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jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28238
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:00 am Post subject: Important but not urgent

	Important	Not important
Urgent	y	?
Not Urgent	?	n

How well do people deal with the important but not urgent part of the box?
I am feeling quite pleased at the moment having found some time to deal with some of those nagging issues, but confess I don't time manage well in this regard

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:08 am Post subject:
Since its really difficult to prioritise the important but not at all urgent over the really urgent but not important, such stuff tends to be put to one side until its either urgent, or more likely, overdue...

Fee

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:44 am Post subject:
I've been doing some Important but not Urgent stuff this week, it's a nice feeling when you do get round to it, isn't it, takes away that lingering sense of having stuff to do, while shortening the to-do list too. I do feel that the important non-urgent stuff does suffer over the not important urgent stuff, when it shouldn't.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:49 am Post subject:
Agree and somethimes the effect is to make the firefighting easier. e.g. I could work better if this desk was tidied but I'm too busy with important stuff to do that. I find lists helpful.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:51 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

I find lists helpful.

I asked a list to help me do some weeding once, it never replied, that's not helpful

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:53 am Post subject:
In my world they're magic.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:54 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

In my world they're magic.

Magic and helpful? Well how come mine's such a miserable bleeder?

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 11:58 am Post subject:
Who's going to tell him? Enough of the hijack, how do you cope?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 12:04 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

how do you cope?

Not very well. I tend to tackle tasks based on how much I want to do them, luckily I have the ability to work accurately and quickly under pressure so manage to meet most deadlines. Also not bad at multi tasking, it doesn't bother me if I'm working concurrently on 4 or 5 major projects (like now).

Fee

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 12:12 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I work on multiple projects at the same time. For example, now, while I'm doing some graphics in Photoshop for one project, I think I might aswell do bits for another while I'm here...until the Mafia Grafia gets in the way (see, there's an example of non-important, urgent, well, urgent in a certain sense

taking precedence).

I'm a big list-maker. I now have one overall to-do list, which is a Google homepage sticky (highly recommended!).

Like tahir, I also tend to do tasks based on how much I want to do them. I make lists, but I didn't say I completed items on the list in order

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46244
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 12:20 pm Post subject:
i do urgent and important then wait and see which box the others move into therefore i only do important and urgent , however urgent can be planning ahead and doing before it is last moment ( or worse too , late )

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 1:01 pm Post subject:
I make lists and lose them. I then spend half a morning looking for the list and then when I find it decide I don't want to do anything on it anyway.

hedgewitch

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 1:16 pm Post subject:

I'm learning to love lists. I have multiple projects too and was wasting too much time batting around between them and not being very productive. I've started to block out the week with urgent things, then get on to important that will become urgent when that lot are done.
Part of me hates the lack of freedom, but another part is just relieved to not have so much on my mind. I find doing one thing at once then moving on to the next thing really works for me. This probably sounds daft to anyone else, but my brain has a habit of thinking of many things at the same time and I find this exhausting when I have a lot of different tasks on different projects to get through.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28238
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 1:31 pm Post subject:

tahir wrote:

Behemoth wrote:

how do you cope?

I really hate multiple projects, much prefer to obsess in a single tracked fashion.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 07 1:33 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

I really hate multiple projects, much prefer to obsess in a single tracked fashion.

That's my failing. Give me one big project and I just sort of seize up, I like to dip in and out of things, otherwise I become really bored and somewhat ineffective.

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