Sometimes, we postpone a small task to give room for a bigger one. Does this action help us?
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
How do you get anything done? People often ask me this question when I tell them I am a full-time employee, a husband, and a father to five kids. Oh wait, did I mention coaching the kids’ soccer teams?
All things considered, if it is important to you, you will make time for it. Schedule all your activities and make them visible to track. I use a planner at work and a white board at home to schedule my tasks.
There is no one answer for all, you can use whatever tool you have. Some people use Outlook; some use sticky notes. No matter what tool you use, keep it visible; otherwise, you are most likely not going to get it done.
In the end, we must follow up with our tasks. Once we schedule them, we must make an effort to complete them. The postponement of scheduled tasks may negatively impact us in three ways.
We Performance at a Low Capacity
When we postpone a scheduled task, more job keep coming. Before we know it, we have a pile of tasks with passed due dates or close deadlines. Once that happens, we fall into the trap of multitasking to get them done.
Yes, a trap. Based on a study conducted by Zheng Wang, “multitasking may hurt your performance, but it makes you feel better.” It gives us a false image of fulfillment, even though we are less productive.
We may feel satisfied when watching our favorite TV show while chatting with a friend on the phone. Let me ask you, are you going to remember all the scenes of the show and the full content of the conversation you had with that friend?
We Lose Energy
Also, to be more productive we need energy. With the busy lives we have in today’s era, multitasking only drains the little energy we have. If we keep on piling our tasks, we may not know where to start anymore.
Instead, conserve your energy by focusing on one task at a time. How can we do that? Schedule one job and commit yourself to the time frame you said you were going to start and finish it.
If you are a project manager, you may have overlapping tasks. When dealing with this type of tasks, distribute your energy wisely. One task may need more energy than the others at a given time.
We Lose Interest
Consequently, if you have many tasks and not sure where to start, you may start to lose interest. Of course, we are not going to do anything we are not interested in doing.
Strangely enough, we gradually start to become comfortable with not doing those tasks. I encourage you to reverse this feeling of losing before you reach the point of being comfortable with the act.
Get emotionally attached to your tasks if you want to achieve them. Make yourself accountable for not completing any of your duties. Only by then, you will be able to take them seriously.
Question: How would you push yourself to complete your task? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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