Tasks

Tasks from a Viking perspective means working on the right problem

In the ancient Viking rules, we find §4 Keep the Camp in Order with the sub-items

 * Keep things tidy and organized 
 * Arrange enjoyable activities which strengthen the group 
 * Make sure everybody does useful work 
 * Consult all members of the group for advice

Planning

Planning involves:

 * planning sub-goals and tasks, which is about breaking the goal into manageable sub-goals and tasks;
 * decision making, which is about making choices and setting priorities;
 * time management, which is about allocation time to tasks.

Your journey towards success involves taking a number of planned steps. Every step, if chosen and planned well, will bring you closer to your goal. Once you have formulated the goal and set a deadline, you define sub-goals as follows: I am currently at start. I am going to goal. To get there I must first get to sub-goal A, sub-goal B, and sub-goal C.

Plan how to get there! You divide your goal into sub-goals: the steps to be taken to achieve the goal. The steps are also called milestones. You translated into tasks and break up the big tasks into smaller tasks. Break down to tasks that are approximately a days'time work. You'll work on tasks, so you allocate time to them, thus creating a schedule. This is your plan.

There are two kinds of tasks: qualitative tasks and quantitative tasks. Qualitative tasks are normally done only once and have a specific purpose, like calling a person or registering for an event. Quantitative tasks are tasks to train you up in something and will be done several times with varying quantity, for example running some distance, or getting up at some time.

Dividing your goal into sub-goals/milestones/steps and defining tasks and breaking them up into smaller tasks can turn into quite a big tasks itself. This may lead to procrastination and de-motivation. The planning should not become a goal in itself.

Planning helps you to monitor progress and to keep focus. It should prevent you from spending too much time and effort on details and from wandering off the track. The beauty of a plan is that you can deviate from it, and then revert back to the plan. A plan does not reduce flexibility. Without a plan, you have nothing to deviate from. You might end up wandering around purposeless.

Guidelines to make a plan that lead to achieving your goal:

 - Define your goal using the SMART criteria.
 - Break up the goal into major milestones/steps/sub-goals. 
 - Plan the first milestone in more detail. Do NOT try to plan everything from the start. Depending on the outcome of the first milestone, your next milestone might be influenced. Break up the milestone in smaller steps and translate them into tasks.
 - Define the tasks. This results in a task list. These should be defined according to SMART criteria, but in addition tasks should be nuclear: one activity, or a series of activities that belong together and that are very closely related. Do not put several activities in one task. This will make it difficult to monitor progress and to decide whether the task has been completed or not. 
 - Break up into smaller steps and tasks if you get stuck or run out of time. However, find out what level of detail works for you. Do not break up for the sake of impressing others with a very detailed plan. 
 - Pay attention to logical sequence and (inter-)dependency between tasks. The the order of tasks should be logical and convincing.
 - Set time limit. In your plan sub-goals/milestones have point in time at which you want to complete them: e.g. by the end of May. Tasks have a stretch of time required to work on them: e.g. 4 hours or 6 hours.
 - Allow for extra time, set-backs, emergencies etc. in your plan. 

Working toward a goal in an organized and planned way is actually what project management is about.

Depending on the size of your goal and the time and resources involved, the project will be less or more complex. The complexity determines how detailed you planning will be. In project management the term Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used to refer to the process of scheduling and planning the steps and tasks and allocating them to people.

Your goal may be straightforward and the steps you have to take might fit onto the back of a picture postcard. Even then it is helpful and rewarding to monitor your progress.

For more information see the resources below:

 * Five tips to break large tasks into smaller ones
 * Work Breakdown Structure - Project SMART.
 * How to break a big goal into little steps - A very simple and short guideline on breaking goals into steps: milestones.

Tasks that are not finished are remembered quite well, this is the Zeigarnik effect. This can be an asset as well as a drawback. If you have too much on your mind you are likely to be inefficient and not as productive as one would wish. On the other hand, in the process of working towards your goal it is helpful if you have your uncompleted task on your mind. You can concentrate on certain well-defined, not too large tasks and get them off your list as soon as they are completed.