How to Prioritize Work Tasks: The Ultimate Guide to Priority Management

Use a good task management tool/app or just get a pen and paper to jot down all the tasks, taking your time.

Make the list long and comprehensive, listing out all reports, projects, commitments, pending communications, submissions, or any sales/legal/admin/training tasks. You can always remove stuff later.

As you might have guessed by now, prioritizing means understanding which tasks need to be done prior to others.

If the goal post is not clear, one cannot prioritize any tasks, as it would be a futile exercise. An effective way is to put out 90-day goals, stuff that we want to be accomplished in that time.

The ideal, practical and effective number of goals is between one and three. More than three goals can mean no particular goal.

One can use the expected value calculation to prioritize your goals:

Expected Value=Resources Required x ROI x Probability Of Success.

Check your goals against this calculation and find out what resources(time, energy, money) are required and what is the probability of its success, depending on factors like your enthusiasm and the likelihood of the project working.

Now that all the ingredients are in place, it is going to be a lot easier to actually prioritize your work. 

One can use a simple ABCDE method, ranking the tasks as very important, important, so-so important, and those which can be delegated or eliminated.

Another way is to use a 2x2 matrix, called the Eisenhower Priority Matrix, essentially a 2D box with four quadrants, slotting the various activities and tasks in our to-do list into their real levels of importance.

When there are too many urgent and important tasks, one needs to assign a perceived dollar value to them, and then rank them according to their monetary figures. This method is called the Marshall Matrix.

The 80/20 rule says that 20 percent of what we do gets us 80 percent of value, so we need better systems to focus on doing just the 20 percent, getting the best ROI.

We need to focus on stuff we do that is a complete waste of time. Making a Not-To-Do List refocuses your priorities.

1. Answering calls from unidentified numbers.
2. Answering back and forth email covering the same issue the whole day.
3. Useless meetings.
4. Stuff you can outsource or delegate, like grocery shopping.
5. Spending time with people you don’t like being with.
6. Micromanaging stuff instead of focusing on results.

We are not the same all the time. Some days, or on specific times of the day, we are good at certain stuff, while not good at other things. 

We need to block out time and create slots where we do what we are best at, becoming a maker, manager or admin. 

Example: We can create stuff(like doing some writing) in the early hours of the morning while doing work like going to the dentist in the afternoon.

Maker time can be for coding, reviewing, analysing, or designing something.

Manager time can be utilized for meetings, important emails, Slack responses, fixing bugs, and testing new software.

Admin time is best used for organizing your workplace, data entry, shopping and paying your bills.

Taking into account the previous steps, one can transfuse one’s energy levels to sync with important tasks, creating bubbles of time where one is a maker and in the flow, while scheduling important meetings or appointments when one is in the manager or admin mode.

Schedule your days and weeks using these steps while ensuring you take care of your work-life balance.