Simple – Do or Eliminate by Alheit du Toit

Are you being overwhelmed with tasks on tasks? Are you struggling to keep up with your current deadlines at work?

Well, I’m no expert on time or tasks management. However, I am willing to manage my time and work in such a way as to prevent excessive pressure. We all have 24 hours a day and it all comes down to what you do daily.

The big question is are you productive during your work or are you busy? There is a difference between being busy and being productive. A person can be busy all day and still feel like they are behind on accomplishing goals. Busy people tend to be great at “looking busy” whereas productive people are simply “getting it done”. By determining whether a task is important or not we can ensure that we are productive and not just busy.

How do we determine tasks which are important and are urgent? Well, The Eisenhower Matrix, also referred to as Urgent-Important Matrix, helps you decide on and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. The Eisenhower Matrix works in such a way that once a new task is brought to the front you can priorities the task by urgency and importance in 4 quadrants with different work strategies.

The first quadrant is called the Do first – meaning the task is of high importance and urgent (major tasks). These are tasks that need to be done by today or tomorrow at the latest.

The second quadrant is called Schedule – meaning tasks that are important but less urgent.  A task such as this can be scheduled and completed in due course.

The third quadrant is for those tasks you could delegate – meaning they are less important to you than others but still quite urgent. If someone else can do a task better than you or at least 80% better than you, I give it away.

The fourth and final quadrant is called Eliminate – meaning a task that is not important and not urgent.

So again are you being productive or busy?

We often tend to do tasks that are not important and not urgent (quadrant 4) as it makes one feel that you have been busy and completed loads of tasks during your workday. These are often shorter-term goals of lesser importance. However, this only overshadows the major lurking tasks needed to be completed which are causing all the stress. By identifying your major tasks (quadrant 1)  – the things that really matter and by completing a single major task you have achieved more.

By avoiding these tasks we tend to put ourselves under pressure and stress. It is vital to determine your major tasks which are urgent and important to ensure that you are productive and not just busy. Identify the important things (i.e. set your priorities). By doing this you will:

1. Be more productive and efficient
2. Have less stress and anxiety
3. Get more time back
4. Avoid procrastination
5. Focus on your most important work

To end this a quote by Steve Jobs – “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Skyvines Greetings