Productivityist

Define Your Days | Filter Your Focus | Make Every Moment Matter

  • Start Here
  • Read The Blog
  • Listen to The Podcast
  • Join TimeCrafting Trust Premium

STOP TRYING TO MANAGE YOUR TIME. START CRAFTING IT.

This guide gives you the simplest and fastest way to start crafting your time.

Get The TimeCrafting Starter Kit for FREE now!

Projects First, Task Second

by Mike Vardy

I used to focus on individual tasks over the projects — if any — that they were assigned to in my task management system. What happened was I got things done, but things were spread out amongst multiple projects so it took me longer to complete any one project. When you start using a task manager — or even a simple to-do list app — this is generally how you’ll work as well.
But you should really look at projects first…and tasks second.

When you think about it, you should build things from the overarching to the smaller details. Things like your vision and mission statements should inform what you do — they are perhaps the largest elements that inform how you live and work. The same goes for projects. They may not be the largest of elements, but they certainly are larger than tasks.

I suggest you try to give everything a project that it can be attached to so that you can look at projects first and tasks second.1 Then work from the project down, making sure that you make significant progress towards completion of the project rather than focusing on the tasks within the project. Doing that will strengthen the purpose of why you’re doing what you’re doing, and you won’t get caught up in doing just for the sake of doing.

If you need a trigger to keep this in mind: Remember that a project can project you further than a task simply on its own can.

1 Contexts can also serve to help propel you as well, but projects still come first because of what contexts generally represent: location, energy level, and perhaps even time. My pal Michael Schechter has an excellent piece that really puts contexts into perspective.

About Mike Vardy

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, productivity strategist, and founder of Productivityist. He is the author of The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want and The Productivityist Playbook.

Categories: Intention and Attention

  • Apps
  • Articles
  • Best of
  • Books
  • Gear
  • Intention and Attention
  • Mode-Based Work
  • Routines
  • The Podcast
  • Time Theming

Categories

Productive Conversations

Most Popular Posts

How to Make Monday Work for You

3 Things You Should Put On Your Calendar

The One Email Trick That Keeps My Inbox In Shape

Using Energy Levels as Contexts

The One Email You Must Send Before You Go on Vacation

As Seen In

As Seen In

Copyright © 2023 · Expert Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Derivative Works Policy
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube