MITs (Most important tasks): Getting things done.

Anyone who has read Leo Babauta’s blog “Zen Habits” or his book “The power of less” might be familiar with the concept of MITs (Most important task). Despite many of us are familiar with this concept, very few might have incorporated it into our daily lives. I gave it a try just after reading his book but was back to my own schedule of checking facebook and emails more than necessary. Later when I started to work for an organization, I came to realize the power of this concept. I felt like, if I don’t have my MITs for the day, I am going to welcome random things to occupy my time and feel unproductive deep inside my heart.

What is MITs?
MIT stands for most important task not Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Every day we have lot of things to do but what are the most important tasks if we do on that day will make us more fulfilled or push us closer to our goal. They are the critical tasks that will create most desired result for your goal and I put them on my MITs.

My MITs:
All of us are busy at our own level. We have lot on our plate but not necessarily an important one. If you do a small analysis on where you are spending your time and compare with where you want to spend your time you will find a big gap, which will disappoint you. I tracked my time for one week and was surprised to see where I was spending so much of my time. After that, I went back to Leo’s advice and started creating my MITs.

Content of my MITs:
While writing my MITs, usually I have either 2 or 3 major things to do for the day. The categories are:
 One for my own career goal
 One for my Reading and research purpose
 One for my office work

How to handle your MITs?
Though Leo says that we need to do our MITs early in the morning, my point is that it doesn’t matter when you do it. All you need to identify is when do you feel like you are in the zone? When do feel like you don’t get distracted? Analyze that and make that time totally yours. The idea is to shift this big task to the time when your mental powers are at their height and get the best out of it.

Deliberately choose your MIT:
Even if you are not a big fan of creating “To do” list things, I highly recommend you to give it a try. Don’t write 20 things on your to do list. Just make it as short as possible but make sure you have your MITs on the top of your list. You will feel productive after getting those things done and then you can shift your attention to anything that refreshes you quickly. Personally i check facebook, respond to my email or listen to music after cutting off one of my MITs from the list.

How I manage my MITs:
The general pattern might change but usually I mange my MITs in the following way.
 Write in my diary or sticky note and paste it on my table.
 Do at least one of my MITs as soon as I wake up
 Tackle another MIT after I check facebook and email
 One after I reach my workplace before checking anything else.
 One after coming back from work before dinner.

Challenge for the readers:
At the end of the day write what will be your MITs for the following day. What are the most crucial things that you think would bring a difference to your long term goal? Make sure they are small, important and achievable so that you can keep going. Write it down and place it somewhere you can see it. Do not start your day without having MITs on your list and do not end your day without getting those things done. In Brian Tracy’s word “Eat that frog.” Create your own style and stick with it for at least 7 days and keep moving. You can later make it a 30 day challenge to live your day with MITs on your list.

Over to you: What are the most important tasks for you today? How are you structuring your day to ensure your MITs get done before anything else?

Till next post: Live productively….