end up with something to work with, no matter how small.
One of my biggest problems was that I had an all-or-nothing attitude. If I could not accomplish a task properly, and in its entirety, then I would automatically feel like a failure. If a task was too big, too complex, or too undesirable, I would procrastinate and never really get around to doing anything.
The divide-by-two rule allowed me to accomplish a portion of the whole. Accepting something less than 100% wasn’t ideal - however, since I would not have accomplished anything anyway, it was better than nothing.
In the area of motivation, for example, this technique can be used to allow the person to attempt and accomplish some fraction of what might otherwise be an insurmountable task. Nothing will kill motivation quicker than undertaking a large, difficult job all at once. I functioned much better without all that pressure.
Initially, you may have to divide several times before you get to your comfort zone. As time goes by, you may find that you can take on larger portions.
However, the most desirable feature was that it allowed me to get active and at least accomplish something, anything – and that felt good, I mean really, really good. I didn’t consider this underachieving – sitting on something and procrastinating until it became a crisis, was far worse. I was getting something done each day, and that was the main thing.
Getting started was really the key. Once I began working on my pre-determined task, I would feel like doing more after it was completed. A strange phenomenon, but this happened in almost every instance. I just needed to push myself into action and once in motion, I wanted more. The divide-by-two rule made the push a little easier.
In the worst case, I would complete just as much as I set out to do. I would stop if I didn’t feel like doing more – but that was fine, at least I accomplished something – and over time, the little bits I did each day added up to significant achievements.
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