In the previous lesson, we learn about MITs. With the help of MITs, scheduling your day becomes easier. However, not all tasks are MITS, so, what about the ones that aren’t. What are they called and how do you identify them? In this lesson, we shall be learning how to identify MITs and how to identify the ones that aren’t.
Take this lesson to learn more and don’t forget to take the accompanying quiz at the end of the lesson.
How to Identify Your MITs
Here’s how you go about identifying a task as being an MIT:
1. From all your goal-related To-Dos, an MIT the one with the MOST IMPACT on your goal
Your To-Do list is full of goal-related tasks? Great! Rate your tasks according to the impact they have on achieving your goal. Your MIT is the one with the highest (potential) impact.
2. It’s the task that endeavors to make other things on your To-Do list OBSOLETE, FASTER or EASIER
This one takes some practice, as it usually requires coming up with a MIT that is not already on your list. So, screen your task list for long, inefficient and tedious tasks and think of a way to eliminate them, make them faster or easier. Here is an easy example: You are an executive spending 5hrs a day entering data, and making reports. Investing time in automating report making will free up some or all of the 5hrs of your day in the long-run. The irony though is that you might feel that you don’t have time to sit and automate…don’t fall into this trap.
Let’s now look at task that are not MITs. We’ll call them Routine/Adhoc tasks
What are Routine or ad-hoc Tasks
Routine work refers to everyday tasks that form part of a professional’s everyday tasks, for e.g.:
• answering your emails,
• following up with people
• mundane errands
• responding to people’s requests and complaints
• tasks like formatting documents and sending them out
Routine work is important in its own right. Even though they might not be as critically important and cognitively demanding as an MIT, routine work is often a necessary by-product of larger responsibilities. You cannot ignore these. However, if you’re not careful though, routine tasks can take up your entire day.
So, which would you rather work on in your day? MITs or Routine Work?
