Getting tasks done

We all have days that things just don’t seem to get done and then there are the days that everything seems to get accomplished.

Lately I have been dealing with the days that things don’t seem to get done and then I realized why that was. I am working on some bigger projects that a day isn’t going show me the results that I have wanted to see. It has been a big challenge because I was starting to get down on myself for not getting things accomplished but then I realized that instead of just looking at the end result I needed to start looking at all the little bits of things that I have accomplished along the way.

Not every thing will work like this, but what I ended up doing was actually tracking some of the smaller things that I accomplished each day and then I started to feel a little better. Also I started to write down all the little things that needed my attention that I was trying to keep in my head. Being able to un-clutter the mind has also resulted in me feeling a lot better and I am seeing some results again. Of course, the big projects are still there but at least now that I am seeing even the smaller steps accomplished it makes me feel a lot better.

I think we all go through times where things just don’t seem to be moving forward and we forget about the small accomplished that have been reached along the way. For most projects there are the smaller accomplishments and they need to be noted when you start feeling like you are getting no where for a few days. The list that I keep isn’t very detailed but it is starting to show me that even when I feel like nothing is getting done I can see the few little steps that have been accomplished along the way.

There are always going to be things that take you away from the main task that you had on your agenda for the day but you need to realize that the other things also needed to get done. The getting the small things done are also important and knowing that they can get done and out of the way is also good. For us it can be a simple email or a text message that changes our day so knowing that even bits of some tasks are getting accomplished works well.

Getting the tasks done may not be something that is accomplished in a day but at least seeing that some progress has been made can really make a different. The tasks may have feel extremely overwhelming at some point but then you just need to look at them in the small pieces and you will feel better as you get each of the smaller pieces accomplished. Lots of pieces of paper to track some of the accomplishments will let you know that you are getting things done but maybe just not as quickly as you first thought.

Juggling tasks

There are days when juggling multiple projects or tasks can seem a little overwhelming.

It is amazing how some days juggling multiple projects can seem so challenging. For most of us in the IT field we are normally handling more than one task or project at a time. The juggling of the tasks can be a standard thing for most of us but there are days that it can feel a little overwhelming. Things that can impact a schedule can be a result of some one else making a major mistake.

Recently, I received an email thanking me for registering for a webinar. The webinar was the next day and no I hadn't registered for it. After that email I then got the link about how to connect to the webinar the next day. Within half an hour after this I then received an email reminding me about the webinar. All of this was extremely frustrating because I hadn't heard anything about the webinar prior forgetting the original thanks for registering for the event. I decided that after all of this it was important to let the company know that they were doing something that was very wrong. One of the emails I received had a person's name so I emailed and let them know how frustrated I was with this entire event. Shortly after my email I received an apology email from someone else from the company taking ownership for the problem. What made this situation over was I also received a phone call from this same person again to apologize for the entire situation.

Yes, I ended up having to juggle an additional issue/task that wasn't on my plate at the beginning of the day. I could have just ignored the webinar emails but I wanted to ensure that the company understood there was an issue they needed to handle. The other thing about these emails is I have noticed this seems to be happening more and more. We are getting more of these emails thanking us for registering for webinars that we haven't even heard about. I know that when I register for a webinar I immediately put it on my calendar so I know about it.

We all juggle multiple tasks/projects each day and managing them is very important. The other thing that is important is making sure that we are also making sure that others realize when they have done something wrong. It may mean adding to the juggling for a little bit but it may solve a problem that could reoccur in the future if left un-managed.

So if you are responsible for managing webinars and such for your company remember, it is better to just email people about a webinar and let them register. If you send you the pre-registered messages you may lose more people than you realize. Yes, juggling projects are important but I am the one that needs to juggle my webinar attendance not someone else.

Juggling many jobs

There are days that when they are over you really wonder what you got accomplished that day.  These days are what are normal for me as I juggle many jobs.

Some days when I sit back, I can see some really good results and other days I can work all day and not accomplish much of anything.  Of course, I can see that I got parts of a lot of things done, but I didn't get another finished.  Juggling many different jobs at once can really get frustrating, something, but having the variety is also very rewarding.

Everyone has days when things just done seem to get done no matter how hard you try.  There are also days that you can plow through a lot of different things and get lots done in a day.  Knowing that there are days which are good and days which are bad does help.  For those of us that juggle a number of different jobs each day, some days are odd.

I am writing this as I juggle a number of tasks, and my to-do-list seems out of control right now.  Yes, I am juggling a number of tasks, but at least I am seeing some slow results.  I may not get something completed each day, but I know I am making some progress.

Having a to-do-list really helps when you are juggling multiple jobs, otherwise you can so easily forget about some of the jobs that need your attention.  Juggling many jobs can be a challenge, but can also be very rewarding when you see the end results.

Time to stop juggling all the jobs for today and take a bit of me time.

Wearing Many Hats

In the world today, more and more people wear numerous hats.  Even in companies, we need to do more jobs than we did before.  There are fewer employees doing the same number of jobs that were done before.  In some cases, the additional hats may be temporary, while in other cases it will be permanent.

The many hats especially apply to small businesses, as there isn't the staff to do each of the jobs.  When you really see this is when you are filling in the various business reports.  Who is head of finance, payable, receivables, sales, IT and even marketing?  In some cases, a lot of these jobs are all handled by one individual, instead of each function being performed by a separate person.  In other cases, some of the jobs are shared by a couple of people and who does it depend on who has the time that day to perform the given task.

Everyone has jobs that they enjoy doing, while other jobs aren't as enjoyable but need to be accomplished.  Making sure you handle each of the jobs you need to do is very important.  Mixing up the order of when you do each job is important so that you aren't stuck doing all the jobs you would rather not do all at once.

Wearing many hats is not just related to work, they can be part of your personal life as well.  How many people have only one hat in their personal life, I don't know anyone that has one hat in their personal life.  Most people have more than one, and in some cases, they wear more hats personally than they do professionally.  Sometimes the hats you wear professionally end up being another hat personally.  For someone that does IT professionally, they normally end up with a personal IT hat because friends and family end up contacting this person for their IT issues.

Wearing many hats can be challenging or rewarding depending on how you handle it.  Don't try to wear too many hats at once, otherwise no job is completed, and you just bounce from one job to another.  Hats can be taken off when you need to focus on a specific task, but they are always close by.

I wear many hats, both professionally and personally, and I know that sometimes only one hat can be worn if I need to focus and accomplish a specific task.

Think about how many hats you wear, you may be amazed.

Accomplishing your tasks

We all have tasks that we need to accomplish in our daily lives.  It can be simple or very challenging, but it still needs to be done.  Sometimes it's just knowing the task exists that makes it hard, even when the task itself could be simple to accomplish.

For the larger or more challenging tasks, it sometimes helps to break them down into smaller tasks.  The smaller tasks in, so many, ways are more manageable and easier to achieve than one large task.  Being able to see some small tasks being accomplished helps achieve the larger task.

Not everyone will break down a larger task into smaller tasks.  It is an individual preference and can even way be depending on the task itself.

I am one of those individuals who like the smaller tasks.  I find that even if I have lots and lots of tasks, being about to cross things off helps me see and feel like I am making progress.  Big tasks don't seem so challenging when I can see the parts of it instead of just the whole task.

Managing tasks is something we all do, no matter what we do.  How we accomplish our tasks is what is important.  Simple or challenging tasks, they all need to be accomplished.

Juggling the demands of life

Currently, I feel like I am juggling a lot of different things, and I am trying to ensure that they all get accomplished, and nothing is left out.  Yes, this is a challenge that a lot of us face quite often, and knowing that you can handle it can be hard and even stressful. 

I am sitting in my office area at home and realize that sometimes I am just going to have to let a few things go until I can make progress on the things that are most important.  Looking around and seeing the different demands is difficult, but at least now I have a list of things that I need to work on.  Over the last month or so, I started writing down all the different things that need my attention, big or small.  The small things get dealt with right away, and all the other things get written down.  I am the type of person that does make to-do lists and have to admit that most of the time they do work for me because I can see what needs to get done and also what I got done. 

Tomorrow is another day, and I am going to start with my to-do list and see what I can accomplish off of it and know that I wouldn't be able to accomplish everything.  At least making some progress on the different items is going to make me feel quite a bit better about things.  Taking the small steps forward is a lot better than taking no steps forward at all.  My list may be long, but I know that I can accomplish some of the things and the other things will just have to wait another day.

The juggling is through for today, and now it's time to sit back and relax and know that I did what I could do today and I will do what I can do tomorrow.