How to prioritize your tasks like a pro?

Do you feel overwhelmed by your to do list?

Now that you are working furiously forgetting to blink, you have even skipped your lunch but the deadlines are dangerously near.

Aaannnddd…. You are cursing yourself for wasting time on your mobile earlier in the day.

Relatable?

Don’t worry! You are not alone.

Your list can be a list of work assignments or projects or household chores but the problem is your list, is just a list, that has been written down randomly and not a list that has been scrutinized and prioritized.

Know how to set priorities and manage workload effectively

Brain dump

Now you’ll have loads of things to decide. It’s important that you have a clear mind.

Grab a paper and write down whatever you want to do. Just keep on writing anything that comes to your mind. Even if it is something that you want to do 20 years later from now. Transfer everything you want to do from your mind to the paper. Now we have a master to do list.

Deadlines

Mark deadlines for all possible tasks on the list. Tasks that do not have deadlines can wait. Arrange the tasks as per deadline. Yes you must write it in a new paper. Don’t sulk, my friend. This would help you be clear about what you got to do. And moreover,

Goals without deadlines are mere dreams

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Break down tasks

Now notice what are the larger tasks and break them down. I usually have a long to do list on a daily basis. One of the bulky tasks is writing a blog post. So I break it down into a few steps like this

• Research
• Write draft
• Find keywords
• Write a fair draft
• Check grammar
• SEO
• Create blog graphics

And then I allot every sub task day by day, like, Research on Monday, draft on Tuesday, and finally hit the publish button at the assigned due date.

You can do this by drawing a flow chart in your to do list.

Or if you are comfortable, if you won’t sulk, you can jot them down as bullet points in a new sheet.

Determine today’s task

Now that we have assigned deadlines, and have broken down huge tasks. Decide what all you need to finish today including the sub task and write down in your daily planner.

The types of task

In any given task list, we can divide the tasks into four types and that applies to your to do list too. The four types are:

• Tasks that should be finished today no matter what (Rank 1)
• Tasks that can be done later (Rank 2)
• Tasks in which others can help (Rank 3)
• Tasks that can be avoided. (Rank 4)

Know what is important

Before we jump into what are the methods of prioritizing. We should know how to identify which task is Rank 1 and which is not. And one of the task prioritizing techniques is to, ask these question for every task you are going to do today.

• Is this task going to take me a step forward towards my goal?
• What will happen if I refuse to do this today?
• Does this reduce the load from my mind?
• Am I the only one who can/ should go this?
• Is this important than all the other task in today’s list?

Remember to be true to yourself 🙂

Answer this questions with Yes or No. The tasks with all Yes will be in Rank 1 and the tasks with all No will be the in Rank 4

Task prioritization

Matrix

Also popularly known as The Eisenhower Decision Matrix. It is named after the US President Dwight Eisenhower who was known to rank his task using important and urgency. This is the most popular way of prioritizing.

Columns

If you feel you want your task sheet to be very simple, then just divide the sheet into 4 columns (or rows) and name them from Rank 1 to 4

Designs

If you love drawing or if you want your tasks page to be full of creative designs, then use unique ideas to prioritize the four tasks. Maybe something like this?

What to do after prioritizing?

Now you have a list, a clear list, of what you should do, I want you to follow the method of Ivy Lee. He was an American journalist and publicity expert who live in the 19th and early 20th centuries

According to Ivy Lee, you should start your day with the most important task (first task in Rank 1) and you should not move till you finish the task

The first task may be tough, boring, a long process etc. but once you finish it you’ll have almost half of the load relieved from your mind and you’ll be thankful to yourself later in the day.

So that’s how you can prioritize your goals and achieve them without fail. What do you think is your main challenge in prioritizing your tasks? Let me know in the comments ♡