Tackling the Tasklist.
Task Lists:
Task Lists have been the never-ending dread of adults for ages.
Items forever being added and crossed off, leaving no satisfaction to their owner.
It’s time to re-imagine the ways we create and use task lists.
So if you want some new tips and techniques on how to tackle that never-ending task list, check out a few ideas below:
GTD
GTD is known as the famous Getting Things Done by David Allen. GTD took the productivity world by storm with Allens’ system for task management.
Allen encourages the cataloging, organization, and performance of tasks by the below system:
capture
clarify
organize
review
engage
When it pertains to task list building, the crucial element is to properly clarify the list of items. Often, items that should be a part of separate lists are lumped together.
Instead of keeping your list this way, create an inbox system instead.
This can be a physical notebook or a digital system that serves as a sort of brain dump for ideas and plans.
To clearly organize tasks Allen recommends doing the quickest tasks first, then figure out what to schedule, delegate, file away, delete or turn into a project.
photo: via todoist
Reminder: A project has multiple tasks that need to be completed within it. Want to explore that more?
Check out the Yearly edit ---->
never too late to start fresh.
Need help trying to figure out how to categorize items? Why not try the Eisenhower Matrix?
The Eisenhower Matrix
From the 34th US President Dwight Eisenhower, a productivity master in his own right developed this super helpful matrix to determine the urgent and important items that needed to be prioritized first.
Important to note: Urgent and important are not the same thing.
Something like Your Mom's birthday next week is important but not urgent as you have a week until the event.
On the other hand, something such as paying your mortgage payment due today is both urgent and important because you don’t want to get kicked out of your home for defaulting on your mortgage.
photo via: todoist
From your brain dump or inbox, pick out the items that are both urgent and important as your priority tasks.
Schedule anything that is important but not urgent.
Delegate anything that is not important but urgent, and delete anything that is both unimportant and not urgent, because yea no one has time for time wasters.
The 1-3-5 Rule
When it comes to setting up your daily schedule.
Try out the 1-3-5 rule.
This method sets the expectation that you will most likely only accomplish:
1 big task for the day,
3 medium-sized tasks and
5 small tasks
Tip: This is why you often will find daily planner pages and inserts with an area highlighted for top priorities, above your general to-do list.
Examples might be:
Your 1 big item might be to submit your project proposal by the end of the day, as today is the deadline.
3 Medium items might be to sign off on a report, respond to a client email, select 3 meals for next week’s meal plan.
5 smaller items might be to schedule a team meeting, file away a closed project, confirm a delivery was received, pick up dry cleaning and respond to a colleague’s email.
1-3-5.
At the end of the day, review your active tasks lists and projects and then outline the top 3 things for the next morning. When you get to the start of your day, if things need to shift they can, but you at least have somewhere to start.
The Pomodoro Technique:
Another favorite, the Pomodoro Technique by Francis Cirillo, is a time-based method of organizing your schedule by grouping tasks based on time.
If you’re a person that likes to have breaks after periods of deep focus work. The Pomodoro method could be the thing for you.
It works like this:
Establish how long it will take to complete a task, and then schedule them by time blocking your calendar.
So if you have emails to answer, follow-up calls to make, and maybe you need to review a submitted report.
Why not lump them together in one time block, at the end of which you will take a short break.
Then let's say you need to look over finances which will take a longer period and deep concentration.
Create a time block for just this task, say a couple of hours, and then schedule a longer maybe 30 min break, before you dive into another time block of work.
The worst thing first:
If you need a way to trick your brain into getting things done. Try this hack of doing the most cringe-worthy task first.
Like answering that combative email from a big client or your Mother in law. LOL.
Submitting your expense report…ugh. Try doing this first.
Doing your worst thing first will give you a dopamine rush early in your day. This is like a brain boost, fueling you to keep going and complete more having accomplished the most annoying task first.
Try these out and enjoy the satisfaction of finally tackling the dreaded task list.
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