Have You Ever Done A Task Audit?

Where do most of your tasks come from? Are the majority generated by you or other people?

In a perfect world, most of your tasks would come from you. You would decide what you want to do today and get on and do it. But the world does not work like that. Instead, tasks will come at you from everywhere. If you are not monitoring where your tasks come from, you will likely find yourself doing a lot of work that is either low-value or inconsequential, after all, we like the low-hanging fruit; it's easier to do.

Your areas of focus come first In the hierarchy of tasks. These are the areas of your life that are important to you based on your relationships, finances, career, health, personal development, spirituality, lifestyle, and life's purpose. If you're not working on these and keeping them in balance, you won’t feel great about life.

You can download the FREE Areas of Focus Workbook here →

Next come your long-term goals. Working on your long-term goals today means the tasks required to move them forward are relatively small. For example, a twenty-minute exercise session, fifty dollars saved, or thirty minutes spent learning a skill. Not working on long-term goals today leaves you with mountains to climb in the future instead of small hills today.

Long-term goal tasks usually take little time on a daily basis. How long does it take to transfer $50 to your rainy-day fund? Could you take a twenty-minute break to go for a walk?

Finally, everything else.

Aim for a ratio of 40:10:50. This means out of ten tasks, four should be based on your areas of focus, one on your goals and five from everything else.

When you balance your task list, you will feel considerably less overwhelmed and stressed. You will also feel less anxious and much more in control of what’s going on in your life. Your day will have a sense of purpose.

But it starts with a task audit. Look at what you completed over the last seven days and categorise them into areas of focus, goals, and everything else. If you are in balance, you will feel great. If you are not feeling great and are in balance, that would suggest your long-term goals don’t inspire you or you don't have a clear set of areas of focus that provide you with life's energy every day.

Do a task audit to feel more in control and excited about the day. The goal is to have a balance of 50% personal—working on and for you—and 50% doing your employed work or tasks for other people.

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