For instance, I still need to do my taxes. Normally I have them done by February, but I still have some sorting and data entry to do. It’s been harder to fit it in than I thought it would be. So it’s on my to-do list: do taxes. But that’s a lot to think about isn’t it?

That’s because it’s more of a project than a to-do item. What’s the anatomy of a to-do item? According to Merlin at 43folders, it’s this:

• It’s a physical action
• It can be accomplished at a sitting
• It supports valuable progress toward a recognized goal
• It’s something for which you are the most appropriate person for the job

If your list contains items bigger or more complicated than that, then those items may not actually belong on your to-do list, but on a project list. As David Allen notes in Getting Things Done, a small project requires more than one activity in order to be completed.

Filing taxes is definitely a small project – or maybe even a large one! Here are the steps I still need to take:

• Go through the last of my receipts for business expenses
• Log the expenses
• Review the entries to make sure items have categories and are categorized properly
• Add up expense categories (my accounting software will do this, but I still need to prompt it to add up everything for just 2008)
• Enter the totals into my tax software
• Pay my tax bill or get a refund (I think we’ll be pretty close to even, so at this point it could go either way)
• Monitor my filing to make sure it is accepted by the IRS

You see, doing my taxes is more than just a single item. And when I stop to do just one pieces, like going through my receipts, it suddenly doesn’t seem to intimidating.

Take a close look at your to-do list. Think about what your next action should be. Is that really reflected on your list?

Image: Newscom

Post from: My Organized Biz

I have a couple of projects staring me in the face right now. They’re pretty large – and when I think about how much I have to do it can be pretty overwhelming.

Sometimes it’s okay not to look at the big picture. Temporarily, of course. If the big view of things makes you panic, then stop for a moment. Take a smaller, more manageable piece and do it. Or do part of it. Just make sure that what you’re doing is actually helping you make progress towards your goal.

I’ve mentioned that my desk has a large stack of mail left over from when I was traveling. And I tossed several things on it when I got home. There’s so much to do right now. Process my travel receipts. Put away the cords and other things that I just tossed aside as I was unpacking. Finish opening all of the mail. Shred what I don’t need. File. And even just cleaning my desktop to get rid of a little debris and dust from being away (we live near two freeways and the dust that gets in our place is unbelievable).

I look at all of that and shake my head. I don’t want to do it right now. I have other things that I feel are more important. But if I wait any longer it’ll just get worse.

So I took just 20 minutes to get done what I could. I put away a few things, opened part of the mail, pulling any bills I’d missed, tossing the extra junk that’s always inside a bill, and putting things in my “to file” bin.

I didn’t get through everything. But half of my desk looks better. It’s neat(er). And there’s space to work again. And just having part of that task completed really helps. This weekend I’ll do another 20 minutes and see what else I can get done. And then another 20 on Monday, if I need to. If the desk is clean by then, I’ll use that time to file.

What started out as a seemingly unmanageable project is suddenly much easier to handle. It can be done, even though it may not have looked that way at first (not with limited time, anyway).

Do you get overwhelmed by a mountain of papers? A big project? How do manage your expectations? Do you break it down into smaller pieces?

Post from: My Organized Biz