Nothing can torpedo your week quite like a fat list of due diligence questions. It’s a snoozefest, and 99.9% of the time the questions could probably be answered by a human with a goldfish brain. BUT, that 0.1% can sometimes make all the difference, meaning DD lists aren’t going away. Pair that with all the other boring work tasks you have to get through, and it’s a miracle you’re able to get anything of importance done.
While you unfortunately can’t get out of the due diligence question list process or other equally mind-numbing activities, there are some ways to help dull out the overwhelming sense of dread and boredom that comes with such tedious tasks (and no, we aren’t talking about popping open the decanter filled with Pappy Van Winkle or growing out a pinky nail).
Reward Yourself
Nothing is going to make the DD process better (well, maybe if that one VP would just listen instead of going off on some weird tangent, but that’s not happening). So, what can you do to make the boring seem worth it? Reward yourself for getting through it.
Not to compare anyone to dogs, but notice how stoked they are when they know they’re doing something that will result in a treat? Turns out our brains really aren’t that different. Operant conditioning, or more specifically positive reinforcement, is a great way to change how our brains operate, and in turn, make shitty tasks feel worth it.
The types of rewards you give yourself can vary, but be open to what you consider a reward (as much as you’d like to buy a brand new 75” OLED TV after every deal).
Common rewards to consider:
- Phone break — After a boring stretch of research, give yourself 15ish minutes of guilt-free Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or whatever scrolling.
- Go outside — Sometimes fresh air and a quick walk can bring you back to life after mind-numbing tasks or meetings.
- Quick coffee run — Not to disparage the office Keurig, but the coffee shop around the corner is better. Treat yourself.
- Buy those new shoes — While you need to be careful associating self-rewarding with monetary spending (swapping our boredom for debt isn’t the goal), an occasional splurge for a job well done is deserved.
- Your Favorite Dinner — Sometimes all you need at the end of the day is an amazing meal. Promise yourself a trip to your favorite restaurant after work on those days that seem impossible to get through.
Make the Most of Your Slumps
Doing things like DD lists are annoying not because they are difficult, but because they are long, often slow, and mostly mindless activities. That means the best time to do them might not be when you’re firing on all cylinders. Rather than wasting your fresh energy on tedious tasks, save your prime time for the important stuff, and schedule the boring for moments when you don’t necessarily have to be at your sharpest.
Pro MD tip: Try and take note if your team is slower in the morning, after lunch, or even a bit before the end of the day. Putting tedious activities in these time slots will help everyone be fresher for the more engaging tasks, and will make the most of the office slump times.
Plan Around It
When DD meetings or any other snooze-inducing tasks pop up on the calendar, it’s easy to let the dread slow down your whole day. Fight that urge, and instead break up your day with tasks you like to do (“like” probably being a relative term, but you get it). Doing this will allow you to boost your day with more engaging activities. If possible, try and leave time after the boring parts of your day to get back to things that you find more engaging, as it will help wake your mind back up and have something to look forward to.
Get Your Day Down to the Details
Expanding on the section above a bit, something better than just planning around the boring parts of your day, is planning your whole day the night before (the best you can, of course). This helps because the tedious tasks go from a nuisance to a necessary part of checking off your schedule.
At the end of every day, whether it’s before you leave work or even before you go to bed, try and create an hour-by-hour schedule for your next day. It will keep you on track during the day, stop you from aimlessly trying to tackle tasks, and reframe those DD sprints from something that makes you want to slam your head into a wall into a check box that lets you get onto your next batch of activities.
Benefits to planning your day include:
- Being less overwhelmed — Instead of thinking about all the things you have to do, you’ll be focused on whatever the next task is that you have planned.
- Developing visualization habits — By planning your day, you’ll have to visualize what you want to get done, and when you want to do it. Doing this has many mental benefits, and will have your mind ready to get started the moment you get to work. (You can even plan your pre-work routine. Maybe even tie an ice pack around your face and stretch while thinking about the marble sinks you ordered from Finland…just don’t go full Bateman if you know what I mean.)
- Finding time for self-care — By planning out your whole day, you’ll start to notice when pockets of time might pop up where you aren’t completely exhausted. Use these openings to get in time for self-care, like a workout or even just a quick walk.
Final Thoughts
There’s no getting around tasks you hate at work…or in life really. But, you can build strategies that make them easier to get through. Viewing tasks like DD lists as a box to check in your day can help take away the sting of not utilizing that time on things you feel are more important or more interesting. And let us not forget, reward yourself for being a champion of the shitty tasks. Get those shoes, go to your favorite restaurant, heck spend a few extra minutes scrolling Twitter in the bathroom. You earned it.
Looking for another way to make getting through DD a little bit easier? Try upgrading your clunky and outdated VDR for one that simply gets the job done. Start your free trial of CapLinked today.
