How often have been allotted to or undertaken a large project, only to become overwhelmed at the sheer scope of time and effort required? If this is so you are not alone – handling long term, sizeable projects is a challenging prospect, even for those experienced at it.
And then consider juggling 3 or 4 or perhaps 5 or more at a time – for many of us the mere thought of it actually is wobbling. And yet, as you look around your workplace, you can most likely spot someone that appears to prosper on doing it and actually does it outstandingly well. And whilst that person may not appear to be any more smart or industrious than you are, for some reason they embrace the challenge while you back away from it.
The underlying difference between yourself and that person is just this – they know and practice a particularly simply idea – Task Management. Without reference to the particular scope of work concerned or the time period to completion, each project can be broken down into smaller, easily managed jobs that are readily finished over the short-term. As each task is finished, it contributes towards the completion of the project itself, in due time. More frequently than not, each task itself can then be broken down into a fixed schedule, permitting you to gradually and consistently work at it over a number of days or weeks. Relying on the kind of task, it may even be possible to work on many jobs simultaneously, by spending a comparatively little period of time on each, each day.
The slogans of Task Management are diligence and consistency, but tempered with adaptability. A given task may have to be paused if it is dependent on the completion of another task or a surprising issue presents itself. With flexible scheduling and an eagerness to evolve to these unlooked for barriers, the project itself will continue whilst you explore options to solve them.
Those whom excel at project management do so because they are able work in such a manner that each day they make some degree progress on a number of of the jobs concerned. This can mean spending as little as ten or fifteen mins every day or up to an hour on each task. At different milestones in the project, the quantity of time expended every day will unavoidably change. It is for this very reason that project bosses are frequently in a position to take on multiple projects at the same time and not become stressed over their workload. Handling many projects at once basically breaks up the monotony of working on one single thing at any given point.
It offers a way for you to step back from each project for a little while and then resume it the following day with a fresh viewpoint. Whilst we will never lose sight of the project itself, by concentrating on Task Management, careful scheduling and consistency in how we approach our work, we will be able to simply increase our Personal Productivity without unduly annoying ourselves or becoming worried about our workload.
