Tasks that are not tasks.

In a recent blog post, I wrote about being aware of the tasks you frequently reschedule. We all have them. For me, it’s tasks that are not clearly defined with a precise action verb.

For example, I’ll write something like, “ Consider buying a new camera.” This is not a task, not in the sense that I can do something about it. If I were to consider buying a new camera, it would involve researching the best cameras for what I want to use it for; perhaps an hour on YouTube, watching some reviews, and deciding on a budget would be the task.

When I come to work on my tasks for the day and see a “consider” task, I know I will reschedule it. There’s no urgency or definite purpose, so it’ll get kicked down the road to another day.

This is why you want to write your tasks clearly and concisely. Verbs such as “write,” “call,” and “tidy up” all work.

However, the other types of tasks you are likely to reschedule are tasks that will take a lot of time.

Imagine you decide to clear out your garage. If you were to write “clean out the garage” as a task, you would reschedule it. A task like this is not a task you are likely to be able to do in an hour or two. At the very least, it will take you a morning or afternoon. For something like this, you want to schedule it on your calendar and block the morning or afternoon for doing it.

Rescheduling tasks is not a big issue; your problems begin when you repeatedly reschedule the same tasks. That should trigger you to look at how you write your tasks and whether you are not breaking them down sufficiently into tasks that can be done quickly. (Two hours or less)

Tasks that require a whole morning, afternoon, or all day should be scheduled on your calendar. That way, you will know you have the time necessary to complete them.

When you next do your weekly planning, look at how you have written your tasks and make sure they are clear and realistic in terms of the amount of time you expect them to take.

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