I tend to put tasks off to just before they are due. I never keep written lists but have always have kept mental lists. Time to start writing those tasks down in order of urgency and checking them off on completion. Sounds like it could keep me more organized and less stressed.
As an instructor I always take care of my urgent tasks first. I then take my most difficult and time consuming tasks to take care of next. I am one of those that keeps a messy desks during my course teaching, but at the end of every course I take time to reorganize and eliminate any mess I created.
Yes I need to recheck my to do list and prioritze my list every day. I have a 5 hour class and I am a TTL in my group so I do all the orders and inventory control. I will help students with training and help rebuild product and try to keep room orgainized. there never seems to be enough time in a day to get it all done. Sometimes this is very daughting!
I will change my order. I often become overwhelmed with the amount of tasks and I will definitely take the idea of writing a to do list to prioritize my tasks to better accomplish what needs to be done.
There seems to be a big cultural push for everything in the "now". Even a picture has to be in the now to be posted on twitter or else it needs to be identified as a retro tweet. We can choose to fall into the spiraling hole of urgency or we can pace ourselves by prioritizing to do lists. There are great apps to follow this model.
I usually do complete my most urgent or time sensitive tasks first. I will begin to push the items that aren't as urgent down further on my to-do list however as I tend to overstress these items.
I usually make a list in order of prioritization at the beginning of the week. To remind me the following week, I sometimes begin the list the Friday before. I then assign dates and times to complete each task on my list and leave extra room for things that come up unannounced.
Ruth, It sounds like you frequently find yourself with many tasks on your plate at once. It also sounds like you take a lot of pride in accomplishing them immediately. That has probably worked well for you and contributed to your success. At the same time, it can also contribute to burn out. If you are ever feeling like you have taken on too much, it's ok to take some time for you every now and then. Doing so could help you actually be more productive when you return to your work.
Dr. Melissa Read
Michael, It sounds like you know yourself well and have a good plan for optimizing your performance. That's great to hear. Note that it's ok to put things off on occasion. The challenge is when it happens all the time.
Dr. Melissa Read
Khalid, It sounds like you have established a healthy process that you can rely on in difficult times. That's wonderful to hear. Yes, sometimes it's nice to knock off a few tasks that can be completed quickly to build your confidence for the more difficult tasks to come.
Dr. Melissa Read
Dr. Read,
Even with prioritizing task while I sit in the control tower, accomplishing task is still a stress issue; considering my views on urgency. As such, the Obstacle of Immediacy is one that I battle with daily, and I attribute this to my personality type. For me it is an addiction. I often hear the stories of others who are addicted to one thing or another, and I never really understood until I examined my way of life.
I am a full time doctoral student, full-time assistant professor at one institution, an adjunct professor at another institution, a wife, mother, and an active community icon. I literally despise procrastination and constantly burn myself out as a result of trying to get things done according to my plan. I find it very difficult to put things off for a later time, knowing those things will be infringing on the time allotted to other tasks; which means added pressure. In addition my philosophy is built on ‘going above and beyond’ in ALL things. As such all my presentations must be above expectations, I set high standards for my students, my assignments must stand out, my class activities must be innovative, I must respond to my students’ email immediately, and the list goes on and on. I am often asked the question, “When are you going to slow down?†and my immediate response is “When I go six feet under.†My husband reports to my friends that during the summer break when my workload slows down, I would take on a major project in the home and go right back to working long hours sleeping for an average of five hours nightly. To top it all off, I am OCD. Therefore, will the principles outlined in this module work in my situation?
I do make a list of tasks that need to be done, and then try to those first that can be done in less time, so that the list gets shorter and I am under less stress. In planning the order in which to do things, I also consider their relative urgency.
I usually do the easier tasks first. I want to get them out of the way, and I feel more accomplished the more I can check off of my list. I need to do the most important tasks first, and do them in order of urgency and importance.
I am aiming to change how I confront tasks associated with my class. I currently suffer from Immeidacy, I felt I was more productive and better organized if I immediately addressed grades, tasks, and concerns ASAP. As I learned in this module, I am tired often and overwhelmed much of the time. I intend to work on this part of my personality.
I find on occasion I do have a tendency to put things off that should be accomplished before other tasks. I would like to incorporate to do lists to help me prioritize my tasks in a more productive manner.
I know that I fall into the procrastination category, I often will give an exam and let it sit on my desk for a day or two before I get to them. I have now started to ensure that I make a checklist of what needs to be accomplished and the priority of each task.
I tend to put off important tasks. They are important but not urgent. I had an 'Aha' moment when I heard Stephen Covey from his 'Habits of Effective People..' book talk about those who spend time in Urgent and Important tasks and then retreat into Unimportant and Not Urgent tasks to seek relief. Not very effective or healthy. It certainly contributes to higher stress levels. Trying now to prioritze and do more planning and preparation so things don't become crisis. and sying No to certain activities that are not important.
I am a long time list maker. I make to-do lists almost every day. I like to think I keep a balance between too much immediacy and too much procrastination. I teach a lot Monday thru Thursday, so Friday thru Sunday is my time to complete most of my to-do list tasks. I wouldn’t say that I always prioritize them based on importance. I usually group them together based on topics. For example, each weekend I have to grade any tests or assignments from the week, update student attendance records, email this info to my school director, back up my computer, and fill out a student blog with review material from the week. So that stuff falls under the topic of school tasks. I usually have household tasks to do (cooking, cleaning…) and relaxation tasks (reading, exercising…). I tend to get everything done in one topic before moving on to the next topic. This works well for me as long as the tasks are relatively small.
Where I have trouble is prioritizing large tasks that take several days/weeks to compete. For example, I’ve had to research and contact businesses to expand our hiring contacts for students. I’ve had to research and contact local high schools to expand awareness of our school. These types of projects that take a long time to complete are the ones I’m most likely to keep putting off. I like the satisfaction of completing small tasks, so the ones that seem to never end for me often never even begin.
I also have a bit of a problem with immediacy for task completion. As a previous OR nurse, it was ingrained in me that a lot of things had to accomplished immediately and that is the habit I have used in my professional career. It is nice to be able to see from this discussion that I just need to start setting priorities and I can hopefully get out of that cycle. Mindy Smith
Victor, It's important to put out any fires so I understand your approach. Fires are the priority. After those burning issues are taken care of, you can then move to a more organized approach.
Dr. Melissa Read
