To-dos are the worst thing talking about planning.
They quickly appear, grow, reproduce, and kill you.
Here, you have the perfect approach to dealing with them.
Why To-Dos Equal Hell
To-dos appear from nowhere.
Suddenly, you’re surrounded by hundreds of them.
You begin losing control.
You don’t know how to prioritize, what comes next.
You’re collapsed.
To-Dos…
- …take you away from your goals, but you need to-dos to accomplish them.
- …are a source of insecurity because you usually think you’re missing something.
- …are a source of anxiety because it’s pretty easy to feel overwhelmed.
How can you manage this unavoidable scenario?
Why Projects Are Not the Solution
Projects are usually too big and with a broad scope.
They’re so big that they quickly become an abstraction not easy to deal with.
Let’s make it simpler and see it like this: a project is just a group of tasks, each of them full of to-dos.
As simple as that.
Why Tasks Are the Solution
Tasks fill the space between projects and to-dos.
They’re the perfect size.
A size big enough to give you a wide clear perspective, but not so big you feel you lose control of the situation inside something abstract.
Tasks are concrete elements.
Tasks allow you to use time blocking because you can complete them in 2–3 hours. Just in one sitting!
Tasks are time blocks full of coherence, easy to plan on your calendar, so flexible you can manipulate them as lego blocks.
Why Tasks Are So Easy to Create
Tasks are so easy to define because you use your common sense.
Intuition always wins.
Based on different criteria, they force you to begin grouping your “crazy” to-dos.
Tasks allow you to start seeing the forest.
How You Start Grouping To-Dos Into Tasks
I insist, just follow your common sense.
Yet, I give you some inspiration:
- Sequentiality. If some to-dos have dependencies and need to be executed sequentially, one after another, group them in a task.
- State of mind. If some to-dos need a special state of mind, group them together. For example, I have a task named “Administration Little Tasks”, where I group all those damn little administration tasks I hate.
- Similar skills to perform. If some to-dos need a particular skill such as rationality or creativity, try to group them all together.
Takeaways
- Tasks became a life-changing element in my life.
- They’ll force you to batch items, one of the best ways to be productive.
- They’ll eliminate bad feelings, such as uncertainty or anxiety.
- They’ll move you from hell to heaven.
- Bet on them!
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.