Weighing Tasks: The Fuel Tank Approach
This section presents a time management strategy that focuses on ensuring our basic needs are continuously met rather than completing a task to 100%. When we consider what we need to do, how well it needs to be done, and how much time we have, we make it easier to spread our time more efficiently. This technique, which I refer to as “The Fuel Tank Approach”, is key to keeping all of my needs met while still finding time for fun. Give it a try!
We can’t master everything. I find it difficult to even be proficient in my everyday activities, and, when I pay attention, I notice that tasks often take longer to complete than expected. With so many things we can do, it’s crucial that we learn to distribute our time efficiently.
I find that a Fuel Tank approach, where I spread my time across various tasks based on their priorities and needs, is the best way for me to ensure I keep moving toward my goals. Under the Fuel Tank approach, I focus on addressing what needs to be done first rather than working on one task to perfect completion. While that may sound like a recipe for shoddy workmanship across several projects instead of fully completing a task, let’s consider it carefully:
Some tasks are only complete until we make use of the completed product. For example, laundry is no longer done once we use a pair of socks. Does this mean I now need to do laundry? Same with dishes and any use-items. Do you run the dishwasher for each dirty plate?
We do not need all chores constantly completed to 100%, and it’s important to consider our available time (as well as our cleanliness tolerances and cohabitation etiquette) to determine when we need to act on a task, and when something else should take priority.
Switching Tasks with the Fuel Tank Approach
The Fuel Tank Approach is a great way to help smoothly transition from one task to another justifiably. If I have done some laundry, do not need any of the dirty clothes, and really have to mow the lawn or do some stretching, it is reasonable to shift time toward tasks with a lower fuel gauge. Note that the central goal here is to acknowledge that we only have so much time to give and if we fill each task’s tank to entirety, we will only accomplish some of our necessary chores for the day.
Shifting Focus, Not Delaying Work
The goal of the Fuel Tank approach is to help people identify their priorities and critically assess the standard to which each task must be completed. While procrastination has not been explicitly referenced thus far, it is easy to see how one could use the Fuel Tank approach to justify delaying work without replacing it for something else.
Imagine you’re a shepherd (maybe your herd is an apartment cat, but you shepherd nonetheless). While you survey the fuel tanks for all of your responsibilities, you note that while many are not full, none threaten to run dry anytime soon. Your sheep will be just fine if you leave them be for a bit, and no land maintenance is due. With this knowledge, you sit back and ignore your responsibilities, as you feel that nothing tragic will happen if you do so (the irony!).
Even though you aren’t letting fuel tanks run dry, there is a good chance your time could have been better spent elsewhere.
It is ok to take breaks. As a matter of fact, I encourage you to take breaks and pursue what you enjoy. However, to regularly disregard your responsibilities for no other reason than because you can yields time inefficiencies and will leave you doing less than you are able.
The Fuel Tank Approach to Home Maintenance
There is no end to chores one might do during the day. If I looked around, I could easily find enough projects in any one room of my home to occupy my day. While this might lead to a sparkling household, it certainly would not be the most productive use of my time.
The Fuel Tank Approach to home maintenance recognizes that maintaining a household is kind of like building a sandcastle on the shoreline. A beautiful sandcastle only stays as such until the tide comes and crushes its outside walls.
Like a man tending to his sandcastle, I build up areas in need to prevent the whole house from coming down.
Enough of the metaphors, let’s get to the practical application.
Spreading Time Across the Home
Homes require layers of maintenance. Regardless of whether you live in a house, apartment, or RV, your home requires upkeep. Cleaning floors, maintaining appliances, and keeping fresh food are all factors separating a good system from the rest. In order to run our home smoothly, it helps to know both what a finished task looks like and (approximately) how long a completed chore lasts (for more on recognizing what makes a complete task and when work is needed, look HERE. If, instead, you would like more guidance on building a home system, check HERE).
Typical home maintenance follows two strategies: completing chores on a set schedule or taking care of them on an as needed basis. Both of these strategies have their advantages, but neither is the most efficient way to manage our home.
Setting Schedules
First, let’s consider the set schedule strategy. Here, one would break down the major activities associated with keeping their house housing and allocate them as they fit throughout their schedule. Mow on Sundays, dishes Tuesday Thursday and vacuum Monday and Friday.
A set schedule is nice to make sure we complete all of our chores. Additionally, such a schedule makes it easy to divvy assignments as needed, allowing chores to spread more easily in a larger household. Better still, a schedule provides people with a task they can complete regularly; many people find that they can better motivate themselves when they are able to regularly complete and “check off” tasks, no matter how small (you will often hear motivational/productivity speakers talk of the benefits they get from making their bed each morning).
Having a set schedule is useful for making sure things need to get done, but it will never be the best method for managing all of our time. Simply put, a schedule is only as good as the approximation of time anticipated for each scheduled task. It sounds nice to do the dishes Tuesday and Thursday, but what if I had a big meal Wednesday? Does the house really need to be vacuumed this Friday, or would I be better off doing something else? When we are boxed into a chore without assessing the current need, we are bound to do things before they are really necessary.
Working as Needed
The second strategy, which involves completing chores on an as needed basis, focuses assess regular chores and doing work as needed. Here, the practitioner recognizes that it is a lot of work to make a schedule, schedules do not always reflect the current need for a chore, and freedom to do a task when necessary opens up time for other things as well. Therefore, they avoid formally scheduling tasks, instead opting to regularly maintain their tasks and complete projects when necessary.
For example, instead of taking trash out on Tuesdays, a practitioner of the second strategy would monitor the trash when they add to the bin. If the bin fills or approaches filling, they will take it out or plan to take it when they have more time.
How Necessary is Necessary?
While the second strategy frees up time from rigid scheduling and planning, it too can face efficiency issues. Most obviously, we are more likely to push the bounds of a chore when we do it “as needed”. Our floors are more likely to collect dust bunnies and our dishes may run out if we are not tight with our as needed definitions, potentially leading to bigger projects or overloading ourselves. Additionally, we may miss some chores altogether because they are easy to miss without structured check-ins.
My home runs best when I build a practical home system that defines each space based on my needs and preferences because I can more effectively assess maintenance needs. I do this first by breaking down my house into its major components: living spaces, rest rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen. Each of these spaces requires a unique bundle of maintenance at a schedule learned during our time home. In each of these sectors, I try to regularly review how everything stands based on urgency and historic information.
The Fuel Tank Approach for Fitness
As with life’s possible many hobbies and chores, there are far too many possible physical movements and activities for one person to be a master of them all. Each activity and/or movement has its own level of applicability to our everyday lives, which is an important consideration when training each type of movement (see Working Out for more). With that in mind, I try to learn how to understand my body’s needs and prioritize healthy movement and injury reduction over gym metrics.
I train my body to be as fun and useful to me as possible. I like to walk, sprint, play sports, and have strong body weight control. More importantly, I value moving freely and continuously without regular injury. The Fuel Tank approach helps me to do this without countless workout routines and worrying about whether I did upper body, push pull, or endurance the day before.
The Fuel Tank Approach to fitness asks the practitioner to regularly take stock of their physical being to improve their understanding of how a given part of their body would feel if it were to be moved. More simply, the Fuel Tank Approach involves checking in across the body to see were we could most benefit training.
Putting Our Interests First
The way we live our life impacts how our muscles and movements develop. If we operate repetitively without understanding how a movement should be done and all muscle groups involved, it is easy to strengthen our bodies to perform with limitations.
For example, if we spend a lot of time walking or running without the proper mechanics, we may (and are likely to) conduct repetitive steps without proper form or favoring different muscles, which may cause pain overtime or leave the less favored muscles weak and impact separate movements. Similarly, if we go to the gym but are only really concerned with our bench press (don’t pretend like you too haven’t been there) we train ourselves to have a strong push from our hands at the chest level, but not much in terms of our hand speed or range of motion.
The Fuel Tank Approach asks us to prioritize our preferences in determining where to spend our time. Of course, our basic needs and priorities should come first, but a resilient system requires deliberate focus to improve at the things we actually do.
Quick, Focused Tests Instead of Exhaustive Workouts
Regular movement testing helps better recognize how we are training our bodies, allowing us to reduce overtraining and build our bodies more smoothly. This style of testing is designed to help us notice our current movement patterns and inefficiencies so that we can more accurately assess our needs.
We develop unique patterns of movements and needs based on our genetics, training, and lived experiences. The Fuel Tank Approach to movement prioritizes frequent and specific tests of our different body parts and ranges of motion to see how they feel when producing a given output. These tests allow us to check in across our body and allocate our training in a way that targets areas of weakness while making sure everything is moving smoothly (to learn more about these tests, see Micro Assessments).
Once we begin testing how we move, we learn how our body responds to specific demands and better understand when something is sore, tight, or feeling like it is ready for a workout. The Fuel Tank Approach also lets us factor in for injuries, providing us with ample opportunities to train even when something is sore, as well as allowing us to build from a previous injury to make ourselves less susceptible to such an injury in the future.
Knowledge is Key
If we do not understand our bodies, it is impossible to build them into our own durable and capable machines. While some people favor training their specific athletics and movements, I find a more successful system (in terms of preparation for everyday life) benefits from diverse training responsive to our body’s present needs.
At the end of the day, these are our bodies, our homes, and our decisions to make. While we can look to take each project one at a time from start to finish, I find that I do best when I try to do different things, spread my time across tasks, and take chances to learn.
-G
Efficiently ELITE
At the end of the day, this site is designed to serve as a resource. Like many good resources, Efficiently ELITE is always seeking outside input to refine its content and improve its ability to help people take more autonomy over their ability to move. Do you have any suggestions? Please contact me and let me know below!
