Deepstash

Practical methods to prioritize work

“The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.”
Why You Need a Daily Prioritization Meeting
Learning how to prioritize...
...means getting more out of the limited time you have each day. It’s one of the cornerstones of productivity and once you know how to properly prioritize, it can help with everything from your time management to work life balance.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
Master lists
Capture everything on a Master List and then break it down by monthly, weekly, and daily goals . Start by making a master list —a document, app, or piece of paper where every current and future task will be stored. Once you have all your tasks together, break them down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals . When setting your priorities, try not to get too “task oriented” - you want to make sure you’re prioritizing the more effective work.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
Eisenhower Matrix
The matrix is a simple four-quadrant box that answers that helps you separate “urgent” tasks from “important” ones : Urgent and Important : Do these tasks as soon as possible Important, but not urgent : Decide when you’ll do these and schedule it Urgent, but not important : Delegate these tasks to someone else Neither urgent nor important : Drop these from your schedule as soon as possible.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
The Ivy Lee Method
Rank your work by its true priority with the Ivy Lee Method: At the end of each work day, write down the 6 most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Prioritize those 6 items n order of their true importance. When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the next one. Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion . At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day. Repeat this process every working day.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
The ABCDE method
Instead of keeping all tasks on a single level of priority, this method offers two or more levels for each task : Go through your list and give every task a letter from A to E (A being the highest priority) For every task that has an A , give it a number which dictates the order you’ll do it in Repeat until all tasks have letters and numbers.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
Set the tone of the day by “Eating the frog”
Once you’ve prioritized your most important work, it’s time to actually choose how to attack the day.How you start the day sets the tone for the rest of it . And often, getting a large, hairy, yet important task out of the way first thing gives you momentum, inspiration, and energy to keep moving.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
Warren Buffett’s 2-list strategy
Cut out “good enough” goals with Warren Buffett’s 2-list strategy. Write down your top 25 goals : life goals, career goals, education goals, or anything else you want to spend your time on. Circle your top 5 goals on that list. Finally, any goal you didn’t circle goes on an “avoid at all cost” list. These are the tasks that are seemingly important enough to deserve your attention. But that aren’t moving you towards your long-term priorities.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
The sunk cost fallacy
Humans are especially susceptible to the “sunk cost fallacy”—a psychological effect where we feel compelled to continue doing something just because we’ve already put time and effort into it.But the reality is that no matter what you spend your time doing, you can never get that time back. And any time spent continuing to work towards the wrong priority is just wasted time.
How to Prioritize Work: 7 Practical Methods for When "Everything is Important"
5 lessons about Prioritization
Beware the seduction of task-based lists : the process can create a sense a false sense of satisfaction once you cross intems off the list. Focus solely on themes that will drive growth : You have to understand the key drivers of your business and anything that doesn’t move those drivers isn’t a high priority. Forget perfectionism : You have to be willing to do things half way just to get more done with the higher chances to yield strong results. Do the hardest thing first : It eliminates the nagging dread that will sap energy away from other tasks as you postpone the inevitable. Don’t plug leaky boat holes -- switch boats. Time spent bailing is time taken away from adding more profitable vessels to your fleet.
First Things First: The 5 Secrets to Prioritization
Ruthless prioritization
It means deciding not to do things you'd really like to do. It also means deciding what's the most important task even when everything on your list feels crucial. But if you can prioritize until you have only one thing to focus on right now, you can't help but get to work.
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Consolidate All of Your Tasks Into a Single Source
To-dos arrive from a variety of sources . Your boss sends you an email, you get a Slack message from IT, a bill arrives in the mail, or a coworker asks for a favor in the hallway. In order to prioritize your task list efficiently, you need a master to-do list that contains all of the tasks you need to prioritize and complete from all of those sources.
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Analyze Your Task List
Go through your list, review each task, and decide what you want to do with it. You have 4 options : Do : complete the task now Defer : complete it later Delegate : assign it to someone else Delete : remove it from your list
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Use a priority matrix
Take all of your tasks and assign each a priority. This tool is particularly helpful for those times when you're drowning under a million things to do, as it helps you visualize what's really important and what can wait. Whatever you do, avoid the busy work and time wasters that land in the not urgent and not important quadrant as much as you can.
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Use relative prioritization
Assign each task a priority number, to weigh each task against the others in order to determine where to start first. In these cases, it's also helpful to break your tasks down into smaller tasks to better assign relative prioritizations.
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Focus on your Most Important Tasks (MITs)
Choose a few (usually 3) tasks to get done each day; those become your MITs. When using MITs, your to-do list would have 1-3 of these, and anything else listed would become bonus , "nice to do if you have the time" tasks. You only work on bonus tasks if all your MITs are done —and if all you get through are your MITs, you've still had a successful day.
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Pick a single thing to focus on
When you're really struggling to get anything done, you should try this method, even if temporarily. When you look at your task list, pick a single thing to focus on that day. It could be one big task you really want to get done, or it could be a theme that relates to several of your tasks. Choosing a single task or idea to focus on can be a good way to remind yourself to stay on track whenever you find yourself getting distracted.
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Find your 20% task
The Pareto principle states: You tend to get 80% of your results from 20% of your work. What's really tricky is working out what that 20% is that brings in the results . But once you do, you can apply the ultimate ruthless prioritization to your workday: Make that 20% work your priority—and your benchmark for a productive day.
How to Ruthlessly Prioritize Tasks to Get More Done
Daily prioritization check-in
Do I really have to do this now? If so, is it “The Most Important Thing? ” If not, where does it fit relative to the other tasks? Is someone waiting on me for this? If so, when do they need it? Does working/not working on this now have long-term consequences that I’m missing?
Why You Need a Daily Prioritization Meeting