Radical Incrementalism
Build durable output through modest daily sessions and deliberate stops
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 98%
Radical incrementalism means making progress little and often rather than turning important work into an intimidating binge. Burkeman cites psychologist Robert Boice's study of academic writers: in Burkeman's account, the more productive academics made writing a modest part of daily life instead of giving it overwhelming psychological importance. Choose a small daily work period, begin consistently, and stop when the period ends even if momentum is strong. The stop preserves sustainability and makes returning tomorrow ordinary rather than dramatic. Over time, repeated modest sessions can produce more real output than cycles of avoidance and deadline-driven overwork. Burkeman acknowledges that deadlines helped him break perfectionism as a journalist, but says that long-term writing has required dogged persistence rather than repeatedly cruising toward a deadline.
Origin
Burkeman connects the practice to psychologist Robert Boice's research on academic writers. Extracted from The Diary of a CEO.
Core principles
- 01Little-and-often work can outperform intimidating binges
- 02A modest daily session makes important work easier to sustain
- 03Stopping on time protects tomorrow's ability to return
- 04Dogged persistence is more durable than repeated deadline sprints
How to run it
- 1
Select the durable project
Choose one important project that requires repeated effort over a long horizon.
- 2
Set a modest session
Define a daily work period small enough to repeat without making the project dominate the day.
Pro tip Make the session almost embarrassingly manageable if the project has become intimidating.
- 3
Do today's portion
Work only on the selected project during the allotted period and accept that some sessions will feel ordinary.
Watch out Do not wait for a dramatic burst of motivation.
- 4
Stop on time
End the session when its boundary arrives, including on days when the work is going well.
Pro tip Leave a note describing the next move to make tomorrow's return easier.
- 5
Return repeatedly
Come back day after day and evaluate progress across the run of sessions rather than one day's output.
In the wild
Burkeman says that when working on a book, almost embarrassingly small workdays repeated day after day have produced more actual output than making the book the overwhelming centre of life.
→ A long project advances through sustainable persistence rather than repeated binges.
Common mistakes
Binging to relieve anxiety
Making the project enormous can create intimidating stakes and strengthen avoidance after a difficult session.
Extending every good session
Ignoring the stop boundary can turn a repeatable practice back into an unsustainable sprint.
Depending entirely on deadlines
Deadlines can break perfectionism, but Burkeman says repeated last-minute effort is not his sustainable long-term method.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for writing and other long-horizon work that benefits from repeated contact over many days.
Not ideal for
It is not sufficient for a genuine short-term emergency that requires a larger immediate effort.
From the transcript
“make progress on the basis of little and often”
“i'm going to stop even if i'm on a roll”
“dogged persistence rather than you know cruising to the deadline”
From the episode
How To Finally Stop Procrastinating: Oliver Burkeman