118 - Productivity #5 - Dividing Your Tasks Into Different Kinds of Work

Organize 365 Podcast

Lisa Woodruff

Lisawoodruff, Education, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship, Business

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2016

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

All work is NOT created equal. Before you listen to the podcast this week, make a giant list of all the tasks you want and need to get done. Then listen in to discover how to re-organize your to-do list to get the most done.

There are 4 kinds of tasks that end up on my to-do list. Here is a brief synopsis of each one:

1. Ideas - Oh boy, do I have a BUNCH of ideas! Instead of putting my ideas on my to-do list, I jot the idea on a scrap of paper and toss it into my Sunday Basket. Then every 2-3 weeks, I read through my ideas and 80% end up getting tossed in the garbage.

2. Repetitive tasks I can be easily distracted from while doing them - Laundry, dishes, bill paying, cooking, grocery shopping, yard work, etc. These never-ending repetitive tasks can easily be done while listening to a podcast or beside my husband or kids while chatting with them. I save these tasks for Sundays and evenings when the family is home.

3. Focused work - These are the big things on your to-do list that would make a difference in your home, family, or career, but they require silence and focused work to get them done. Often, these are the items that move from list to list because we don't have the time to do them. NEWS FLASH, the time is never going to magically appear. Sorry.

To change your life and get big things done takes prioritization and time. Start by finding 30 minutes a day to put toward your focused work. Just ONE goal. Then work your way up to 2-4 hours a day. This is NOT easy, but SO worth it! It will feel weird pulling that time from other areas, but once you accomplish one goal you will be hooked!

4. Thinking time - This is not a to-do on your list, but I find if I do not have any time for my mind to wander - while I am driving, walking the dog, or doing the dishes - I get cranky. I need time to think and dream about possibilities and solutions. I am an entrepreneurial creative type and we need lots of time to think. You might need some planned thinking time, too!

For all the links to all the posts in the productivity series go here: www.organize365.com/productivity

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Organized 365 Podcast. My name is Lisa Woodruff and I'm a professional
0:07.4	organizer and blogger in Cincinnati, Ohio. I want to help you get your home
0:12.1	organized and help you organize life stages and
0:15.8	unexpected events. So sit back, relax, and let's get organized. This is productivity, podcast number five.
0:26.0	So the first four weeks of productivity, we talked about what is productivity?
0:31.0	Productivity is really understanding your time better,
0:34.5	understand you have more time than you think, thinking about your time as a little
0:39.2	envelopes of time that you can use in different ways and really finding pockets of time.
0:44.0	And then in week two I talked to you about like why would you want to be more productive
0:49.0	anyway because like I like to be productive on vacation and my husband doesn't think that's very much
0:54.7	fun so why do you want to be more productive? Then I talked to you about planning your
1:00.4	week thinking about your week planning it out in, and how that really multiplies your time, just that act of planning.
1:07.0	And then last time we talked, I talked to you about checklists, making checklists, routine checklists that you could do on a
1:16.5	weekly or monthly or yearly basis so that you don't forget things.
1:20.9	Now this week I want to talk to you about something that I naturally do and I'm sure
1:26.2	I've heard it in many many different places I want you to now start thinking about the
1:31.3	things that are in your Sunday basket the things that are on your to-do list the things that are on your to-do list the things that are in your Sunday basket, the things that are on your
1:33.8	to-do list, the things that are on your calendar, as four different kinds of tasks that you need to do.
1:41.4	So here are the four different kinds of tasks that I do every single day.
1:46.4	One is focused work and this is where I've really been able to grow my business, make inroads in our family, productivity, and the goals I have for our kids.
1:57.2	This is what I did to make my marriage stronger.
2:00.5	I feel like I have a really good marriage because I focus attention on our
	...

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