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 106th day.

Today's topic is: The Core of Time Management - The Classification of Matters

Today, we will talk about what we should do after we record down all the items in our brain.

We human beings indeed possess a lot of desires. We also have lots of thoughts and ideas. If we use a tool, even if it's paper and pen, we can write down what we focus on. This is a very good start.

But, what should we do after writing them down?We have so many things to do and we can't finish them all. So, what can we do? We need to learn to focus and choose the important matters. We need to learn to classify these matters!

Remember what I've told you in the last several lessons: What we need to manage is not time, but ourselves. It's most important to manage your own habits, because this is the link between your daily behaviors and the achievement of your goals and ultimately the accomplishment of your life goals.In this sense, the core of time management is to manage things.

What should we do and what should we not to do on a particular day?

It is necessary for us to classify matters. When we write down all of our matters, including distant matters, future matters, possible matters, those with deadlines as well as those we haven't promised to others, etc.

Then, let's us talk about the classification of matters!

The first classification of matters are those with deadline and time.These matters can be replaced with schedules. For example, I have class in Guangzhou. I must start it on time. And if I started it earlier, lots of students would ask me to refund for they wouldn't  be available, and they may even ask me to compensate their losses.

If I need to reserve rooms in a hotel for my class, this is something I can't delay on, or there won't be any hotel rooms for the class. These matters occur at certain times. They can be managed through schedules. Schedules such as Calendar in an iPhone or Android or even on paper are suitable to handle these matters.

But, there is a critical point that I need to tell you: many people only write down urgent items or matters that are currently important. They never get into the details of matters with different principle times. And for this reason, many things are left out and not recorded.  

Because important matters are left out, suddenly urgent tasks may take the place of other items, leaving scheduled matters unfinished.

So, we should first learn to write down all matters before classifying them.

The first classification must be calendar items. Calendar items are matters relating to certain times, such as taking a plane, taking my class or your dating. These all occur at fixed times. It's not easy to change their time and it will cost a lot if you break them.

You cannot record too many calendar matters because if you have too many, you will be unable to adapt to their changes. So, they must be well chosen events.

In addition to matters that must be completed at scheduled times, there are others that must be completed on a specific day but not necessarily in the morning, afternoon or evening… just completed by day's end.

There are also small matters such as returning complaint calls, calls to catch up with your parents, going shopping, paying bills or getting gas. 

These matters don't have specific deadlines or schedule commitments, and can be done virtually any time. However, if left them unattended, these matters can become urgent simplely because they were delayed so long. What was once an unurgent matter suddenly become an urgent matter because of the delay. 

Therefore, the faster you accomplish these smaller tasks, the better. Because the faster you do them, the more relaxed your brain will be. For these reasons, we manage them with a list that does not require an explicit time.

Up to now, we mainly mentioned three classifications: schedules, lists with deadline and lists without deadlines.

Which one do you think is used for most of our tasks?Undoubtedly, schedules are used for the least!

We already said lists with deadlines should not be too large or else it becomes impossible to manage inevitable changes in the schedules to take place

If we put fewer items on these lists, we will be able to complete them much better. And if we complete them, we will be much happier.

For those bulky matters without a deadline, it will be better to finish them as early as possible. What if there are too many of these matters?We need to break this list up and break it down into what we called contexts!

Then, what is context?It is the time and manner in which you complete the tasks.

For example, making a phone call can be counted as an context. Offices can be regarded as one. Also, computers, things you do on a computer can counted as one ......In our next lesson, we'll talk about contextual management.

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