Using your to do list

 

To do list are pretty much like knowledge -if aint used, it’s useless. Further. If it ain’t used well, better not use it at all. So if you want to use your to do list well, consider the following useful tips.

Cleanliness is next usefulness

Clutter is one of the most distracting things in the world, whether it’s in terms of physical clutter or mental (to do list ) clutter. One of the best ways to minimize or task clutter is to periodically check your to do list to see if by any chance, some worthless quadrant IV task managed to slip in undetected. If so, clean up your list  and delete them.

Another source of task clutter is procrastination, which leads to continuous build up of pending tasks that would’ve been accomplished and removed from your to do list already. These are particularly dangerous to personal productivity simply because they tend to eat time that’s meant for other scheduled tasks. Whenever possible, make sure that your daily to lists are cleaned up and clutter free by the time you hit the sack.

Pareto principle and Parkinson law

I guess youre already familiar with the pareto principle, which states that on average, 80% of results come from about 20% of resources. On the other hand, you may not have heard of Parkinson’s law up until now. Well Parkinson law in a nutshell is the reason why many people seem to be more effective when cramming – or at least they claim so. It says that a particular tasks perceived value or importance increases when the time given to accomplish it shortens. In other words, task whose deadlines are fast approaching become more important. I believe the proper term for the is urgent.

What the pareto principle is trying to say is that you should give more importance to tasks that account for biggest share of the results you’re looking for. Parkinson law on the other hand , can help us become more focused on finishing them well. By setting relatively shorter than normal deadlines for certain top priority task, you’ll able to prioritize them accordingly and focus on the essentials. Many time, we tend to complicate many tasks if we’re given to much time to finish them. Why ?

Pereto principle and Parkinson law ( in depth )

So how do you combine the 2 when It comes to managing you to do lists ? use the pareto principle to identify the important, high priority task to focus on and set relatively short deadlines ( Parkinson  law ) for accomplishing them. Not only can you finish your tasks ahead of schedule, you can also accomplish them well.

 

 

In case you want to explore them separately, here’s what consider for each. Starting with pareto :

·       Indentify your key result areas

The top priorities you should have are those aligned with your performance criteria or what you should have are those aligned with your performance criteria or what you are really good at, as well as your goals.

 

Any incoming information or requests for your need to be assed against your goals. Once you have your have your compass set you  can assign the incoming task as your “north” or priority.

 

·       Set your priorities via pareto principle

List all the activities you have to get done the next on your to do list. Then put an A,B,or C letter next to those items.

 

A letters are for the important activities, such as those in the top 20%, B letters are somewhat important, in the mid 60 %  range and C letters are the bottom 20% and least important items. Put a time limit on each activity you listed A. take care note how long each of the A items will take especially if you are prioritizing them.

 

·       Protect the vital view from the trivial many

Gather up all of your top priority actions that have you to do next week. If you have followed through with the process, each action should have a duration time next to them. Then make time for these most important activities, rather than trying to find time later on.

Now back to Parkinson law. The best things you can do is to emberace the deadlines and time constrains. When youre given the task without deadline , set yourself one and hold onto it. promise yourself something to get it done faster. It can be reward for positive reinforcement ( such as your favorite dessert or a night out at a restaurant ) or a punishment for negative reinforcement ( like eating a can of dog food ).

Actions steps

Time

Each task on your to do list will require different amounts of time to accomplish. When you factor in the time needed to accomplish them, you’ll know if you need to break them down further or simplify them.

One good indicator is that if it takes more than an hour to finish, a task maybe  too big or complicated. Not scaling back may result in discouragement or procristintion. When your break them down to smaller chunks, you avoid being discouged or temptation to procrastinate.

Fast forward

While it is good to focus on the task at hand, good preparations require that you think ahead to prepare for the succeeding actions steps. When you do so, you minimize the amount of time lag for accomplishing a prerequisite task and succeeding ones because you can immidietly hit the ground running on the next one as you’ve already indetified and prepared for it before hand.

Review

Review your to list on a regular basis, weekly, ensures all’s in order and help you prepare well for the folling week. It shouln’t take more than 20 minutes to do so bur the benefits you’ll reap from doing so can be so much more. Just like going on an out of town trips. You make a regular stops to see if youre headed  towards the right direction and if not , adjust accordingly. Often skipping periodic reviews may be an indication that you already have to much on your plate.

Necessary info

Procrastination becomes even more tempting when you’re inconvenienced. Have you ever experience being inconvenienced simply because you put off things today for tomorrow? Me I’ve experienced this before when I kept on putting off doing the groceries simply because I’m “ tired” the usual consequence ? I end up spending more money for house hold food by ordering for delivery.

One way to minumize such inconveniences about by procristaniton is to include important information as your lisr tasks in your to do list. This saves you a whole lot of time spent just looking for them especially when your’e in a hurry. An example is looking for a car mechanic to fix your car at home. If you don’t list down the contract information of the mechanic you plan to contact as you include the task in your to do list. Then you may spend more time then necessaru trying to look for such info later on. If youre in a hurry, those precious minutes can spell the difference between being able to accomplish the task and procrastinate forever.

Remember, success favors those who do their homework and by including important information or references together with your task, you can minimize the risk of procrastinating due to inconvenience.