Generalizing Task Management

13Oct10

Time – a very tricky business, I’m afraid… so subjective that the way one person manages it will probably not work for another person. Hence, there’s only one good way of solving this problem: by generalizing.

Tasks greet us at every step in life, so it is essential to figure out how to organize them. Almost everything is a task – meeting a deadline, preparing for an interview, etcetera. They are so diverse, yet all of them seem to fall into two categories.

I call the first category “time tasks.” These include things like the meeting you need to go to tomorrow afternoon, doctor appointments, and so on. What they have in common is that they are supposed to occur at a set time, hence the name “time tasks.”

I don’t have a great name for the other category, so let’s just call them “regular tasks.” These don’t have a set time at which they occur. If you were to need to buy something from the grocery store, for example, that would be a “regular task.”

The only reason why it’s important to separate different types of tasks is so that we can find the ideal method for managing each category.

My methods for managing

As “time tasks” are closely related to a specific date and time, my preferred way of managing them is by using Google Calendar or any other calendar. There, you enter all your tasks and you can clearly and easily see what you need to do and when.

“Regular tasks” don’t have the luxury of being organized by time, so they should be organized by priority, instead. I recently discovered Remember the Milk and have been using it for the past three weeks with great success. RTM’s interface is so streamlined that it will make sure you never forget the milk again (no guarantees).

By using both gCal and RTM, I was able to increase my productivity two-fold. I hope it works for you, too!

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Tags: google, google calendar, remember the milk, tasks, time