We all do it. We schedule something for a given day but run out of time (or energy) and push it to another day. That’s normal. If you rarely do that, you might not be getting as much done as you could. If you frequently do it, however, you might be trying to do more than you can handle. 

There is a sweet spot where you’re not doing too much or too little. But that’s a discussion for another day. 

Right now, a simple suggestion for you regarding what to do about tasks you postpone too often. 

Start by asking yourself why you keep postponing the task or project. Is it because it’s not that important to you, or not as important as other things you need to do? Is this task too difficult (right now)? Or tasks you find boring or otherwise unpleasant?

Because there are different options for each reason.

If you don’t see the value in doing the task, at least not in the short term, you might postpone it again (without feeling guilty about it), put it on a “someday” list, or delete it entirely. 

If the task is overwhelming, unpleasant, or too difficult, you might delegate all or part of it to someone who has more experience with that type of task or more time to do it. Or make the task easier to do, or at least easier to start, by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable steps. 

What if the task is too easy and you’re bored at the thought of doing it? You could make it more challenging or interesting by changing the way you do it. 

For example, instead of researching a project by piling through a bunch of books or articles, you might sign up for a course that shows you what to do step-by-step Or partner up with someone who does the parts you don’t like while you do others.

You could change the subject of a boring or unfulfilling task, e.g., writing a paper, to a different or more interesting subject.  

You could also expand the scope of a boring task and make it more challenging and/or more valuable. If you continually postpone outlining part of a presentation, for example, you might expand that into outlining the entire presentation.

Another idea is to change the software or tool you use, the newness of which should be more interesting and/or more challenging.

Once you know why you continually postpone a task, you can change that task, reframe how you think about it or how you go about doing it. It could be exactly what you need to do things you don’t want to do.

If you’re like most people, when you make a list of tasks for the day, you look at your calendar, your list of tasks with an approaching deadline, incomplete tasks from the day before, and things you’d like to finish (or start) soon, and there’s your list. 

There are two potential problems with this approach. 

First, your list might be too big to do in a day. Too many tasks, or tasks that take more time or energy than you have available, are overwhelming. And when you don’t do most or all of the tasks on your list, disappointing. 

Better to have a list of “too few” than “too many”. A short list is a list that gets done. 

Second, your list might not prioritize your most important tasks—the ones that provide the most value. 

A better way to make your list for the day (or every day) is to start by choosing a number—the number of tasks for the day. 

Let’s say you decide that a good day for you means doing 5 tasks (not counting small, recurring, or routine tasks). 5 tasks that move the needle. 

Starting with a small number, a constraint, forces you to choose your most important tasks. You’ll have a more productive day doing 5 important tasks instead of (trying to do) 10 or 12 tasks. 

I usually start my list with 2 or 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks), and a few other things I’d like to do if I have the time. But if I “only” do my most important tasks, I consider it a good day. And it usually is. 

I read an article by a guy who has eliminated weekly reviews from his workflow. He says they never worked for him:

1. It took too much of his time and mental bandwidth to do them,
2. It was tedious in the extreme and he had to force himself to do it, and
3. It’s more productive to be “executing” than reviewing,

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have that weekly chore (and could still get your work done)? 

But how? How do you ensure you’re keeping the right balls in the air and doing everything you need to do? 

One way he does that is to review everything that needs reviewing at the time he captures it. A few seconds while it’s fresh in his mind. 

Basically, that means looking at it and thinking about it long enough to decide if (and where) to file it or tag it to work on in the ordinary course of his work.

I guess you could describe this as a 30-second review, done one small item at a time. 

Anyway, by doing it immediately instead of saving everything to process later, he spares himself from looking at everything once a week at a time when he may have forgotten why he captured it. 

Do it (review it) immediately and be done with it. 

This means he no longer has to go back through the previous week’s tasks, notes, and documents, and recall what they are and recall what he thought about each one some days ago. Sorta a “touch once” rule.

But, if the item or task requires more than a few seconds to think about, fix or work on, he schedules time to do that. Time to “do” it, not review it (because he’s already done that). 

What do you think? 

What I think is that as tempting as it would be to eliminate the weekly review, I’m not sure I’m ready to do that. As I wrote recently, I can do a brief weekly review in 15 or 20 minutes and I find this is time well spent.

What I will do as a result of hearing this idea, however, is to be more mindful of the notes and tasks that go into my Inbox at the time I collect them. That means deciding what I think and intend to do with it, and making a few notes about that, at the time I capture it instead of deferring this until the end of the week. 

Processing things on the spot that way might let me get my weekly review down to 5 or 10 minutes.