The daily task plan: how to pick your MITs

I’ve written before about the benefit of making a short daily list of high-priority tasks that you will aim to do in addition to your regular work and before other items on your master to-do list.  This type of list is sometimes referred to as a “Most Important Task” list (MIT).   

In that original post, I gave a short list of criteria to help you pick your MITs.  Since then, I’ve added a few more, so an update is due. 

Three criteria by way of Captain Obvious. 

Tasks related to your high-priority work.

    Examples: 

• Drafting the discussion for a paper.
• Finalizing arrangements for the conference you are organizing. 
• Revising the PowerPoint slide deck for next week’s talk.

Tasks that have a "hard" external deadline of today.

    Examples: 

• Today is the last day to submit the application for a leadership program.
• Your VISA bill is due today and you don’t want your credit rating to suffer by being late.

Tasks that you have promised someone you will do by today.

    Examples:

• Bake brownies for the first-grade class.
• Send comments on the manuscript.
• Really, anything you have promised to do, and there is no longer time to renegotiate your agreement.

Two criteria that are not so obvious.

Tasks that start a chain of events leading to an important outcome later.

    Examples: 

• Sending your travel expense to get reimbursement more quickly so that you can minimize credit card interest 
• Starting the IRB application process at the beginning of a project, even though approval will not be needed for several months.
• Emailing your friend in North Dakota to see if she will be there when you visit the area in 3 months.

Tasks that will prevent the need to do something else over and over in the future. 

    Examples:    

• I recently took the time to research, install and set up the Calendly app, which allows my coaching clients to set up sessions on their own. Now I save the time I used to spend going back and forth by email to find times to meet and then creating outlook invites and zoom links.  I’m so happy!
• Taking the time to delegate a task to someone else so that you don’t have to do it anymore.

One criteria that may be controversial, but I stand by it!

Tasks you have been putting off that you are so stressed about you don’t think you can focus on anything else. 

• Once I do such a task, I can peacefully move on to the "real" important stuff.
• The risk: Using as an excuse to do a series of tasks that are small or easy that you are not stressed about so that you never get to the rest of the MIT’s.
• The rule:  You only get to put one of these in the MIT list per day!

What to do today. PART 3 Triage new tasks

Welcome (or welcome back) to the Thriving blog.

First,  you may have noticed a problem with internal links in the last post -- as in a blank screen, or some other unintelligible response.  A Blogger program upgrade may have been the problem.  I'm hoping its fixed - but let me know if you encounter problems ( susan@susanjohnson.com ).  In case today's links don't work, I've include the title and the date of any old posts referenced. 

Second, devoted readers (who have really  long memories) will notice that I changed the promised topic for today.   I am always on the lookout for improvements, and today's new topic just works better.

Finally, a reminder that you can receive these posts  directly by email.  Just sign up in the little box on the top right of this column. I am very considerate of your time, and only post occasionally.  (This is the best rationalization for procrastination I have ever concocted!)

The Daily Plan, reviewed

The basic method

If you have been following the method I have been describing for planning your day, you have had lots of practice by now in identifying (and hopefully completing) tasks that MUST be done today, and three tasks you AIM to do today.

Is the plan working for you?

MUST do today

You are using "MUST" correctly if tasks are not falling through the cracks, and, you only rarely defer MUST do items to the next day.  The first means you are identifying really must do's, and the second, that you are not including tasks that really don't  have to be done today.  Remember that there is not "right number" of must do tasks;  the number depends on what has to be done.

AIM to do today

You have been limiting yourself to no more than three tasks, and as a result, you (almost) always select tasks related to high priority work. 

Why your perfect plan goes wrong

Your day would now be perfect, but  instead, new tasks show up throughout the day and your carefully made plan gets derailed. 

Triage will help get you back on course.

How to triage new tasks

Triage is (originally) the medical care practice of sorting persons with injuries into those who need immediate treatment and those who can wait; it originated in war time practice, and is used by emergency rooms everywhere.  

You can use the method of triage for new tasks that show up as well - no injuries required.

The core question is obvious: "Does this new task need to be dealt with now, or can it wait until later?" 

If you have a daily plan, you can use it to answer this question in a way that better preserves your priorities:

1. Ask yourself if this new task is something that MUST be done today.  If so, add it to your MUST do's.  Remember, be stringent!
2. If it does not have to be done today, ask "is this task MORE IMPORTANT than the tasks on my AIM to do list?"   If it is, swap out one of the three tasks you had previously selected, and replace it with this new task. By forcing yourself to make this swap explicitly (by re-writing the plan) you will be more likely to make a good decision.
3. If the new task does not need to be done today, and is not more important than remaining items you have aimed to do, write it at the bottom of the plan. You can call this section of the plan "to do when I am done with my musts /aims."

Here is what a "triaged" daily plan would look like (new tasks added in red)

This is the end of the Daily Plan posts. I've love to know if you find this method helpful, if something is not clear, or if you have a better idea.




Contact me directly by email (Susan@susanrjohnson.com)  or by using the comment feature on this post.

What to do TODAY, Part 1: Tasks that must be done today.

"Work, not contemplating work, brings satisfaction..."

    

                             Kenneth Atchity (A Writer's Time, 1995)  

Defining your values and mission, setting goals and priorities, planning for priority work, and getting organized all contribute to a happy, productive life.  Each is an element of the contemplation of work.

But unless you actually DO things, you  won't "get no satisfaction."  (Apologies to Mick and the boys.) 

Today's post is the first in a series about what to do today.  You can begin using this approach even before you have organized, planned, or set goals and priorities.  

You can start using this approach today.

I'm going to use the following categories to classify all the possible "candidate" tasks (i.e. work) for a given day:

1. Tasks that must be done today  (urgent and important)
2. Tasks you would very much like to do today (important but not urgent)
3. Tasks related to regular routine work   ("today's work") 
4. New tasks that show up to triage (often in the form of interruptions)
5. Other tasks i need to do sometime (the rest of your to do list)

You'll notice that for the first two categories I have parenthetically referred to the "quadrants" concept popularized by Stephen Covey . If you are familiar with this idea, you will see that the first category represents items that would fall in Quadrant I, and the second, in Quadrant II.

Let's start at the very beginning...

Category 1, Tasks that must be done today.

This category is first on the list because these tasks have the highest priority for the day.  Surprised?   Do you think that the second group, "important but not urgent" tasks should come first?  Read on.

Here are 3 sample tasks, and the back stories that put them on the "must be done today" list:

• call Jim about the conference planning meeting to be held 6 weeks from now 

        The back story.  Jim has been out of the office until today, and I know that he is leaving for a long vacation to Thaliand tomorrow.  Today is the only opportunity to talk to him.

• pay my VISA bill 

        The back story.   The bill is due in 3 days;  it takes that long for the payment to get there electronically;  if it is late my credit rating will suffer and I won't be able to buy that big new house I have been planning.  If I don't do it today, something bad will happen.

• bake cookies for tomorrow's 4th grade bake sale

        The back story.    I  signed up to do this on the first day of school,  before I realized how busy I would be this month.  But, I made a promise, and it is too late to re-negotiate or delegate the task.    

• submit my abstract for an upcoming professional meeting, as the due date for submission is today

        The back story.   Getting an abstract accepted for this meeting is important for my career, and it has an externally imposed deadline of today . 

FAQ 

How many "must do" tasks should I have each day?

If you are following my argument, you will immediately understand that the number is not predictable:  it depends on how many tasks MUST be done today.  Some days you will have a bunch, and other days you will have none.  

Shouldn't I be able to eliminate this category if I focus more on the second category (important, not urgent)?

No!   It is true that some deadline related tasks can be done earlier, and so the more of these you do in advance the fewer items will be in the "must do today" category.  But some things simply can't be done in advance, and, the circumstances of our lives simply don't allow for everthing that could be to be done in advance.   

Can you be more explicit about why this category is a higher priority than the "important but not urgent category?

Sure.  First, each of these tasks has been certified by you as having importance, and failure to do them will result in measurable harm to yourself or others, or, an imporatnat opportunity will be lost.

Second,  once you have completed these tasks -- preferably as early in the day as possible -- you will feel successful and energized.  Just the state you need to be in to work on those "important, not urgent" tasks.  

Why can't I "cheat" and put an important, not urgent task on this list?

Hah! The part of your brain that does not like to work will always know you are cheating.  Including these items will lead the "must do" list to lose its power, because the brain "sees" that not every item really must be done today.  Once that happens, the entire list is likely to be ignored.  Remember, we will talk about a way to incorporate category 2 items into every day -  so stick with me through the full set of posts. 

How to set up your "must do today" list

1. At the end of each day (or the beginning of the next), take a look at your calendar and to do /deadline lists, and then inventory any items floating around in your head.

2. Ask:  "Are there are any tasks here that must be done today?"

3. To clarify, ask "if I don't this task, will...

     ... I have lost the only opportunity to do it?
     ... something bad happen?
     ... I have broken a promise to someone?
     ... I have lost the chance to do something important to me?"

4. Write down the must do tasks in a visible place. 

I'll discuss list options in a later post, but for now write your "must do's" anywhere that you are sure you will look at: a piece of paper or pad,  a sticky note stuck to your computer screen, an index card, a white board, the note section of your calendar (on today's date!), or -- a method used by a past workshop participant - written on you hand with a fine point Sharpie marker.  (I am assured that the latter holds up to several hand washings per day).  

5.  Cross each off one as it is completed.

Got it?  Take out a paper and pencil, and start now!

 

Learn more about it.  See Micheal Linenberger's Mastering Your Now (MYN), Note that he uses the term "Critical Now" to refer to "must do today."

Next post:  Category 2 -  tasks you would very much like to do today (important but not urgent)

** If you have a specific question or issue you would like to see here, add a comment to any post, or send the question to me directly at susan@susanrjohnson.com