Today I thought about how I can be more productive and get more important tasks done … no, get more tasks done that have an impact was really what I was looking for. When you have more tasks than you can do everyday, the question is: Which will you do? The simple answer is always: Your priorities. Or in other words: First things first.
I always found satisfaction in knowing that I did the most important things, even when there remained plenty of more things on my „to do list“.
But what do you do, when you have so many important tasks, that even that becomes increasingly difficult? The first thing you may want to do is simplifying your life.
The second thing is to reflect your current time-management. Get clarity on what are my urgent tasks and what are my important tasks. And when I thought about important tasks, I noticed that this is still not enough. Important for me may be still a lot of things, even when I prioritized wisely. The word that came to my mind was …
Impact Tasks
Impact tasks are those tasks that have the biggest positive effect on what you want to achieve. If you complete them, they really change something for the better, they get you noticeably ahead. They have an impact. They make progress.
If you are able to repeatedly identify your impact tasks and then focus there first, you’ll advance the fastest possible.
How to Identify Impact Tasks
1. Create your to-do list for the week or for the day.
2. Then set priorities on the tasks.
3. Then take a good look at them and ask yourself:
Are your top-priorities really important? Obviously they should. (Or maybe are they „just“ fun for you to do?) If not, rework those.
But then think about what impact each of these tasks would have on the long run? Is the completion of them making real progress towards your overall success? Maybe you even have to stand back for a moment and think outside the box: What is the #1 thing you can do that really changes something for the better here? It is a shift towards tasks that really get you ahead.
So take some time to get your head out of the current noise and think about your goals for a moment. What do you have to do to fulfill them now?
Tasks that flow from that kind of thinking usually have the quality of being new or coming from a new perspective. that’s a good thing.
4. Integrate at least one of the new found impact tasks into your daily schedule and give it priority.
Do You Have an Impact?
I’m not saying there are no simple tasks that have to be done on a day by day basis. There are. If there are to many of them and you tend to get lost, then you have to stand back and start to simplify. Maybe you can outsource and delegate tasks. Or maybe there is something you should stop doing altogether. This is always helpful to check to avoid getting overloaded.
What I’m saying is that in order to make progress every day, you have to think and add impact tasks into your schedule. Good Luck!