Lesson overview
Objective: Define the different types of tasks in your working context
Summary: Not all tasks deserve equal time or attention in your schedule. By thoughtfully categorising your academic work into high-value, important, and routine tasks, you can protect your peak cognitive hours (3-4 hours daily) for the deep, meaningful work that really matters.
Key habits:
- Identify and protect 2-3 blocks of focused time daily for high-value work
- Schedule routine tasks during lower-energy periods
- Batch similar administrative tasks together
- Review and adjust task categories weekly
Introduction
I build my days around a core of carefully chosen deep work, with the shallow activities…batched into smaller bursts… Three to four hours a day, five days a week, of uninterrupted and carefully directed concentration…can produce a lot of valuable output.
Cal Newport (2016)
An undifferentiated to-do list can very quickly become overwhelming. It’s all very well to use lists of tasks to track your work, but when you create an undifferentiated to do list it can quickly become overwhelming. In these situations you may find that you tend to work on the small, easily completed tasks. They’re quick wins where you feel as if you’re making progress. But, you’re really filling your day with an activity that Oliver Burkeman calls ‘clearing the decks’. The problem with this approach is that there are always more incoming tasks, which is why you get to the end of the month having made very little progress on the big, high-value projects, even though you feel like you’re always working. The reality is that you’ll never clear the decks to make space for the work you want to do.
Different plans for different tasks
You need to recognise the different types of tasks in your workload, which allows you to prioritise them. This in turn enables you to allocate the high-value tasks to your most productive hours in the day.
For example, high-value tasks (like writing and publishing) have a high return per unit of time invested. Important tasks (giving feedback on a report, for example) need doing, but may have little strategic value and are typically not urgent. Urgent tasks need to be done immediately, or at least very soon, but may not be important. Tasks that can be completed in 2 minutes or less can be done immediately (or, they can be batched into an allocated period of time; see the lesson on Time-blocking). Some tasks can be delegated. Some can be postponed. Some can be ignored. An example of a framework for managing different types of tasks is the Eisenhower matrix (see the image on the right).
The aim is that you start categorising the tasks in your list so that you can more effectively schedule them.
Knowing what kind of task you’re dealing with can give you some insight into how it needs to be managed.
When you understand which of your tasks have the highest return on investment, it becomes easier to allocate time to them.
This means that you can protect the most productive 3-4 hours of your day on deep work, rather than whittle that time away on routine work like email and meetings.
By thoughtfully categorising your tasks and allocating them to appropriate time slots, you’re creating the head space needed to approach your most meaningful work with clarity and focus. When you’re not constantly switching between different types of tasks - each requiring different levels of cognitive energy - you reduce the mental overhead that contributes to feeling overwhelmed.
This approach helps establish a more sustainable rhythm to your academic work, where you can make consistent progress on high-value projects while still handling the necessary day-to-day responsibilities of academic life. The key is to work with your natural energy patterns rather than against them, creating pockets of calm productivity rather than trying to maintain constant output throughout the day.
Practical examples
Each of the examples below demonstrates how different academics at different career stages can adapt task classification principles to their unique contexts. The key isn’t to perfectly replicate any one approach, but to thoughtfully analyse your own workload and create routines that protect time for meaningful work.
Early career academic
High-value tasks:
- Writing first grant proposal
- Developing two research papers from PhD
- Creating teaching materials for a new module
Important but not urgent:
- Reviewing department teaching materials
- Contributing to curriculum review
- Attending faculty development workshops
Routine tasks:
- Responding to student emails
- Weekly team meetings
- Administrative paperwork
Applying task classification:
- Use Friday mornings for strategic planning
- Block 7-9am for writing before campus gets busy
- Batch student emails into two daily slots
- Schedule meetings in the afternoon when energy is lower
Mid-career academic
High-value tasks:
- Supervising 4 postgraduate students
- Leading a major research project
- Writing an impact case study
Important but not urgent:
- Peer-reviewing papers
- Committee work
- Mentoring junior colleagues
Routine tasks:
- Module coordination
- Marking assignments
- Department meetings
Applying task classification:
- Use short gaps between meetings for quick tasks
- Protect Tuesday and Thursday mornings for PhD supervision
- Block Wednesdays for focused writing
- Batch routine admin into Monday afternoons
Leadership role
High-value tasks:
- Strategic department planning
- Writing major funding bids
- Maintaining key research collaborations
Important but not urgent:
- Staff development reviews
- Budget planning
- Policy development
Routine tasks:
- Responding to emails
- Attending university meetings
- Signing off on administrative requests
Applying task classification:
- Schedule “office hours” for staff queries
- Book 2-hour blocks three mornings a week for strategic work
- Delegate routine admin where possible
- Use early mornings for focused writing
Whether you’re writing grant proposals, supervising students, or leading a department, categorising tasks by their value and matching them to your energy levels helps create the head space needed for deep, focused work. Start small – perhaps by protecting just one high-value time block – and gradually build a system that works for you.
Task classification template
Task classification template
This task classification template helps sort your work into high-value, important, and routine tasks for easy time-blocking and batch-processing.
Download the template [link to be added]
Question
Pause and reflect
Sometimes protecting time for high-value work can feel uncomfortable, as if you’re putting your own career development ahead of departmental needs. However, this perspective misses two key points:
- You’re still allocating significant blocks of time to important tasks - emails, meetings, feedback - just during periods better suited to their cognitive demands.
- Your high-value work directly serves your institution’s mission. When you write that grant proposal or develop innovative teaching materials, you’re not just advancing your career; you’re contributing to your department’s success.
Think of task classification as a tool for creating clarity and focus. When you know you have protected time for important work, you can engage more fully with other tasks during their allocated times, reducing the mental overhead of constant context switching.
Activity
This activity uses time-blocking alongside task categorisation. Time-blocking is covered in more detail in the next lesson.
Schedule and protect deep work blocks
Step 1: Schedule deep work blocks
- Look at next week’s calendar and identify 2-3 potential blocks of uninterrupted time (aim for 2 hours each, but start with 1 if needed)
- If your calendar is already full, look for meetings that could be shortened or rescheduled
- Begin with protecting just one block if that feels more manageable - we’re building sustainable habits, not adding pressure
- Remember: start by scheduling deep work, rather than trying to find time for it after other commitments
Step 2: Match tasks to blocks
- Choose one high-value task that will make meaningful progress in your work (writing, new programme development, research planning)
- Allocate this task to your protected time blocks
- Avoid assigning routine tasks like marking or email to these periods
- Consider your natural energy patterns when choosing the timing of your blocks
Step 3: Prepare for success
- Identify a physical space where you can work without interruption
- Plan what you’ll need for your deep work session
- Decide how you’ll handle potential interruptions
- Set up any necessary boundaries (auto-email replies, door signs, communication with colleagues)
Key takeaways
- Not all tasks are created equal: An undifferentiated to-do list can lead to spending time on quick, easy tasks while neglecting the high-value work that moves your career forward. It’s crucial to categorise different types of tasks (high-value, important, urgent, etc.) to manage them effectively.
- Protect your peak cognitive hours: The most productive 3-4 hours of your day should be reserved for deep, high-value work. Routine tasks should be batched and scheduled during lower-energy periods.
- Start by creating space for deep work: Rather than trying to fit important work around other commitments, begin by blocking out substantial chunks of time (ideally 2-hour blocks) for focused work. Start with this as your foundation and work other tasks around it, instead of letting your schedule fill up with smaller tasks first.
Resources
- Burkeman, O. (2021). Four thousand weeks: Time management for mortals. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Burkeman, O. (2014). This column will change your life: Precrastination. The Guardian.
- Drucker, P. (2006). The effective executive: The definitive guide to getting the right things done. Harper Business.
- Newport, C. (2016). Deep work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world. Grand Central Publishing.
Share your experience
Do you have any experiences or insights that you’d like to share with others? What habits and routines have you implemented in your own practice that have helped in this area? Do you have any questions about your specific context that are not addressed in this lesson? Please leave a comment for other participants in the field below.