5 Wellbeing activity for this week

Almost everyone feels overwhelmed at times with tasks that need to be done in their life including work tasks, study, jobs that need doing at home, personal or caring duties and so on.

When you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, and struggling to know which way to turn, the 4D method can provide a route out of the chaos.

The four Ds stand for:

• Do
• Defer (Diary in)
• Delegate
• Delete (Drop)

Start by writing a list of everything you have to do. It’s best to be specific rather than just listing general issues and don’t forget to include your everyday tasks as well.

Now you can start to consider:

• Which of these tasks do you need to get done? (Do)
• Which tasks can be postponed for a later date? (Defer)
• Which tasks could someone else help you with? (Delegate)
• Which tasks don’t really need to be done? (Delete)

Once you have narrowed your tasks down to the ones that you must do, you can then prioritise them using the Eisenhower method (see the links below for more information).

Forbes: How To Use The 4 Ds Of Effective Time Management [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]

FourWeekMBA: The Four Ds of Time Management

MindTools: Eisenhower’s Urgent/ Important Principle - Using Time Effectively, Not Just Efficiently