In this article I’m going to explain one aspect of my own personal productivity system.  I always have loads to do and many more tasks and ideas come my way every day. So I had to adopt a system to deal with them.  The one I have chosen is beautifully simple, as the best ones usually are.  So simple in fact, that I was kind of doing these things already.  But the difference now is that I have a definite system and consciously process tasks according to it.

You’ll notice when you read this that there are no special secrets, techniques or skills.  Just a simple way to process your tasks consciously using a system.  The benefit of using a conscious system is that you process your tasks more efficiently and effectively.  The hardest part with this, as with all positive changes you try to make, will be breaking your old habits and adopting new ones.  This requires willpower and discipline, and those are the ingredients you need to add to make this work.

Processing tasks is about making decisions.  Using the system below the idea is to consciously decide: to complete the task – do; not to complete it – delete; ask someone else to do it – delegate; or do it at another time – defer.

The idea with the system is to consciously decide whether to do, delete, delegate or defer tasks. What you probably do some or all of the time now is make unconscious decisions about tasks.  Some you will do straight away, but some will remain on your To-Do-List undone for long periods of time. This is because you have either made an unconscious decision to defer the task or you have made an unconscious decision to put off or avoid making a definitive decision.  Sound familiar?

Now I’ll explain the four elements of the system I use and give you some tips on how I use it effectively.  But remember, this is just one way of using the system and I encourage you to experiment and adapt it to your own needs and preferences.  I constantly adapt and experiment with new methods within the system to find the ways that work best for me.

Do

This is pretty self-explanatory.  One way to clear an item off your list is to do it.  A good rule of thumb to clear a task (or to avoid adding it to your list in the first place) is the Two Minute Rule: if it takes less than 2 minutes to complete a task then just do it now and get it out of the way.  For example, sending or replying to a very quick email.  Sometimes I’ll even do this in a meeting if a decision has been taken to ask someone a particular question or arrange a meeting with someone.  Rather than add this to my to-do-list I’ll take 2 minutes to email them straight away.

Sometimes the dread of a long list of tasks or of one particularly onerous task can prevent us from doing it.  One way to overcome this is to set a timer for 30 minutes and clear as many tasks as you can in that time.  Then take a break, and if you feel like doing more – reset your timer and go again.  You’ll find that once you get going it’s much easier to keep going!!  This seems to work because it gets you over a psychological hurdle.  Even when you’re busy you can spare 30 minutes to work on a task or to-do-list in return for the satisfaction of making some progress on it.  And if it’s an onerous task you can reconcile yourself to only working on it for 30 minutes.

Delete

We all have things on our To Do Lists that have been there for an age and we’ve never done them.  Sometimes it’s because the deadline, opportunity or moment has passed and usually the task wasn’t that important anyway.  So make a decision – if you’re not going to do the task then delete it. (Or delegate it, or make a conscious decision to defer it).

It’s surprising how many tasks on our To Do List are in the ‘decision pending’ category and it can be wonderfully empowering to spend some time just making conscious decisions that get them off the list.

Delegate

Most of us work with other people and some of us might run our own businesses, so delegation is an important skill to learn.  You can’t do absolutely everything yourself.  Luckily there’s a good rule of thumb for delegation too.  It’s related to the Pareto Principle and it goes like this – if someone else can do the task at least 80% as well as you can then it’s suitable for delegation.  This leaves you free to concentrate on tasks that only you can do well.  And in case you have any doubts whether this principle works in reality, think about why many executives have PAs and most offices have admin support workers.  It doesn’t make sense for highly paid experts or professionals to spend time formatting documents or printing and binding papers for meetings.  It is much more cost effective for them to spend their time on the things they are uniquely good at.  And they would only make a mess of the formatting and printing anyway – the admin team are probably 10 times better at it.

Defer/Diarise

There are always things we would like to do but we don’t have the time or the resources available just now.  These kinds of tasks also need a decision.  Are you going to make the time and gather the resources to do it now?  If not you should make the conscious decision to defer the task (assuming that you can’t delegate it).

There are two types of tasks you can defer.  Those that you can diarise for completion at a defined time in the future and those that you would like to do sometime in the future but you don’t know when.  For this second category I use a Someday/Maybe List as recommended by David Allen.  This is just a list you keep for long-term deferral.  Task you might do someday/maybe.

Going back to the first deferral category – diarise – this is a very useful way to manage tasks you want to defer.  It is particularly good for tasks you can’t do here and now because you need to be in a certain place, or have certain resources to do it.

I use my Windows smartphone linked up with Outlook via an Exchange server to run my calendar and manage diarised tasks.  For example: If I have a document or report to read and I know it will take some time, then I schedule one or two hours in my diary to sit down and read it.  Doing this means I defer the reading of the report but with a designated time for completing the task.  I also use the To Do function on my phone because it allows me to set a due date for tasks and set a reminder at a specified time.  This is helpful when a task pops into my head at an inconvenient time, because it gets the task out of my head and also saves me from having to remember it later.

 

Give this system a try for processing your tasks more effectively.  And feel free to feedback any new methods or tips you have for how to make the best use of the system.  As long as you keep to the golden rule of making conscious decisions to do, delete, delegate, or defer there are no other rules about how to use this system, just opportunities to tune it to your own specific needs and preferences.