When you have a lot of seemingly important things you need to accomplish, it may be hard to figure out how to take care of everything.
Work deadlines and last-minute assignments often compete with long-term plans.
But effective prioritization will help you focus on getting the right things done and keep you from wasting time.
The first step to prioritizing effectively is to have a single definitive list of everything you need to get done.
You can’t accurately decide what needs to be done without seeing what’s actually on your plate.
Then you have to decide which tasks to work on first, which task to complete later, and which to delegate or let fall to the way side.
There’s no perfect solution and the best one for you will depend on your situation.
But here are a few options.
You can take care of the most important tasks first, the one that will have the biggest impact for you, your team or your company.
You can take care of the most urgent task first, whichever has the earliest due date.
You can combine urgent and important, do the important and urgent things first.
Then the important but not urgent things.
Just be sure to delegate or skip the tasks that aren’t important.
You can eat the frog or take care of the most daunting, complicated task first.
This may sound unappealing, but the common alternative is to leave this item for last and do a rushed job of it.
Taking care of it first will clear it from your mind and ensure you take the time to do it, right.
Don’t forget the 80/20 rule or the Pareto principle, which states that roughly 20 percent of your effort will produce 80 percent of your overall results.
Thoughtfully identifying those 20 percent tasks will help you focus your efforts where they’ll have the biggest payout.
Prioritization is more art than science and works differently fore very person.
Figure out what works for you, and keep tweaking to get the most out of your day.
