Categorize your Tasks - Time Management
Once you have done an Inventory of your Current Tasks, it's time to break them out into categories. There are many books which recommend the grid approach to doing this. Take a piece of paper. Draw a line down splitting the paper in half vertically, then a line across splitting the paper in half horizontally. You should have four even boxes.Label one box "urgent and important". Label the second "urgent and not important". The third is "not urgent, important". The fourth is "not urgent and not important".
Now look at the tasks you've gathered up over the past week, in a typical schedule. Figure out where each of the tasks falls in the grid. Some tasks won't fit perfectly, just do the best you can.
The idea here is this:
Urgent and Important: it has to get done soon, and it's important to do it. So for example your car's oil is 5,000 miles overdue and your oil light is blinking. Another example - your child is nagging you to hurry, because you're late to get her to school in time.
Urgent and Not Important: it has to get done soon, but it's not important. A show starts in only 2 minutes on penguin breeding habits. Your teenager is nagging you incessantly because they want more ice cream but are too lazy to get it themselves.
Not Urgent and Important: It can wait, but it is important to do. You need to schedule a mammogram sometime in the next 3 months. Your husband's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and you want to get him a present.
Not Urgent and Not Important: It can wait, and it doesn't matter if it gets done. Your neighbor left a coffee mug on their front porch. Your books might enjoy being alphabetized. You only have 100,000 points in Bejeweled and might be able to reach 200,000 points.
A key part of this exercise is knowing what is important to you in life - what goals you want to reach, what aims you have. If you haven't done that type of life planning exercise, this might be a good time to figure out What Are Your Priorities.
So with those priorities in mind, take a look at the things you're doing.
The most obvious place to start is the not urgent / not important. Yes, I understand the relaxing value of playing a video game. I just spent an hour playing Wii Ultimate Band with my boyfriend! It was fun, relaxing together-time that involved arm exercise too. It's a matter of balance, though. One hour was great. Eight hours would have cut into productive time that needs to go towards other activities. So look at all the not urgent / not important time fillers. Even if you are doing these things because you are completely bored and have nothing else to do, it's worth it to think about why that is. Surely there is something you could be doing that you feel is "important" towards your life's goals? Studying a new skill on the internet? Practicing an existing skill? Communicating in the forum with people who have the skill, to get guidance and help?
Next comes the urgent but not important. The kids screaming for treats. The race to the store to return the DVD you didn't even watch. What things in your life are adding stress and are time-critical, but they really aren't part of your core beliefs? Why allow their time-table to have that kind of control on your life? Find a way to at least reduce the time / urgent factor, and also find a way to wean them out of your schedule.
Third comes the urgent and important. These are things that have a time stress on you but you actually do value what the tasks are. Going to that mammogram. Taking the online class in HTML. These are good areas to be spending time. The thing to work on here is to make them less stressful. Find ways to reduce the urgency. Set up auto pay on your credit cards so they get paid on time without stress. Find an HTML class that lets you go at your own pace. Get a DVR to record shows you really need to see, so you can watch them on your own schedule and skip the commercials. Look for ways to optimize these areas so that you achieve the goals without the stress of time.
Finally is the non urgent and important. This is the perfect cube. These tasks are things you feel move you along your life path, and you can do them at a leisurely pace. They are relaxed and helpful.
Your aim should be to reduce all of the non important tasks - and to try to slide the urgent important tasks into the non-urgent category!
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