Time Management – Tasks

Prioritize

Before we can organize tasks we need to create a list of priorities. This will help us determine the order we need to work on tasks. Here are my list of priorities:

  • Priority 1: Career
  • Priority 2: Exercise
  • Priority 3: SportJumpers (a small software development project)
  • Priority 4: Finance research/learning
  • Priority 5: Real Estate research/learning

I complete the planned tasks under priority 1 before working on priority 2. This doesn’t mean I do ALL of priority 1 before starting on priority 2. I don’t “finish my career” before exercising. I do make sure I fulfill responsibilities at work before exercising. I could exercise before work if I wanted but exercise should not make me late for work. SportJumpers is a small software project that I’m working on. I get my exercise in for the day before working on SportJumpers. If I need a mental break from SportJumpers I watch a youtube video or read a white paper on finance. You also need time to relax mentally. It’s ok to sit and do nothing from time to time.

Managing Tasks

My favorite tasks management tool is Trello. I create a column for each priority (see above). Career is priority 1 so it is closest to the “In Progress” column. For each priority I add all of the tasks that I can think of. When I’m working on a specific task I move it to the In Progress column. When I’m waiting on something/someone else it goes to On Hold and I start on the next tasks. Once the task is complete it goes to the Done column. I find this to be the simplest method for organizing my priorities and tasks. Within Trello you also have the ability to create recurring tasks such as (pay bills, take out the trash, send birthday card, etc.) I also created a column for “Home” to tasks around the house.