Routine tasks. Minnows. Chores. Those little things that you have to do every day, every week, every month and every year. We often look at these things with a sense of frustration and annoyance. They take up time, they are often boring and monotonous. Often, the seem totally unimportant. But, here are my thoughts on why your routine tasks make a difference….and why they will never be important.
What are routine tasks?
Let’s start here with a very basic definition. A routine task is a task that you have to complete with a consistent pattern of regularity in order to keep something ticking over. Some examples from my list of ‘routine’ tasks would be personal admin things such as, process my receipts from the day, or organising the files or notes I have made. It might include household chores such as emptying bins or sweeping the floor. It might mean paying regular bills or renewing insurance.
Anything that is regular process that you have to do on repeat. These are your routine tasks.
Now, let’s get into the heart of why your routine tasks make a difference….and why they will never be important
Why they will never be important
They don’t matter, or at least this is how it often seems, because they will never be big impact tasks. They are primarily concerned with maintenance in some form or another. Whenever I look at my list of things to do, it is rare that I will consider a routine task to be my most valuable task for the day. Sometimes I do but I’ll get to why that is later.
We are never going to move the needle in our industry or achieve any of our goals by cleaning our house, checking our e-mail, cutting the lawn, paying the credit card bill or any kind of other administrative or housekeeping tasks. In the grand scheme of things, they aren’t that important.
Also, in any given moment of any given day, when you look at the list to decide what is the next biggest impact thing to do, it is unlikely to be one of these routines.
So then, why bother? If they are so unimportant, why not just ignore them forever?
Why your routine tasks make a difference
In a nutshell it is because whilst each individual iteration of a routine task is unimportant, the cumulative build up of not doing them becomes significant. Doing them will rarely have a hugely positive impact on your life. NOT doing them, over an extended period of time can and likely will have a significant NEGATIVE impact on your life.
No-one wants to live in a house where the bins never get emptied do they! If you don’t deal with your receipts today it doesn’t really matter. Ignore it for a month or two and then you have a mammoth task on your hand and no idea what your financial situation is.
So, the main reason why routine tasks make a difference? If you ignore them, you get to a point where it becomes a crisis or a huge task to catch up and this will seriously impede your productivity and effectiveness.
But there is another reason as well. Much of the work we do in our knowledge worker context can be quite cognitively demanding and will often require the same kind of brain energy. If you are a writer or a creator, then the bulk of your work will require creative and imaginative mental energy. If you are an accountant, then financial thinking will be the order of the day.
Routine tasks, while unimportant, provide a cognitive break from this, whilst still being a ‘productive’ use of time.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge believer in taking proper breaks, complete breaks. But having a stock of useful routines in your list can provide mental respite when it’s needed. Depending on what it is, it can also provide an opportunity to get up from your desk and move around.
All of this boosts your ability and focus for the next stint of tasks that do matter and will have a big impact.
So, why do your routine tasks make a difference….and why they will never be important? If you ignore them for too long, you will regret it. And, if you use them wisely, it can benefit your productivity for the rest of the day.
So, don’t ignore them. Even though they will never be important, your routine tasks do make a difference.
In an upcoming post, I will talk you through how I manage these small routine, every day tasks. For now, why not check out this video from Carl Pullein on setting up routines in ToDoist.
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