Hi there "travelcache,"

I'm very sympathetic about the "dreaded bank reconciliations" process... since I also have to do my own, and the whole process is picky picky picky. I have struggled with it myself. There have been plenty of occasions when I've torn my hair out trying to figure out an error too. :-)

So, I've been giving your question some thought in the last few days and thinking about what I do, and how it might be a help to you with the "dreaded bank reconciliations" task.

I also understand the desire to avoid scheduling a task on the calendar that you dread. I've tried to schedule the reconciliations for a particular day, and that doesn't work in practice for me either.

From your message I think that there are two issues... one is the mechanics of handling a task that is of unknown duration, and one is the dread itself.

Let's discuss the mechanics of the project first.

I think that part of the problem is that you are thinking of the task as being a "one day task" when it isn't necessarily. I'm sure that everyone can relate to the situation where there are interruptions and the potential for an error that will make the task take longer than usual.

That's reality for any open ended task, and it is one of the reasons that we recommend that you don't over schedule your time in the traditional time management way (putting tasks on your calendar to make an appointment with yourself, and such stuff). Life Balance is about using your discretionary time well, and being effective by applying your available effort to where it will have the most impact.

So what to do with these kind of tasks in Life Balance?

I do several things actually. One thing is that I have a routine task, set to occur monthly, scheduled with a lead time of a week so that I have some flexibility on WHEN to the do the dread task.

I set the task to have an importance of "essential" in a project for business operations that is also "essential", so that it has high visibility compared to other work so that it gently "nags" me to go ahead to do it. I use that as a reminder task to make sure that I do the work often enough without scheduling it on the calendar. I give myself credit for completing it when I've done the project.

Then I set up a different separate little project for tracking the work itself. Here I focus on the goal, not on how long it takes. This is where I break the project up into its natural boundaries and milestones. Oddly enough, this usually doesn't need a schedule of its own.

Here is when I quantify the project based on the work itself rather than on the time I think it might take to do it. For instance, when I am actually doing the reconciliation, I take the statement, and draw a line in pencil on the statement for transactions that occur on each day. There are 30 (give or take) days total, which is a FINITE amount of work for the reconciliation in each month. (The point being that I'm quantifying the project based on the intrinsic units of the project, rather than on my faulty judgement of how long it might take me to reconcile the transactions for any particular day of the month. A day with an error in it might take longer than average.) By using the real units of the project, I avoid the feeling that there is no end in sight. Emphasizing the boundaries of the project is important if you find the task tedious. The project should be getting smaller as you go!

I can usually do 10-15 days of reconciliation in one sitting before I have to stand up and wiggle, check in with other projects or email before I dive back in again. It sounds like you are probably about the same. So I divide the project up into sections like that. I just check off each section in each session until I'm caught up.

That technique takes a lot longer to describe in words than it takes to do in Life Balance. If you do use that technique, or something similar, you'll naturally get credit for all the work that really goes into completing the project. :-)

Now about the dread...

I personally believe that the best antidote to dread is... drum roll please....

FUN!!!

And plenty of it.

For some people they can schedule a reward for after the dreaded task is done... but that doesn't cut it for me.

I set up things so that I can (sort of kind of) find ways to enjoy the dread task while I'm doing it.

Sometimes I listen to music. Sometimes I make up a little game where I compete with myself to get it done quicker. Sometimes I have a little snack nearby to nibble on. I wear comfortable clothes. I place myself in the room with the nicest view. The idea is to pamper yourself, in whatever way makes sense to you, through the duration of the dread project. Be lavish with the "treats!"

And the truth is, if I have enough of these little rewards going on, I almost always have a pretty good time once I get started. While I am in the process of the task, I also make a point of noticing that the dread is/was much WORSE than the task itself.

I find that adding in the fun is what stops the cycle of dread, which makes the NEXT session less dreaded. I haven't gotten to the point where I actually look forward to the bank reconciliation process, but it is less stressful than it used to be for me. At this point I view it more as a puzzle, a bit like Sudoku.

I hope you find that my experience is helpful to you and that it provides some food for thought.

Best wishes,

--Catherine--*
Catherine E. White
President
www.llamagraphics.com