Tag Archives: tasks

9 reasons why it is important to finish tasks

By Kate Davis | Published: January 23, 2012
Fourth rail bridge

Photograph by flickrtickr2009

I’m a big fan of “little and often” because it helps to reduce the resistance associated with big tasks and means you don’t work on one task to the exclusion of other tasks. However, I have realised recently that my task list is not getting shorter because I work on a task, cross it off and then add it on to the end of the list; if I want to reduce the length of my task list I need to actually complete some of the tasks. The oldest two outstanding tasks I can think of are a dress I was making for a wedding in 2006 and the thank you cards from when my daughter was born; she is now 3 and I’ve had a second baby!

I’ve been thinking about this over the last few weeks and compiled a list of reasons why it is important to finish tasks. In the hope that I’m not the only person with outstanding tasks I’m sharing the list to inspire you to finish tasks.

It is important to finish tasks:

  • so you don’t waste time working out where you were

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How I plan my day – update April 2011

By Kate Davis | Published: May 3, 2011

My personality means I like to learn and make improvements, this means I usually have an interest in new things (although I consider if they offer worthwhile improvements to my current methods or items before investing time or money in them). This has resulted in changes to how I plan my day since I last wrote about it in June 2007. It has actually been a gradual process for me, but compared to four years ago the differences are significant.

1. Review my notebook / daily log

Example page in my third log bookMy first task is to review my notes from the previous day. This enables me to add missing information to my notes (for instance I was interrupted and didn’t finish what I was writing), identify actions for other people as well as myself and categorise my notes. This provides a real sense of control that I am not going miss anything.

The actions are:

  • read through notes and in left hand column write a category for notes and actions (in red)
  • transfer actions for me to my task list
  • transfer actions for other people as future follow up reminders in Outlook
  • add the category and page numbers in the notebook index.

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My new favourite productivity tool – paper clip bookmarks

By Kate Davis | Published: January 31, 2011

Sometimes you stumble across an item or idea that increases your productivity. Recently for me, it was a gift I was given for Christmas that I understood would be useful, but did not appreciate how it would help my productivity until the last week.

The official name is Multi-Reference Bookmarks, but they are essentially small bookmarks that work like paper-clips, holding the edge of the page. Originally, I had two plans; bookmarks and reference points within my journals as I reread them. Multi Reference BookmarksFor some reason I put a packet in my handbag and it ended up on my desk at work. In a moment of inspiration I realised they would help me prioritise my tasks.

I currently have a long task that I work through using the rules of AutoFocus by Mark Forster. I use these arrows to highlight the three tasks I want to work on during the day, either because they are urgent or important. They are colourful so they stand out, the little cut out means not all the text is hidden and it is clear when I’m on a different page and not working on my key tasks because the edge of the arrow sticks out slightly.

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Dealing with short term urgent tasks

By Kate Davis | Published: April 1, 2010

There are times when you feel overwhelmed with tasks; everything is urgent.  So what do you do? How do you choose what task to work on? You could choose the task with the nearest deadline, the one you like the best or the one you are being nagged to complete the most.

I’ve just finished a busy time at work and I’ve frequently felt overwhelmed with my urgent tasks as we approached the end of the financial year. Most days my AutoFocus system works wonderfully, but at times times my mind is so preoccupied with urgent tasks the thought of using that list just adds to my bewilderment.

Identifying the key tasks

When I start feeling overwhelmed (it could be first thing in the morning or at any time during the day) I put aside my task list and get another piece of paper. I spend sometime capturing the worries in my head and writing them as tasks. This means giving them an action word such as read, write, talk, so when I reach the action I know exactly what I need to do with no need for further analysis. It also helps to identify all the tasks that are concerning me. For instance, instead of adding blog to my list I would have:

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Don’t forget maintenance actions

By Kate Davis | Published: September 11, 2009

It’s easy to identify an action or goal; sometimes it’s easy to complete them and cross them off your list. However, it is the maintenance actions that really make a difference. For instance, in terms of losing my pregnancy weight I could just think about reaching my pre-pregnancy weight, but the real desired outcome is to maintain that weight. This means when I reach that weight I don’t stop exercising, instead I move to the maintenance level of exercise and diet.

This is currently on my mind because I am in the process of reinstalling software on to my laptop after I reformatted at the weekend. Yes, less than two months since I bought it. After buying the laptop, my first tasks were to remove Vista and install XP, remove the preinstalled  software I didn’t want and to install AVG antivirus. Then I moved on to the business of installing other software and moving across my files.

Unfortunately it seems something went wrong either with the installation of AVG or with my settings so in the last two months a full scan had not taken place and I did not check.  Even though I spent a lot of time in AVG to work out why the email scanner was not working I didn’t notice the main antivirus hadn’t run until I had been infected by at least one virus (the one I noticed redirected my google searches).

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  • About

    My name is Kate Davis and I'm working towards a happier and successful life and this blog follows my journey. I work almost full time as an environmental consultant and project manager and I'm the mother to a beautiful two year daughter.

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