It all starts with leaving a voice mail for someone. Or you send an email in which you’ve made a request or asked a question.
Now you’re waiting for the other person to get back to you.
But what if they don’t?
How often have you suddenly remembered something you’re waiting for and thought, “I know I called and left a message, but when was that?” Or, “I sent an email. But when did I send that? I don’t know if I got a reply.”
This is the guessing game you play.
Since too much time may have passed, your progress has surely slowed down at just the time when you’re in a hurry to get answers and get it all done. You could be getting close to a deadline—or worse, you’ve passed it.
You may get frustrated at the other person for not getting back to you. They’re holding you up, right?
Not so fast. What’s really happening is a loss of control of these “pending tasks” and “things you’re waiting for.” And while it’s easy to blame others for not getting back to you—and for the predicament you might be in—it’s better to establish a way to keep track of these tasks in a way that puts YOU in charge.
Up until now, you may not have realized there’s a better way to manage these kinds of tasks.
In the past, you may have made attempts to stay on top of things by…
…putting related papers in a “pending” pile on your desk.
…putting items in a “waiting for” file in a desk drawer.
…making a note somewhere if there were no related papers or files.
Or you may have taken a risk and simply expected (hoped?) that the other person would get back to you.
Oops.
All 3 of these options are flashing a big warning sign: TROUBLE AHEAD.
And trouble can show up in your day in a variety of ways…
- You miss targets, deadlines, and opportunities.
You miss a deadline on an important task or project.
You miss an event or connecting with others.
You miss opportunities with clients or prospects.
- It damages trust and reliability in relationships.
If you’re ultimately responsible for meeting needs, requirements, deadlines, or simply the expectations of others, but you don’t deliver, because someone else didn’t get back to you, it will reflect poorly on you. And those to whom you promised to deliver might question your reliability.
- Reactivity in your day goes up.
When tasks or follow ups are suddenly remembered and they become the most urgent thing you need to do, it will throw off your plan for the day. What you had planned to accomplish might have to be put aside so you can catch up on something that’s now late.
- You’re losing TIME.
If items are waiting in a “pending pile” or a “waiting for” file, you’ll lose time when thumbing through that same pile every few days to see what you’ve not, what you’re waiting for, when you last took action, how you reached out, and then try to figure out what to do next and when.
- You’re not prioritizing.
When items wait in a pile or in a file, they all reflect the same level of importance. There’s no level of priority OR a plan of action, which means your highest priority could be at the bottom of the pile or in the back of the file.
To stay on top of pending tasks and things you’re waiting for, you need a reliable task management method.
WITHOUT a reliable task management method, you’re unwittingly leaving the accomplishment of a task to chance.
You’re leaving progress, results, and outcomes up to someone ELSE. (Danger!)
Fortunately, this can be avoided with the creation of a simple system for managing tasks.
STEP 1: Consolidate ALL tasks—not just the ones you set aside to wait for someone else.
Establish ONE, central, digital task list to contain All of the tasks you’re responsible for. This means pulling tasks AWAY from the many places they come from and there are more than 10 different sources of tasks in the typical workday.
These include (but are not limited to) email, phone calls, texts, social media, teams applications, project management systems, meetings, conversations, the papers/files on your desk, and more.
And when a to-do list is created on paper, it becomes yet another source of tasks, because you filled it up with tasks. So get AWAY from using paper lists, too. Those are partial lists that are highly inefficient to use for managing tasks.
Consolidate and centralize tasks into one central, digital list. Identify the FIRST action step to get something started or the NEXT action step to keep something moving forward. At this point, the ONLY two things you need to identify are WHAT you’re going to do and WHEN.
STEP 2: Include “pending tasks” and “things you’re waiting for” in your Task List.
When you identify something you’re waiting for, the key is understanding that these are really TASKS for your task list. Think about it this way… what will you do if you DON’T hear back from that person?
When you answer that question, that’s the task. If you’d say, “I’ll call” or I’ll email,” THAT’S a task.
Now decide…
👉 WHEN will you reach out again if you DON’T hear back? How many days will go by before you take action? THAT’S your action date on the task.
👉 HOW will you reach out again? Determine if you’ll call, email, text, etc…
Incorporate all of the “pending tasks” or “things you’re waiting for” into the same task management plan to prioritize them alongside everything else you need to do.
Identify what you’ll do if you don’t get what you expect and target a date of action that at least gives the other person a chance to do what they promised.
If you DON’T get what you expect by a certain date, then you can take action. If you DO hear back from the other person sooner, then find it on your list and take it from there.
Here’s the bottom line…
When you want to be highly efficient, effective, and productive…
When you want to stay in control of your work and your time…
When you want to be dependable and reliable…
When you want to get outcomes and results on time…
You can’t rely on others to get back to you.
Take charge. Keep track of every task and follow up.
When all tasks—including pending items and things you’re waiting for—are all part of the same task management plan, you’ll be able to…
✔️ Manage ALL tasks in one system, no matter where they came from.
✔️ Plan action on each task, no matter when you’ll take action.
✔️ Prioritize tasks accurately with 100% awareness of tasks and all the facts.
✔️ Be more proactive on tasks and stay in control of their progress.
✔️ Avoid missing or forgetting deadlines, tasks, follow-ups, events, opportunities, and information.
✔️ Take action on the right tasks and follow-ups at the right time.
✔️ Save time, energy, and effort .
✔️ Work more efficiently and be more productive.
✔️ Reduce stress and worry about what might have been missed, lost, or forgotten.
They key here is that YOU are in control of your tasks. You’re taking action when YOU think it’s best. It won’t be too soon and it won’t be too late, and you’ll stay on top of things, because you’ll have a plan for each and every item.
The minute you make a request in a conversation, on a phone call, in a voice mail or in an email, add a task on your digital task list that tells you what step you’ll take and when you’ll take it if you DON’T get what you’ve asked for by the time you need it.
Then you’ll always stay in control of progress on pending items and things you’re waiting for—WITHOUT having to rely on others who may or may not get back to you.
