Dr. Read,
Thank you for the holistic approach idea. I always put work ahead of personal tasks. This causes me the problems at home. I haven't gotten my income tax return filed yet, I am a PROCRASTINATOR. I am promising myself that today when I get home that TAXES are number ONE on my list; in fact the only thing on my list!
I've been pretty good at task prioritization I would think. I had spent 8 years in the U.S. Army and learned alot on how to organize, list and prioritize my tasks. Things are differant in the education world of course, and I have found myself trying to accomplish too much too fast at times. I have learned that in taking my time I don't have so feel bad, and in breaking down the list into small groupings that this too will help in easing up the load, giving me some down time to enjoy the accomplishments and goals that I have reached.
Mark, I imagine you learned quite a bit about organizational skills in the army! But you are right, some learnings may translate and others may not. It's ok to take a little extra time now that you are in education.
Sounds like you are formulating a plan!Good Luck!
Hello Dr.,
Thankyou for some great suggestions, I will try and work them into my personal situation!
Andrea Schrenk
You are quite welcome Andrea! I hope some of these suggestions work for you!
I do okay with tasks that are most important and urgent to complete. I might not finish them right away but I also do not tend to put them off until the very last minute. For, example, if I'm giving an exam on Tuesday, I will make copies no later than Monday. I don't like the idea of going to sleep and hoping that the copy machine will be working fine the next day!
In this module I have learned that I should be rewriting and reprioritizing task lists on a regular basis. So if I develop that as a good habit, I will surely experience changes in the order that I accomplish important and urgent tasks in the future.
I usually try to finish a task within a certain amount of time;however I will use the highlighter method to better prioritize.
The highlighter method does work great Kevin. Color can capture your attention and help you focus on what's important.
Like many others, I tend to put off tasks that I dislike doing. I find it helps to put them as first on my to-do list, right after any urgent item. This way, when I complete it, I feel like the next task is a reward.
I know what you mean. Also, it can feel rewarding to just know that the undesirable task is off the table.
I often put tasks off for aother day.....They tend to build up for me, and I wind up having to do several at the same time!
I tend to put many tasks off until the last minute.
I will now try to put the most important tasks first on a list to complete.
I pretty obsessively pursue urgent tasks - and after completing the module I've realized probably too urgently. I can't deal with ticking time bombs and tend to aggressively pursue urgent tasks until they are completed.
Learning to set priorities allows you to understand the difference between urgnet, important and should be done. If everything is a priority one, that will create more stress and make each task more difficult to achieve.
Exactly. When everything is a priority, we tend to freeze up and get nothing done at all.
I don't necessarily have a problem with creating to do lists, I just have a problem with sticking to what's on the list. I find myself writing this long list of stuff to do daily but I easily get distracted so once a wrench is thrown into my plans everything else is out the window. I will definitely apply what I've learned in this forum and in this week's reading to my everyday life.
That's a popular problem. One method that can help is to simply select one item that you will complete per day. On most days, this is typically a reasonable goal and over time, you'll find you are really getting things done.
Generally, I will choose to do a task based on the timeline that I am given to complete the task. Even though a timeline may be given which will have an impact on my priortizing the task, I have learned in this module to do a better job in truly understanding the task and will analyze better the order in which I accomplish tasks.
I tend to over simplify the task at hand, leave it on the back burner, and not dedicate as much time as it deserves, I will use these new tools to improve better myself.
