July 21, 2011<\/p>\n
We all get too carried away with setting deadlines on tasks, either explicit or implied\u2014and then we feel bad when we don\u2019t meet them. I feel we should use deadlines much less often, and we should even avoid implied deadlines\u2014like that implied by a \u201cdaily task list.\u201d Otherwise we are breaking \u201cpromises\u201d all day long and we lose respect for our own abilities. The reason? Priorities change too fast to schedule deadlines for everything.<\/p>\n
For example, it feels proactive for us to create a long list of tasks that we are \u201cgoing to do\u201d today even if they’re not absolutely required<\/em> today. That\u2019s what most people do\u2014they call it their daily tasks list and it creates an implicit deadline of today for everything on the list. But then we all feel regret when, because other more important things pop in that day, we finish only a few of the original tasks. And so each day we push the incomplete tasks forward to the next day, and when we do that day after day, we feel guilty\u2014like we are not meeting our expectations.<\/p>\n All of this comes from getting carried away with deadlines. In my opinion, the only deadline that has any real significance is what\u2019s absolutely due today<\/em>. Why?\u00a0 Because things change too fast. Urgencies come and go. Priorities change, interests change, realities change. So, in my opinion, the only date that is really a reliable deadline is something that you know, and have confirmed, is absolutely due today. Everything else should be considered only as a candidate<\/em> for today, but not something you\u2019ll beat yourself up over.<\/p>\n And that’s exactly what the MYN system <\/a>allows. It has a category, called Critical Now, which sits at the top of the list. You only put items there that are absolutely<\/em> due today\u2014they are so critical you would work till midnight if not done. Nothing else goes in that Critical Now list and it is very short. You rebuild that list each day since it empty at the end of each day. And then you put everything else is a general \u201cstart this week\u201d group (called Opportunity Now), or in a \u201cstart next week or beyond\u201d group called Over the Horizon. You then pick from those lists after critical things are done. It\u2019s simple, it works, and you don\u2019t beat yourself up every day over false failures.<\/p>\n Now, of course you’ll have some projects that may have true deadlines coming up that you need to plan ahead on. And certainly you should attend to those deadlines in advance. But such cases are usually the exception rather than the rule. Most other to-dos become a flexible mass of changing priorities, morphing from day-to-day into new goals, imperatives, emergencies, and so on, all based on the changing nature of your business. So I say, rather than beat yourself up over deadlines that became meaningless later, recognize this nature of work and adjust your to-do list accordingly. That’s what the MYN system<\/span> <\/a>does. It sorts tasks into their appropriate urgency zones and gives you a way to track them appropriately. Start using it today.<\/p>\n Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" July 21, 2011 We all get too carried away with setting deadlines on tasks, either explicit or implied\u2014and then we feel bad when we don\u2019t meet them. I feel we should use deadlines much less often, and we should even … Continue reading