I have a lot of different positions and jobs: psychologist, accountant, lawyer, writer, reader, mother, housewife... All are countless. In addition, I have a terrible trait: responsibility. I always try to do too much, even beyond what can be done in a day. And after all, no one canceled arising during the day all sorts of surprises and surprises.
Of course, the blockage of cases worries and unnerves: you do not know what to grab, and they only continue to accumulate.
In the end, regularly get into a situation where things on all fronts accumulate-accumulate... and their was already clearly so that not to pull.
The last such blockage happened because of objective life circumstances, and at some point it became clear that I can not cope, and all the previous methods like reminders in the phone, for some reason did not work anymore. That's when I had to reinvent the wheel and look for new ways to manage the whole bunch of cases. Now I have more or less already raked everything, made sure that the methods are not bad, and now I will tell you about them.
One caveat: not a word about how to force yourself to do things is another story. Here we take it for granted that you have everything in order with motivation and procrastination, just a lot of cases accumulated.
Way to # 1: break on small steps
We take any task and break it into smaller steps: into very small ones!
Why is it effective:
• The larger the task, the more time it takes to complete it. When in a situation of a blockage from Affairs of time in principle is not enough, such tasks are constantly postponed for later-and as a result aren't made at all.
* If some business is not performed, and constantly postponed, it gradually turns into a" moral leech " and begins to cause only unpleasant emotions. The chances of its implementation are reduced.
* Breaking down into small steps helps to find time and motivation not to lose.
* Two options: either you do nothing, or you do, but a little bit. Which is better? It was a rhetorical question that needed no answer.
Method # 2: find tasks that are actually projects
Partly it seems on previous point, but a bit Pro another. Sometimes we misjudge a case as a task when it is a large project of several tasks.
For example:
Was: "Preparing for trip to Holland".
Since I'm not going for the first time, I perfectly understand what this task consists of, and it looks to me like a task, even if not a small one. But it was impossible to cope with it, because when you have only 15 minutes, for example, what exactly do you do? No time to choose) to Postpone for later!
For even more difficult temporary conditions, compared to mine, it would be possible to break each of them into small steps, for example, the same "visa Documents" would turn into "Find a list of documents", "Fill out a questionnaire", "Take a certificate of finances" and so on.
Why is it effective:
• All the same advantages as in the paragraph about small steps
* Allows you to more accurately assess your workload for each day. When you have 5 minutes, you can make an appointment at the visa application centre. And when there is 20-the do photocopies passports for Embassy.
* Less remorse that you do not do this or that business: now you realize that this is not one small thing, but a bunch of small things, each of which requires your strength, time and resources.
Method # 3: allocate a separate time
Here is direct just don't know where and how you conduct your schedule, if at all, do it, but if you want to deal with some "do not have time to read a book at work" — write it a duration of half an hour. Wriggle out will be much harder.
Way to # 4: to develop prioritization and to separate important from urgent
In short the crux of the matrix: all Affairs can be divided on criterion "important" and " urgent." Do not confuse the two, they are different; and often people think that urgent is the same as important. An urgent matter is one that has a deadline.
For example: "call before 14:00 to the Bank" - it is urgent, but it is probably not so important, if you call there tomorrow, nothing will change. And "write down client cases for today" is not urgent, but it is important, because otherwise you will not remember anything and will not be able to prepare for the next session.
In the usual Eisenhower matrix, depending on the combination of important/urgent, need something to do right now, but something you can delegate or forget.
I suggest not to bother much, but to use only the criterion of "important", and in the context of what is important, valuable and necessary for you personally. If you make this case number one, how much closer will it get to how you want to live?
Is it important for you to be a caring mother or a responsible Manager? Choose the appropriate cases that meet this desire. Choose from the to-do list the one that will best allow your care or responsibility to manifest itself, and start right with it.