In this short article, I would like to share with you my simple ways of planning tasks. There are so many ways to do it, but what I discovered is that the simplest things work the best. I think it’s counterproductive to spend too much time on short term planning.
Planning doesn’t kill creativity and spontaneity
Before we start its worth notice that being elastic is very important, especially if we talk about short term tasks. I know that some of you will disagree with it, but I think it’s very important to take into consideration your current frame of mind or physical condition. If you feel bad or something happened unexpectedly then there is nothing wrong with the idea to give up on a few tasks and take it easy. Don’t force yourself, of course, if it lasts no longer than one or two days… But it should depend on the person. I usually don’t have problems with motivation or getting things done.
‚Long’ term goals
The first thing to do is to plan your long term goals. For me, long terms goals mean planning for about one year. It’s not that long, yes, but I like changes and life for me is going really fast. It’s nice to know what do you want from life in 3, 5 and 10 years, but I don’t focus on it. Maybe this is an area that I should focus on in the near future. Anyway, don’t make this list too large! ~4 big tasks per year should be enough.
Short term tasks
I plan daily. Every day before I go sleep I take a piece of paper and I wrote tasks for the next day.
Daily tasks should support your long term goals but it’s not a necessity. I like to write also common, private tasks, like ‚clean the room’ or ‚learn Japanese for 45 minutes’.
I split tasks into two columns – ‚important’ and ‚optional’. I try to do every ‚important’ task and at least one ‚optional’ task every day. Why you should force yourself to do 1 optional task? Well, I noticed that when I don’t do it this way then my ‚optional’ tasks list is just growing every single day. When a task is done, I just cross out this task on paper. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Tip: try to keep the list short. Prioritize if you have to!
I know it’s not a sophisticated or ‚professional’ way of handling tasks but simple ways work best for me. What’s your way of handling tasks and goals?