Types Of Tasks #

We have three types of energy reserves for effort, be it mental or physical, which we can use to perform our daily tasks and achieve our goals. Intense, Hard, Resistance are the names of each one of the reserves and each one have their own utility during the day. I have made this correlation from the practice of kettlebells and how physical exercise routines and practices should be organized in order to get the most out of our limited energy.

We only get so much energy in each reserve and it is not interchangeable between the reserves nor the order in which we use it can be altered, also the amount of energy we have in each reserve is not equal.

The reserves are distributed approximately like Intense (20%), Hard (30%), Resistance (50%).

The way we use our energy is in order from Intense, Hard and Resistance even if we are not performing work or training even if we are not making the best use of it. If we start by doing work that is better suited for Resistance reserves and attempt to do work better suited for Hard reservers we are going to deplete the Intense and Hard reserves first and have no more energy for the Hard work but we will still be able to perform more Resistance work.

In order to identify which of our tasks goes better with one type of reservers we have to look at the level uncertainty the task has and their priority. Intense tasks have less than 15% percent of uncertainty and have a high priority, these are the tasks that we almost know what has to be done and we just have to get it done. Hard tasks have more than 40% of uncertainty and have a high priority, these are the tasks that we have to take time to think and explore options that might not work. Intense and Hard tasks require a high level of attention due the nature of their priority. Resistance tasks have an uncertainty between 15% and 40% and have mid and low priorities, these are the tasks that even if sometime have many questions about them they have a more relaxed pace of work due to the nature of their priority.

The order of the reserves can be applied at any timeframe you want to organize yourself, be it daily, weekly or even monthly just keep in mind that the more you draw from a reserve, the more time you need to refill that reserve. For example you can start each day with an hour of Intense work, followed by 2 hours of Hard work and ending with Resistance work for the rest of the day. At a weekly level you can have Mondays for Intense Work, Tuesday and half Wednesday for Hard work and the rest of the week for Resistance work.

I have tried both those scenarios and the daily split is better suited in work environment in which priorities might change on a daily basis and therefore you need to always have energy reserve for all types of tasks; while the weekly split is better suited in work environments in which priorities are fixed and, unless there is an emergency, the weekly schedule is not altered.