1 Everyday life, everyday tasks

We all have things that we need to do regularly as part of our everyday lives. These can include:

  • doing the shopping; running the household finances
  • fulfilling routine appointments, like the children’s drawing training
  • less routine appointments, like visits to the dentist and hairdressers
  • keeping up with family – local and further away
  • socialising
  • checking personal email.

These things are all important but can sometimes get on top of us. We can miss things like friends’ birthdays, or even dentist appointments. Keeping on top of our email lists can seem to take forever.

Activity 1 Everyday tasks: thinking about your own ‘taskscape’

Timing: 15 minutes

A ‘taskscape’ is a made up word to describe all the things that you routinely do, like those listed above, some very frequently and others less so. Sometimes we are too busy doing everyday tasks to be able to see how we can do them better. This activity helps you take a fresh look at your taskscape and to start to think about areas you might want to do better.

Think about and make a note of some of the routine tasks that populate your everyday life in your reflective journal. These tasks could be to do with home life, but you may want to think about the tasks you routinely do as part of work or study.

Then add some details about:

  • how you manage your everyday tasks at the moment
  • what tools you use (e.g. pen and paper, scrawled lists, project management software at work, shared calendars, spreadsheets)
  • which tasks take longer
  • which tasks you do less well than other people
  • which tasks get in the way of other things you’d like to do with your time?

You’ll revisit your own notes as you progress through the week’s activities.

Introduction

1.1 ‘There’s an app for that’