Time or Task? You choose How to Get Things Done

When it comes to adding things to the "To Do" list think in terms of describing your goal as a time or a task. Remember we can’t do a project. We have to break it down in to smaller manageable pieces.

Time is when you designate an amount of time in hours or minutes and you simply stop when you are complete. You are free to stop because you have reached your goal and then you can get on with your day or weekend.

Task is when you describe what needs to get done by just one specific area, location or job. This goal is complete when that individual task is finished. It is vital that you are very specific as to what your task goal looks like.

We are often overwhelmed when we approach our goals because everything just looks too big. We spend so much time worrying about getting it all done and we get nothing done.

To avoid this try the following:
1. Think about how you can break things down in to smaller and smaller manageable pieces that are easier to get you started.
2. What are the beginning and the end of the job?
3. Decribe your time or task so you are able to say “yes” or “no” to whether you completed your goal.

Here are some examples of some ways you can approach you’re to do list for different areas of your life:

Garage
Time: Two hours, Saturday morning before noon.
or
Task:
-Sort all sporting goods
-Throw out broken items
-Donate unused
-Store the rest

Bedroom closet
Time: 15 minutes each time I put the laundry away
or
Task:
-Organize all pants on pant hangers by colour, length and season
-Repeat for shirts
-Donate unused items

Desk
Time: 15 minutes at the end of each day
or
Task:
-File two inches of paper from a pile to be filed
-Repeat

By setting your goals by time or task you can free yourself by creating more of a sense of completion to those somewhat overwhelming projects. Do the allotted time or perform the allotted task. It’s your choice.