In today's competitive world, where time waits for none, it has become an increasingly difficult task to keep track of our day-to-day life. It may seem like we did not stop by to even breathe, with non-stop appointments and work schedules.
However, at the end of the day, if we were to sit and note down the tasks completed for the day, it might amount to nothing significant. This is a common occurrence with the members of the working class, who fail to prioritise their work and end up completing none of it.
So how exactly does one address this problem?
According to HR experts, the key is to make a to-do list each day. Wait, this is not the run-of-the-mill lists that we usually do in school or college, when we have a huge workload of assignments, and the little ticks we put across each task at the end of a long day.
While it is more or less similar to that, it is in reality, a watered-down version of the same. In clearer terms, it is a "I Will Do One Thing Today” to-do list.
What it translates to is, working professionals should maintain a list that has only task featured in it. Only one work that he or she has scheduled for the day,. While it may seem impractical, it does not amount to whiling away time in the remaining hours.
What one chooses to do for the rest of the day, is each one's will and wish, but only after ensuring that the said work written in the to-do list is done. The significance of completing a single task is mostly under-rated.
Marc Chernoff, who runs a popular personal development blog called “Marc And Angel Hack Life“, throws more light on this. Sharing a personal experience, he says, "This morning I informed my colleagues that I had only one thing on my to-do list. Two of them chuckled, a few of them rolled their eyes, but every one of them assumed I would spend most of my day slacking off. They changed their minds, however, when our boss sent out a mass email this afternoon praising me for resolving a principal issue that my colleagues had been sidestepping all week long".
He makes it clear with, "In my boss’s eyes, the one thing on my to-do list was more important than the fifty other things my colleagues had accomplished during the same time frame".
This is just an example to indicate the importance of doing one task per day.
Research has shown that prioritising work in this manner, not only increases productivity, but also makes one organised in life, and helps in better decision making.
Where did this idea stem from? It is a common complaint of many individuals that when they sit down and write a to-do list, they have a dozen tasks to do. But either due to improper planning or lack of time, when they review the list, they are surprised to see that hardly one or two of it has been completed. In contrast, when one prepares a list with only one task to do, there is no way in which he or she can forget to do it.
Also, since it is the only task for the day, it is most likely to the most important one too. This leads to an overall reduction in your work load, as the key task has already been done.
So what are you waiting for? Grab a paper, write "I Will Do One Thing Today” in big bold and if possible, colourful letters, and draw a blank underneath it. Here, fill in the most important work that needs to be done for the day, and put a cross against it with glee the moment you complete the same. Happy writing!
Courtesy: www.marcandangel.com
