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Task Manager |
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Whether you consider
yourself a “task manager,” utterly dependant on a task
manager, or desperately in need of one, here are some invaluable
insights that will shed new light on your perception and use of a
task manager.
A task manager is, by design, good at helping
you handle the short-term organization of certain types of
information such as daily action items and to-do lists. But this
organizational efficiency, for all it’s merits, utterly fails at the
primary function of organizing toward long-term
outcomes. People exist in the here-and-now, but we live for the
future. Your method of daily task management has a direct impact
on today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter.
Consider
for a moment, a perfectly organized person – each day
optimally scheduled, prioritized to-do lists, always focusing on the
most important issues first, never over-committing, and maintaining
this optimal organizational efficiency, day after day. Without a
long-term plan, all that organizational effort is virtually
wasted; it’s worth little more than keeping an orderly household and
bills paid on time. To be truly effective in accomplishing the most
important things in your life, however, a task manager must manage
decisions and activities against “the plan.” Failing to do so will
merely create a well-organized path to the wrong destination.
Daily tasks are the little stepping stones to almost
everything we will accomplish and experience in life. Never thought
of that, did you? Well, it’s time to think about it now. It’s
generally not the big, sweeping decisions that drive our lives but
rather the daily tasks and time well spent or squandered that
determines where we are at the end of each day. Add all those days
together and you get years, and eventually, a lifetime. It,
therefore, becomes essential to consciously plan for some of those
tasks to be based on your priorities. Task management falls into
four categories:
Task Management Type #1: Life’s
Maintenance Tasks
These tasks are an essential part of
life, and you already manage them day-in and day-out. They encompass
things like mowing the lawn, going out with friends, or paying the
bills. They’re planned, sometimes well in advance and sometimes on
short notice, but you decide when and how to get them done pretty
much on your own. They will never stop coming, so get good at them
and enjoy checking them off.
Task Management Type #2:
Delegated Tasks
You may receive a lot of these tasks from
your boss or spouse. It’s just a part of life for most of us, so
things like time management and organization skills become very
important, or you could easily spend all your time pursuing someone
else’s agenda and ignoring your own. Learn when to say, “No” and
avoid over-committing.
Task Management Type #3:
Unexpected Tasks
Tasks like filling up the gas tank,
picking up your sick child up from school, or stopping at the store
on the way home occur so frequently that it’s a wonder they’re still
“unexpected.” They are generally unpredictable and need immediate
attention or else something undesirable could happen. Therefore,
they tend to bump other tasks off the daily priority list.
With all those tasks listed above coming at you every
day, it’s little wonder you have no time or energy left for the most
important type of task management…
Task Management
Type #4: Meaningful Tasks
Meaningful tasks are those that
are part of a bigger plan that you’ve designed. Your goals and plans
are comprised of meaningful tasks — the stepping stones to your
goals that make life fulfilling for you. If you haven’t been
managing your goals, then the meaningful tasks that would get you
there are missing for your daily routine. In order to accomplish
your goals in life, you have to have a plan and make time for the
meaningful tasks that are required to achieve your goals.
Creating the “Plan” for the Task
ManagermyGoals.com (this Web site) was designed to help
you set, manage, and achieve the goals that are important to you.
myGoals.com's pre-made GoalPlans®, goal-setting wizard,
and email reminders are extremely effective in creating viable plans
and keeping you on track. GoalPlans are designed to enable you to
break your goals down into small, manageable tasks that you perform
based on a schedule that works for you. This way your meaningful
tasks become a part of your regular routine rather than being pushed
aside by everything else going on in your life.
myGoals.com
first helps you identify the goals that are important to you, and
them create a plan to achieve each goal. Each GoalPlan encompassing
the meaningful tasks—your daily or weekly to do list—is e-mailed to
you at the appropriate time to help keep you on track. There is no
easier, more effective way to manage the tasks and to-do lists
necessary to reach your short- and long-term goals.
To learn more or sign up for a free
trial, visit our goal-setting homepage.
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