A
Anonymous
Guest
How do you know whether some items belong on the action list or the 'hard landscape'? For example, I am in charge of creating and distributing a major report each week. This report must be completed by 2pm on Fridays. I usually start on the report first thing Friday morning and finish it within 2 hours. I can start it on Wednesday or Thursday, but I have found over time that it is easier to start and finish it all on a Friday morning because some information arrives at the last second Friday morning. I usually start around 8:30 and turn it over to the receptionist at 10:00am so she can make photocopies and distribute it. Should I make a this a repeating appointment on my palm for 8:30-10:00am every Friday or should it be a repeating task that only shows up on Fridays? I hate to clutter the calendar, but at the same time I should block off time for this critical task. I think what really concerns me is that I have a lot of 'routine' tasks like this that have to be done on certain days, but not necessarily at a specific time. I know how long each routine task takes and some require a half hour or more. These really make my day look cluttered, but it also gives me a more accurate picture of my free time when I schedule meetings and accept other projects. I also know that 'work expands to fill the time allotted' and I don't want to get in the habit of scheduling 2 hours to do my report if I can get it done in 1 hour most days. Any thoughts?