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How to Prioritize Work Tasks: The Ultimate Guide to Priority Management
Schedule Your Day
At the start of each day, look over your calendar and task list for that day, and quickly write down three things you are grateful for your priorities of the day.
Writing on paper makes it less likely to keep adding as the day progresses. Crossing the tasks off as you complete them feels very satisfying.
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Key Ideas
Denying you have a problem
Stop saying that you don't have enough time to complete your commitments.
Admit that you need to get better at managing your time and start searching and trying techniques that will help you ...
Not planning your day
It's important to have an idea of what your daily priorities are and tasks you need to complete, preferably the night before.
Also, make sure you prepare in the evening the outfit you're going to wear and the meals for the following day. Doing this will save time in the morning, and reduce decision fatigue.
"Urgent" vs "Important"
Take all of your tasks and place them into four quadrants:
- To do first: the most important responsibilities that need to be done today or tomorrow.
- Schedule: important tasks that are not urgent.
- Delegate: essential items that are not important.
- Don't do: tasks that aren't important or urgent.
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Key Ideas
Make planning a habit
Some mornings we feel motivated to create a to-do list, but that is often the exception. We need to get things done, even when we feel disengaged.
Start by setting ...
Align your to-do list with goals
- Break down your big goals into daily tasks. You can't add "Get in shape" to your daily to-do list, but you can add "spend 30 minutes on my bike."
- Consider your week as a whole. You likely have multiple goals. Some goals benefit from daily activity, while working towards others a few times a week can create momentum.
- Add your have-to-do tasks last. We often fill our to-do lists with have-to-do tasks that crowd the whole day. Adding it last forces you to fit your have-to-do tasks around your goal tasks.
Have one daily priority
Many of us start our mornings with dozens of things we need to get done, but later realize that we haven't crossed any of them off our lists. We did get stuff done, but none of the things we planned.
A balm against hectic days that pass without progress is to choose a single activity to prioritize and protect in your calendar. If you struggle to select your top priority, ask yourself, when you look back on your day, what do you want the highlight to be? That's your priority.
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Key Ideas
Time Management Is Not A Solution
Most people want more done during the course of the day, feeling productive if they have checked more boxes out of their to-do list. Time management has been a fad for a long time, equating product...
Attention Management
Shifting our focus towards people and projects, rather than the time it takes for us to work on something is referred to as Attention Management.
Productivity is not a virtue, but just a means to an end, and it means nothing if the end is not worthy. Paying attention to your intrinsic motivation, on why you are excited about the project will make you push yourself naturally and achieve the goal.
Lack Of Distractions Promotes Productivity
Many studies show that bad weather days when it is too cold or rainy, keeps the working people glued to their work, being more productive as they are less distracted by the thought of going outside.