Philosophy question: Given two tasks, one difficult and one easy, which do you do first?

[CptObvious]

Easy first, so I can get into working mode.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: funboy42
You always do the hard job first, then go ****** off on the easy one for the rest of the day. Who in the right mind would do it the other way around so you bust your ass 10x harder because you did the hard one last and its almost time to leave the hell hole and go booze it up?

Thoes are lazy ass slacker procrastonators that dont understand they are making more work for themselves in the long run, and putting yourself also in a bad mood for the end of the day because you forced yourself to rush and make misstakes. Well I guess you cant really call them lazy ass slacker procrastonators then could you because they are working harder? Just stupid then, not knowing how to really be a lazy ass slacker procrastonator by doing the hard job first, then slacking on the easy one milking it till the clock ends.

The two tasks combined take the same amount of time to complete, so the order you do it in is solely preference.

Working for so long in IT, I always do the easy one first. The customer i'm doing the hard task for will be pissed regardless of what I do, because he/she won't understand what's so hard about it. So I might as well do the easy one first and have 1 person who is satisfied, rather than put that one off and have them both pissed.

 

[blackdogdeek]

easy first so i don't have a second task hanging over my head. also, presumably the easier one will take less time.

EDIT: also, i don't see how this involves philosophy, unless you mean one's personal philosophy

 

[Tremulant]

From my experience, most difficult tasks involve some form of waiting. So in that waiting time, I'd complete the easy task.

 

[brtspears2]

If both tasks take about the same time, I would do the easy task first.

If the easy task takes only a few minutes, and there will be periods of time during the hard task where I will have a moment, I would start the hard task, do the easy task during a stopping point, then resume hard task.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: funboy42
You always do the hard job first, then go ****** off on the easy one for the rest of the day. Who in the right mind would do it the other way around so you bust your ass 10x harder because you did the hard one last and its almost time to leave the hell hole and go booze it up?

Thoes are lazy ass slacker procrastonators that dont understand they are making more work for themselves in the long run, and putting yourself also in a bad mood for the end of the day because you forced yourself to rush and make misstakes. Well I guess you cant really call them lazy ass slacker procrastonators then could you because they are working harder? Just stupid then, not knowing how to really be a lazy ass slacker procrastonator by doing the hard job first, then slacking on the easy one milking it till the clock ends.

You must be a union worker.

I used to work on the R&R. I would do all my trench digging during the day when it was a bit cooler out and I was full of energy then run my wires and fill it in. Rather then some of the others that would run thier wires and hook them up then in the middle of the afternoon when your hot, sweaty, and tired already then go digging (by hand mind you because the RR I worked for didnt like to have machinery on the right of way). I always got all my hard stuff done and out of the way and when it was raining (without thunder and lightning for you can get electicuted if it hits the rail even from miles away) I worked and got my shoveling and pic axing done no matter what first thing.

Hardest thing about that job was I worked on the Florida East coast railway and they mainly hauled concrete rock up and down it and the wires I would have to replace would go to the other side and would have to pic bar (long heave metal rod with a point) and bust out a trench between the tires and have to go through several years and about a foot worth of concrete then dig out 3 more feet in the sand not to mention the 30 feet or so 2 foot wide and 4 feet deep from there to the main box. And it all had to be done in one day. I and my brother replaced alot of shunt wires from Jacksonville to Miami back in 97/98. OH and Miami what a sh1thole that was. Hookers doing johns in the weeds, drug sales, drug users pased out, drunk people passed out all on the right of way and you can watch them all scatter like cockroaches when you drive up on them. Was even a gang shoot out once near one of the jobs in downtown Miami near a bread store and a bullet hit my truck.

So yes I was union but not by any means did I work like one and I guess it really matters on the work you do/did to answer to OP correctly

 

[CellarDoor]

Generally speaking, I like to get the difficult task done first.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
No idea why I thought of this a little while ago, but I wanted to see what the opinions were on here.

So, if you have two tasks or jobs (unrelated to each other so it doesn't matter what order they are done), which do you do first: the difficult one, or the easy one? Do you go for the quick "win" and knock out the easy one, or do you use your best (first) efforts on the difficult task and leave the easy one for later?

A poll for your enjoyment!

What's the suspense on either task?

 

[Bryophyte]

Whichever one takes less time comes first, regardless of difficulty. That way, I spend less time fretting about the unfinished task.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: funboy42
I used to work on the R&R. I would do all my trench digging during the day when it was a bit cooler out and I was full of energy then run my wires and fill it in. Rather then some of the others that would run thier wires and hook them up then in the middle of the afternoon when your hot, sweaty, and tired already then go digging (by hand mind you because the RR I worked for didnt like to have machinery on the right of way). I always got all my hard stuff done and out of the way and when it was raining (without thunder and lightning for you can get electicuted if it hits the rail even from miles away) I worked and got my shoveling and pic axing done no matter what first thing.

Your advantage there was you made the hard job easier (digging when it was cool). Your advantage was NOT because you did the hard job first. For example, pretend instead, you worked from 2 pm - 10 pm. Would you do the digging in the heat of the day at 2 pm? Or would you have rather waited until 6 pm when it was cooler?

So your choice was medium first then easy second. That isn't the question. The question was hard/easy vs easy/hard, not medium/easy vs easy/hard.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Difficult first. Usually requires more energy/time/resources to do, so you want to do it first then coast downhill on the second.

 

[archiloco]

i am weird, i start the difficult task, when i get to a point i am frustrated or need a break i do the easy task, while doing the easy task i am thinking of how to solve the hard/frustrating task.

 

[Rudy Toody]

Personally, I would delegate both.

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: DaShen
Depends... which one is more crucial/important?

Not an issue. If you want a context, imagine you are working on a house and have two items you need to complete. Something like ripping out four layers of tile in one room and painting a small room in another part of the house. Both must be done, but they are vastly different in difficulty.

 

[fitzov]

are you talking prudence or morality?

 

[waggy]

I start the hard task first. that way if i need a break i can go to the easy and get that done. tehn back to the hard.

 

[KoolDrew]

Easy for me.

 

[SuepaFly]

Difficult first, always. I even do this when it comes to eating, like a toast. I hate the crust, so I always eat it first. For me its easier to have nothing to compare the hard task to, if I did the easier first, I would always think "Man, this sucks, the other one didn't need this..." and it would prolong it all.

 

[ChooChooChooseMe]

Easy first, hard last, then go home.

 

[gotsmack]

Easy first, because if you do the hard one first someone might come along and "help" you do the easy task, claiming the credit.

 

[DainBramaged]

Hardest first.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
No idea why I thought of this a little while ago, but I wanted to see what the opinions were on here.

So, if you have two tasks or jobs (unrelated to each other so it doesn't matter what order they are done), which do you do first: the difficult one, or the easy one? Do you go for the quick "win" and knock out the easy one, or do you use your best (first) efforts on the difficult task and leave the easy one for later?

A poll for your enjoyment!

More of a psychology thing than philosophy don't you think?

 

[AndrewR]

This is pretty interesting. There's probably some psychological explanation for the distinction among the easy, the difficult, and the ones asking for clarification.

 

[dxkj]

Difficult first... if it is WAY more difficult, and i need a break, the easy one will feel like a break, e ven though I am actually getting something accomplished.

If you do the easy one, you might take too much time,not work hard enough, and ANY work feels like work So after working on the easy task it will be even harder to do the difficult task.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
No idea why I thought of this a little while ago, but I wanted to see what the opinions were on here.

So, if you have two tasks or jobs (unrelated to each other so it doesn't matter what order they are done), which do you do first: the difficult one, or the easy one? Do you go for the quick "win" and knock out the easy one, or do you use your best (first) efforts on the difficult task and leave the easy one for later?

A poll for your enjoyment!

ideal answer:
Hard first, then easy one.

Real world answer:
Easy one first.

Teh reason:
You do hard one first, your boss might reassign the easy one to someone else, and you get another hard one. or the boss sees that you only have the easy one left, and assigns more work.

if you do the easy one first, then you probably wont get more work shafted to you because you're now working on the hard one