Improving Management of Time and Tasks, Part 3

Word Count: 1,509 Estimated Read Time: 6 Min.

Learning.  Working.  Exercising.  Connecting with others.  Worshiping.  Staying informed.  Eating.  Sleeping.  Grooming.  Shopping.  There has always been a lot to do.  But with the advent of computers, tasks mushroomed exponentially.  And with it, task management approaches have blossomed. 

Last week, we looked at how the Eisenhower Matrix a/k/a Urgent-Important Matrix helps with prioritization.  Named after President Eisenhower, who embraced this approach for distinguishing between important tasks, urgent tasks, and tasks that should either be delegated or deleted altogether.  In 1954, Eisenhower gave a speech in which he quoted an unnamed university president who said, “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”  For someone like a General or President, knowing the difference between Urgent and Important is key since every task is likely to be one or the other or both.  Using his approach, urgent tasks were those that were time-sensitive and demanded attention. These are tasks must be addressed but puts the person in a reactive mindset:  defensive, rushed, and narrowly-focused.  On the other hand, important tasks contribute to long-term mission, values, and goals. They may not yield immediate results (making them easy to neglect) but puts the person in a proactive mindset:  calm, rational, and open to new ideas.  The goal, then, was to try to identify important vs urgent tasks and focus on the former as much as possible.

However, most people have more than just “Important” and “Urgent” tasks.  And not everyone has people to whom they can delegate mundane tasks.  So the Eisenhower Matrix could have limited use and value to the average person.  For most people, there are a multitude of things popping and pushing into each day:  work assignments, ideas, instant messages, quotes, chores, errands, emails, snail mail, social media posts, inbox messages, etc.  They interrupt, disrupt, sidetrack, distract, disturb and divert focus and attention.  Because too much is vying for attention, time is wasted and little gets done.  So what is the average person – without a team, staff, personal assistant, executive assistant or even a virtual assistant – to do?  The important, unimportant, urgent, trivial, mundane and random all compete to be seen, heard and addressed.  Mental, digital and physical inboxes overflow. 

That’s why the Get Things Done (GTD) methodology was developed by David Allen.  Allen’s GTD productivity system was first put forth in a book of the same title published in 2001.  Even now, 22 years later, his system is still embraced by many.  It was designed for the personal productivity in the knowledge age.  This approach offers a set of tools, techniques, and productivity recommendations that serve as the framework for achieving “the art of stress-free productivity”, as his tag line explains.  With the GTD system, a person should be able to be more relaxed and creative at work, accomplish more, and keep track of all the relevant things in one’s work and personal life.

Tracking is a key part of GTD.  With the GTD system, the focus is on recording everything relevant (tasks, interests, projects, other relevant information) in one’s mind on paper or digitally, and then breaking the items down into actionable work items.  It’s like a To Do list on steroids.  But the point of that is to keep one’s mind clear at all times.  Whenever something crosses one’s mind – whether it is random, an errand, something to look up, an idea for a future project, a beautiful quote, a chore to be done, etc., it is written down.  There are five basic steps:

Step 1: Collect Tasks / Data Dump

Capturing and documenting every task (so that it lives outside one’s mind) is the key.  Human brains are better at processing data than storing it.  Things can easily be forgotten, especially with information overload.  Building a place to track all thoughts, ideas and action items – referred to as “the second brain” — frees capacity (like processing memory on a computer) thereby maximizing the productivity of intellectual, creative, and analytical tasks.  The human brain is then able to focus on what it does best and leaves the memory / storage part to a computer brain.  And, theoretically, by aggregating all important information in one place, it should be easier to prioritize and focus on what’s most important.  (More about why people don’t always do what’s most important first next week.)

So the first step in GTS is to capture everything that comes to mind:  ideas, tasks, books, articles, notes, errands, chores, etc.).  The unloaded mind will be able to think more clearly and produce better quality results.  But it is vital to just write it all down, not do any of them.  As tempting as it might be to start knocking things off the list, the goal is to capture the information in order to empty the inbox. 

Step 2: Process / Manage Tasks

Next, all items on the list must be sorted between actionable items and non-actionable items. 

If an item is non-actionable, such as a book, article, quote or idea, decide whether to:

• Delete it
• Archive it
• Delay it / Put it on hold

If the item is actionable, decide whether to:

• Do it
• Delegate it
• Defer it

Step 3: Organize tasks

For each item captured / tracked, ask the critical question:  “What should my next action item be?” That is the bulls-eye for the “Getting Things Done” approach.  Capture the item.  Determine if it is actionable or not.  Then decide what needs to happen next (which will require discipline and decisiveness).  Analyze and decide what specifically to do with that idea or task or thought.

For the actionable items, first pass off the items to be delegated right away. Then, for items that can be done in two minutes or less, do those right away, too.  Then, for items that need to be done soon but take more than two minutes, assign a due date.  All time-sensitive items should have a due date.  For those items, add context.  Context includes everything you need to be able to carry out an action.  It can be a place, tool, person’s name, reference information such as contact info, files, documents, or whatever else is needed to accomplish it.  If the supporting items don’t fit in a briefcase, use a book-bag or box.

Step 4: Review actions

At least once a week, review the list and clean it.  Remove irrelevant and completed items.  Add or remove reference information.  Determine if the next steps need to be changed.  The goal of reflecting is to make sure everything is up-to-date. There’s no point of having a superior productivity system if it’s not up-to-date. 

Step 5: Complete tasks

Before working on the selected tasks, ensure you have:

• the right context for the task – everything needed to be able to carry out an action,
• enough time to either complete or move the task forward in a significant way,
• enough energy to work on the task,
• and that the highest-priority tasks are being done first.

Once the preliminary work is done, a person using the GTD system should be able to systematically work through the list quickly and efficiently.  All the preliminary work ensures that tasks can be carried out in the fastest way possible and with the fewest obstacles. 

Based on this system, all tasks should end up on one of these endpoints:

1. Do Immediately – Tasks that take two minutes or less
2. Next Action– Main task list where each item is provided with context
3. Project Planning – Items that need to be broken down into actionable steps and the outcome defined.  These are projects that requires more than two steps to complete
4. Calendar – Items that must be done on or by a certain date or at a certain time
5. Delegate / On Hold – Items that must either be handed off or are waiting for something or someone

Like any system for managing tasks and time, there are pros and cons to it.  Here are the ones most commonly cited for the “Get Things Done” system.

Pros:

1. Tracks all tasks so nothing falls through the cracks.
2. Organizes tasks so it is easier to group and accomplish similar tasks.
3. Keeps mind clear which limits interruptions, increases focus and boosts productivity.

Cons:

1. It can get a little bit complicated.
2. Lack of daily/weekly structure and recommendations for re-prioritizing tasks means a lot of time is spent re-reviewing actions.

If, like so many, you are one who has an overflowing list of things to do and it feels like there is no structure to what comes first or next, try the “Get Things Done” approach for a week.  See if it doesn’t save time and ensure more gets done in an orderly way with greater peace-of-mind.  And don’t forget to consider if these tasks are helping you achieve your goals. 

Next week, we’ll look at a task management strategy that is particularly helpful for procrastinators.  Don’t miss it (unless you want to continue procrastinating, in which case, we’ll see you in two weeks).  Stay tuned.

Quote of the Week

“I recommend that you look at the tasks you are doing throughout your day and ask yourself if these things are bringing you closer to your goals?” Richie Norton

© 2023, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.

The post Improving Management of Time and Tasks,
Part 3 first appeared on Monday Mornings with Madison.