How to Plan Your Personal Tasks So They Don’t Slow Down Your Big Goals

Finding yourself bogged down or falling behind on your personal life? Planning for your business without scheduling time for what needs to happen? Read on for examples of the personal tasks you can plan for.

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Often, in our quest to achieve our business goals, we get distracted by doing tasks that fulfill our personal responsibilities or commitments. Hence, our big goals end up taking a back seat to these personal tasks, because we haven’t built in time to handle them. Over the years, I’ve developed a way to keep track of what I’d call mundane personal tasks, or maybe you call them nuisance tasks. It’s easiest when you can think of tasks in specific categories, and then identify the specific task. The examples below might not be exactly right for you, but maybe they will serve as a springboard for your monthly, quarterly, or annual personal responsibilities.

Health and wellness

The aim here is to make the appointments well in advance, so that you’re not scrambling at the last minute or delaying an important business commitment.

Schedule and show up for regular appointments for:

medical checkup or follow up
lab or diagnostic procedures
dental checkup or procedures
eye exam or procedures (and maybe new lenses)
prescription renewals
other

Schedule semi-regular appointments for health and good looks. This is basically, skin, hair and nails, plus whole-body rejuvenation. These personal tasks are important — don’t neglect your self-care! Examples include:

haircut
pedicure
massage
chiropractor
other

Compliance

Ah, yes. These are tasks that are often a nuisance, but they are mandatory. And, more often than not, they take up more of our time than we realize. Here are just a few personal tasks that you simply must do in the upcoming year or quarter:

car emissions inspections
car check before an upcoming trip
renew your car insurance
renew your driver’s license
renew your apartment lease
other

Other key responsibilities

These aren’t mandated, but they are important responsibilities, and we need to be intentional about scheduling time to do them and getting them done.

vote, or request an absentee ballot
review or update your will, designated power of attorney, or healthcare proxy
other

These personal tasks are events, celebrations, or trips that may be in your future. You might need to:

create a plan to celebrate your wedding anniversary or your child’s birthday or some other celebration, and block off time to do all of the subtasks: issuing invitations, packing, making plane reservations, shopping for food if you’re hosting, and so much more
attend a someone else’s event in a distant state; make the travel plans, too
buy gifts
buy theatre tickets
write thank you cards
other

Home and garden maintenance and repair

Let’s face it. This stuff ends up taking so much more time that any of us want to admit. Even though they feel like just one massive interruption, these personal tasks do need to be accomplished. The key, then, is to block off time well in advance to get them done so they aren’t an interruption or a distraction later.

declutter your house/office (spring cleaning)
make non-monetary donations (clothing, kitchen items, etc.) to charitable organizations
schedule routine maintenance
plumbing/heating inspection
spring cleanup (lawn)
gutter cleaning
driveway sealing
carpet cleaning
shop for a new appliance
decorate or renovate
replenish supply of seasonal (something) e.g., snow melt, firewood, etc.
other

Financial (personal)

Basically, your financial personal tasks boil down to taking care of income and expenses. Yes, we need to plan for income, but what slows us down the most are the expenses. You’ll find you need to:

check monthly bank statements (and similar)
compile papers/numbers for income tax (January/February): this includes compiling your 1099s, evidence of your deductible expenses, and more
submit any reimbursement request for medical expenses or other issues which are reimbursable
pay your real estate property tax (If you have a mortgage, you may not need to write a check for this, but if you own your home or other real property, you will likely need to pay when the bill arrives.)
make non-automated monetary donations
other

Intellectual/Emotional Spiritual Self Care

These are the personal tasks that rarely get scheduled far in advance, and so we either don’t get them done, or they end up intruding on our high leverage goals. Further, we often don’t identify these tasks because they aren’t exactly personal, or exactly professional. So, I think of them as semi-personal and semi-professional. Here are some examples.

Semi-personal

retreat to an off-site place for a weekend, or longer (Schedule this first when you do your quarterly planning.)
read an important book
sign up for a personal class, e.g., yoga, cooking, etc.
sign up as a volunteer for a charity you’re committed to
other

Semi-professional

learn a new skill
study for a certification exam
learn how to use new software
register for a course
other

Just a word about retreating to an off-site place. This is an important self-care responsibility. It might be a way to rest and rejuvenate before initiating a quarterly high leverage goal. Or, it might be a way to reward yourself for accomplishing a big goal. It need not be anywhere exotic.

In the old days, when we didn’t have much time or much money, we used our Hilton Honors points to go to the beach for a weekend. Or, it could be going to a scenic park, such as Letchworth State Park. My family and I have visited this “Grand Canyon of the East” many times since I was a kid. (I grew up about 40 miles from Letchworth.) If you have a small budget, it’s a great place to go camping, fishing, snowmobiling, and more. If you have a bigger budget, you can stay at the Inn and dine in its lovely restaurant.

Plan personal tasks ahead for success

All too often, all our planning focuses on our professional goals and obligations. Perhaps we think our personal tasks aren’t important enough to prioritize, or perhaps we unthinkingly assume that they will all just fall into place in our “free time.” (If you own your own business, perhaps you understand why I put the phrase “free time” in quotation marks.)

Fact is, everything on our to-do lists deserves to be considered and scheduled. If you disregard the mundane personal tasks, you risk distracting yourself from your high-leverage goals — or worse, burning out because you haven’t taken care of yourself.

So plan ahead for your business, but plan ahead for yourself too. By creating a plan that interweaves the professional with the personal, you can stay focused and avoid nasty surprises.