Today, I was preparing for a big and important presentation. At some point, I finished all the necessary preparation, so it was time to deal with some other important projects. The golden rule of time management suggests that we should focus on important (not urgent) tasks as much as possible. It says we shouldn’t bother ourselves with tasks that are urgent but unimportant, dealing with those in our less productive hours.
For some reason, I was procrastinating and did not start working on the next important project. Instead, I started to deal with signing documents, setting meetings, and similar mundane work. And in the process of this semi-automatic state, I unexpectedly got some very good ideas that helped me improve my presentation.
The conclusion: sometimes, it is useful to wait before finishing something important. Doing boring work between important tasks can create the space in which to receive inspired thoughts to enhance your important projects.
