Oops...How Did I Forget That Task?
Handling Routine Tasks
After about six months on blog hiatus, I’m finally ready to begin posting again. The non-blog hours of my life have been well spent (being productive of course). Actually, I’ve been very busy! And, in the next few months, I’ll complete the master’s program I started back in 2005. In the mean time though, while thinking about how much I haven’t blogged, I ran across a useful topic that affects just about anyone who struggles with completing routine tasks.
Before I stumbled on Microsoft Outlook task manager, I never wrote down routine tasks, because well, they’re routine. If something is routine, you don’t write it down, right? Routine tasks are second nature, like maybe brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Have you ever gone through your workday and forgotten to check your voice mail, eat lunch, open post office mail, or do some other routine task? When your day consists of completing routine tasks with a combination of ad hoc tasks that may dominate your day and take priority over the routine tasks, your routine tasks may get overlooked. Then by the end of the day you’re wondering, how did I forget to do that task?
Using a program like Outlook (or some equivalent) that you can enable recurring tasks can help you remember the tasks that need to be done regularly. Outlook’s task manager allows you to type in tasks (like a to do list). You can enable the recur feature for regular tasks and when you complete a task that recurs, and mark the task as complete, the same task drops down on your to do list for the next time the task is due. (Hey, I should add posting to this blog as a recurring task!)
New tasks that are not recurring can be added as well to Outlook or written down in a planner or some other area designated for ad hoc, priority tasks. Documenting recurring and ad hoc tasks also will help you decide how to prioritize what needs to get done in your day and what can be moved to other days.
Documenting recurring tasks will help with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks that are easily forgotten in fast-paced environments where recurring tasks are susceptible to neglect.
After about six months on blog hiatus, I’m finally ready to begin posting again. The non-blog hours of my life have been well spent (being productive of course). Actually, I’ve been very busy! And, in the next few months, I’ll complete the master’s program I started back in 2005. In the mean time though, while thinking about how much I haven’t blogged, I ran across a useful topic that affects just about anyone who struggles with completing routine tasks.
Before I stumbled on Microsoft Outlook task manager, I never wrote down routine tasks, because well, they’re routine. If something is routine, you don’t write it down, right? Routine tasks are second nature, like maybe brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Have you ever gone through your workday and forgotten to check your voice mail, eat lunch, open post office mail, or do some other routine task? When your day consists of completing routine tasks with a combination of ad hoc tasks that may dominate your day and take priority over the routine tasks, your routine tasks may get overlooked. Then by the end of the day you’re wondering, how did I forget to do that task?Using a program like Outlook (or some equivalent) that you can enable recurring tasks can help you remember the tasks that need to be done regularly. Outlook’s task manager allows you to type in tasks (like a to do list). You can enable the recur feature for regular tasks and when you complete a task that recurs, and mark the task as complete, the same task drops down on your to do list for the next time the task is due. (Hey, I should add posting to this blog as a recurring task!)
New tasks that are not recurring can be added as well to Outlook or written down in a planner or some other area designated for ad hoc, priority tasks. Documenting recurring and ad hoc tasks also will help you decide how to prioritize what needs to get done in your day and what can be moved to other days.
Documenting recurring tasks will help with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks that are easily forgotten in fast-paced environments where recurring tasks are susceptible to neglect.
posted by CTD at
2:11 AM
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