So, I’ve been on a bit of a kick lately, trying to simplify things. You know how it goes, life gets cluttered, digital stuff piles up. Anyway, I stumbled across some old notes I’d made ages ago, mentioning this fella, Patrick Tyrrell. Not a household name, mind you, just someone whose approach to, well, ‘doing less but better’ had intrigued me back then. I figured, why not give some of his ideas a proper go?
My Attempt at the Tyrrell Method
First off, I had to actually piece together what this “Tyrrell method” even was from my scribbled notes. It seemed to boil down to a few core things. One big one was about single-tasking, but like, really aggressively. And another was about information diet. So, I decided to try and implement these for a solid week, just to see what would happen.
The first thing I tackled was my project list. I’m one of those people who usually has about ten things on the go. Patrick Tyrrell, or my interpretation of his ideas, suggested picking just one. ONE. That was tough. I sat down, looked at everything, and honestly, it took me a good hour to commit. I moved all my other project files into an ‘on hold’ folder. Felt weird, like I was neglecting things.
Then came the information diet. This meant seriously cutting down on random internet browsing, news feeds, the lot. I installed a site blocker – a bit drastic, I know. And I made a rule for myself: no checking emails more than twice a day. For someone who practically lives with their inbox open, this was… a challenge.
- Day 1-2: Honestly, pretty rough. I kept twitching to open a new tab or check my phone. The urge to ‘just quickly’ look something up was strong. Focusing on that single project felt slow at first, because my brain was so used to flitting between tasks.
- Day 3-4: Things started to shift a bit. I found I was getting deeper into that one project. Because there were fewer distractions, I was actually thinking more clearly about it. The email thing was still hard, but I stuck to it.
- Day 5-7: Okay, I was kind of getting into the groove with the single project. I noticed I was making proper, solid progress. The information diet was less painful too. I didn’t feel like I was missing out as much as I thought I would.
What I Reckon Now
So, after the week was up, what’s the verdict on this whole Patrick Tyrrell experiment? Well, it wasn’t a magic bullet, no surprises there. I don’t think I can permanently stick to having only one project on the go. Life’s just a bit too messy for that, at least for me. And the super strict info diet? Probably not sustainable long-term either.
However, and this is a big however, it was a really valuable experience. Forcing myself to focus so intensely on one thing showed me how much mental energy I usually scatter around. I realized how much of my “busyness” wasn’t actually productive. The email discipline was genuinely good; I kept that part, more or less. I’m not as religious about it, but I’m definitely not checking it every five minutes anymore.
I guess the main thing I took away from trying out these “Patrick Tyrrell” ideas was the power of intentionality. Even if I don’t follow his supposed rules to the letter, just the act of consciously deciding what to focus on and what to ignore has made a difference. It’s less about following a rigid system and more about being aware of where my attention is going. So yeah, an interesting week, and I definitely learned a thing or two. Worth digging out those old notes for, I reckon.