Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China.In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program. Today is the 108th day.

Today's topic is: Echoes of Time Management Masters in the World

In the last few lessons, we discussed the concept of getting things done or GTD. Today we will combine the concept of GTD with methods used for time management. 

All ideas are connected. However, the simplest way is usually the most effective way. If you remember Peter Drucker once said that we should focus our energy on completing very important tasks, and delegate other simpler tasks. In addition, remember that Stephen Covey, the author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", told us to focus on matters that sit in the second quadrant: Important but non-urgent matters.

We talked about the concept of each day eating the frog. In other words, complete the most important and complex tasks in the morning, don't procrastinate. Now today we are going to delve more deeply into the theory of eating that frog.

Brian Tracy expanded and developed Mark Twain's theory into eating three frogs. In other words, three important tasks should be completed each day. In this way, success in life is not dictated by how many tasks we complete, but in focusing on the important tasks and completing them to the best of our ability with heart and soul.

According to GTD created by David Allen, all the tasks and responsibilities, including the ideas we think about, the assignments when we receive from others. All these things should be written down or put into lists and APPs on a mobile phone. It's such an Inbox. Only when all tasks have been collected in one place, we can classify them into those on a calendar and those in lists, then lists can be subdivided into those with deadlines and those without deadlines, which can be classified further into contexts in its simplest form.

There are two classifications, calendars and lists. In calendars, tasks need to be completed at certain times, there is no difference between important and unimportant matters when in calendar. Now consider this, if you promise to make a phone call or to call someone back, but when that schedule time comes to pass when you need to make that call, you think suddenly it's not important enough to suspend this more important task you are currently working on, aren't you still expect to keep your promise? This is why we must be so disciplined and heading to the tasks we put on our calendars. It is critical. If an item is placed on the calendar and a fixed day and time, you must have the discipline to complete them to the schedule time.

Other tasks not placed on the calendar have little demand on time. They can be placed in two different contexts, and those contexts are more flexible. This concept allows us to deal with a very practical and important reality. 

That circumstances and needs change at any point. Urgent matters or emergencies can appeal without threatening your ability to get things done. Of course, even when items are scheduled, you will still choose between those important matters to complete first over less important items. But since calendar items do not interfere with contextual items, there is no danger that you will sacrifice one of these tasks for the other. 

What's more important is, how we should classify or organize tasks on our lists but they are numerous? So how do we accomplish these?

First, we must organize the important tasks. At this point we have written down all the tasks, and it's easy for us to classify them with software. So we select the important matters called frogs. There can be too many frogs. You can choose no more than three. Three is an approximate number. When you complete three frogs, you can choose another three, but it doesn't have to be three. If these frogs are very complex and important matters, perhaps two frogs or even one is enough on a given day. The important thing to remember is that you don't choose too many.

When items are listed and then prioritized, we know what to work on. And this allows us to work consistently and without delay, resulting in the continuous accomplishment on work and in our life in general.

Even if you cannot eat the entire fog in the morning, that's to complete the most important task before the morning is over, you will have accomplished some of it. For example, on a specific day you can complete your scheduled items first at their scheduled times. If you expect it to call someone at 10:00 am and promised to go out at 2:00 pm, he must do this at their scheduled times. 

Furthermore, when you review your list and see all the tasks on it, you should also understand the context of situation you are in. For example, if you are in your office and you see there's no one around to disturb you, you can use this time to eat that frog. If you are presented with an emergency to complete your organization of tasks, the schedules and lists will allow you the flexibility to handle those tasks more than quickly, and then return to the task of handling that frog.

The lists on the priority you have given them allow you to know where your focus should be at any given time. That is the power of this method. So when we use the idea of GTD to write down all the tasks, we can classify them. Once we finished classifying, we can pick up the important matters and choose to complete those tasks that are best suited to be handled in the situation we are in now, that is our current context. 

Now, after hearing this concept for the last few lessons and even with this knowledge, you still might not be used to this method, and you still might not understand how to put it into action. I've been told often I cannot focus on these tasks now, and I am too busy, and I must procrastinate. This is another concept we will discuss in the later lessons.

But today we're focusing on the theory of eating frogs. The theory is based on the collection and classification of tasks. We can call it - the three processes for the efficient time management: Collection, Classification, and Execution. We'll talk more about this in the next class. These three processes are not to collect all of our tasks and prioritize them. Then we will know to complete the most important tasks first. In our next class we will talk about execution and what we can do to execute tasks on our list.

Thank you being with me together today. Have a wonderful day!