I Am A Task Junkie
I am addicted to task.When I cross something off my list it stimulates my opioid receptors. I feel a natural high and a sense of accomplishment. So every Saturday morning I write down a list of tasks that I want to accomplish throughout the week. I have to be careful not to write down worthless tasks for the sole purpose of getting that new high. My list must get me closer to an immediate milestone and one step closer to the ultimate goal. The effort has to add value to my software application and glorify God. So I put the following rules in place to keep me on track.
Task Must Be Prioritized
A list of tasks should be ordered by what will have the most immediate impact on reaching your goal. Ask yourself what will give me the biggest bang for my buck. This process can be daunting because you have to fight the urge to do what you want. I really want to upgrade my application to the newest version of Angular. But my customers don’t care what version of Angular I use, nor does it make my application spectacularly better. It might have some benefit to do it, but if I don’t do it, I can still reach my goal. Do the tasks that are going to cut your cost dramatically, delight your customers or give you more market share.
Task Must Be Time Sensitive
If a task is going to take a day or a week to complete, break it up into smaller tasks. You need to experience the joy of ticking off a task and seeing visible progress. If it takes all day and you don’t complete it you might start feeling depressed about not getting it done. The joy of running the race and getting past the first marker is the motivation you need to get to the next checkpoint. Try to have a day of many little successes that will give you some momentum. You have a higher chance of completing a small list of tasks than a big, daunting task that might take all day.