Measure a task’s urgency

To set reasonable goals make a list for high-energy days and another for when you are reluctant to work. Both lists should follow an “if/then” model.

The first lists should have the more involved tasks, while the second list should feature more mindless tasks like cleaning out your inbox, organizing your desk, or even napping.

1. Has items that are both urgent and important, is to be tackled immediately.
2. Items that are important but not urgent, can be scheduled for a later time.
3. Tasks deemed urgent but not important can be delegated to others if possible
4. Tasks that are neither urgent nor important should be crossed off the list altogether.

1. 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."
2. 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.
3. 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.

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.

Aspirational tasks, like writing a book, don’t belong on a to-do list; instead, create a separate bucket list. 

Daily to-do lists should be focused. If you have a big project you want to complete, you can put it on your to-do list if you chunk it out into smaller, more attainable tasks.

The purpose of this list is to know the tasks the are not important and are not worthwhile. There are a lot of things worthy of your time and getting rid of those unnecessary tasks will give you more time to complete more important tasks.

• Reevaluate your to-do list: Identify the goals and determine how the items in your list impact your aims.
• Create your not to-do list: Cut those unimportant tasks in your to-do list and paste it on your no to-do list. By doing this, you must accept that your time is limited and commit on letting them go.
• Evaluate new tasks: From then on, once a new assignment arrives, evaluate its importance and the effects of it with your goals.

Instead of letting tasks you're not quite committed to loiter on your to-do list until you're sick of looking at them, move them off to a separate list, a holding area for Someday/Maybe items. 

Only concrete actions you're committed to completing should live on your to-do list.

A few explanations as to why it’s so hard to reject urgent tasks:

• The completion bias. Our brains crave the reward we get from checking off small to-dos from our list.
• Tunnel vision: When we get overwhelmed by the things we have to do, we choose to act on those most available to us; these are usually emails, calls, meetings, and other low-friction tasks.

The problem is that we’re continually bombarded with urgent work: emails, meetings, calls, and instead of being in control of our time and attention, we respond and act on someone else’s priorities.

Start with the small tasks, the ones you can finish in 10 minutes and run through them first.

You’ll feel motivated by the win of knocking out a couple of tasks quickly and ready to handle more serious work.

If the Pomodoro Technique doesn't work for you and you prefer to do tasks from start to finish in one sitting, you should adjust your plan to fit with your focus.

So work until you complete those tasks, and then take a break.

Prioritizing tasks at work involves getting all your tasks and commitments in one place.  Take a piece of paper and make a list of everything you need to get done. Questions to help you:

• Do you have commitments to others like your boss, partner, kids, or clients?
• Do you have anything you need to submit? 
• Do you have any financial tasks that need to get done? 
• Do you have any planning that needs to get done? 
• Do you have any administrative tasks? Legal, insurance, staffing, or training?
• Do you have any professional development tasks that need to get done? Training, areas to research, skills to develop, books to read or study, or classes to take?

Find your goals. Without them, it is impossible to prioritize your tasks. Try to set 90-day goals, which is long enough to make meaningful progress. Questions to prompt goals:

• What’s the one thing you could do that makes everything else easier or unnecessary?
• If you were giving advice to someone else in your position, what 1-3 things would you tell them to focus on?
• What do you want to have accomplished over the next five years?

It’s easy to spend time organizing a to-do list and forget to do the things in the list to avoid that:

1. Pick an app that will automatically sync information on multiple platforms so you have flexibility without the work it would take to update manually.
2. Use an app ecosystem that allows easy integration of calendars, to do lists and email for maximum efficiency.

A list of tasks you simply don't do: You delete them, delegate them, outsource them or simply say no when they try to find their way on your to-do list:

• Things you want to say no
• Distractions from being productive
• Regular tasks you can delete, delegate, or outsource
• Other people's responsibility
• Small projects that get way on bigger projects
• Emotionally draining tasks
• Bad habits
• Stuff that doesn't need to be done
• Things that are out of control
• Everything else that you can systematically eliminate and bring a bigger margin into your life.

When people ask you personally or via email something that you are struggling to decline, use templates. Templates are standard response you use to everyone. With the use of these, you refuse them politely without offending them. Also,  it saves you time and there's less emotional pressure compared to writing a decline every time.