1RM

I’ve been thinking the past couple of hours about how I could apply the 1RM principle to other areas of my life.

Unless you’re a weight lifter you’re probably not familiar with the 1RM. So let me tell you.

1RM is short for ’1 Rep Max’. This is how your best lifts are measured. It’s literal: it’s 1 repetition at your maximum weight.

The only area of my life I track 1RMs is in weight lifting, and I reckon it’d be useful applied to other areas of me, especially working.

I suffer from procrastination. If you’re reading this now and thinking you don’t, you’re lying. Everybody does, even if you invented a way to stop procrastinating. If anything, the people who have invented a way to stop procrastinating are the biggest procrastinators.

Anyway, enough procrastinating.

This idea is rough around the edges, but I think I’ve discovered a little way to reduce it a bit, and it’s based on the principle of a 1RM.

All you do is pick something you need to do. It could be the washing up, an article to read, an article to write, or a letterbox to put back on your front door ((That’s currently on my list. It’s been windy.)).

Once you’ve got that task, start a timer and focus on it for as long as you can.

Nothing else. I mean nothing else. No Twitter, no texting, no Facebook, no answering calls, no nothing. Talk to somebody if you want, but only if you can do it and focus on your thing at the same time.

The second you do something else, anything at all, stop your timer. That’s your 1RM for that task. 1RMs are tiring, so have a couple of minutes break.

Break over. Now it’s time to beat that 1RM for current task. If you’ve had to move on to a different task, start the process over again for your new task.

Over time, you’ll build up 1RMs for all the things you’re currently doing. Every time you return to that task or start a new one your goal should be to increase your 1RM. You’re always trying to increase your focused time on a task.

It’s hard working on your 1RM for a task. Don’t feel deflated at first when you only manage a couple of minutes. As long as you reset yourself, return to the task and try to beat your 1RM next time, you’re making progress.

Why I think this works

There’s 3 things that motivate anybody to get things done: not thinking about what needs to be done and just doing it, doing things better than you did last time, and consistently doing something well.

By tracking your 1RM for each thing you do, you’re not focusing on the task at hand. It doesn’t matter if you hate the thing you’re about to do, all you’re focused on is beating your last 1RM. That means you get shit done.

By trying to beat your 1RM every time, you’re improving every single time you’re doing it. This makes you feel good.

By beating your 1RM every time, you’re making loads of little wins. This makes you feel good.

Anyway, it’s a little idea I had that I thought I’d share. Maybe you’ll find it useful.