Follow your feelings: Prioritize

The first step in establishing priorities is to keep track of your time for a week, at work and at home. What tasks are you doing and how are you choosing them? Then, you can use the A, B, C method or a decision-making matrix to prioritize tasks.

The A, B, C method is simple. Follow these steps:

• An A task is one that you MUST do now: the deadline is today and the task is important to you or to your boss, offers visibility for you and your skills, and is vital to the needs of your customers, readers, peers, or team members.
• A B task is one that you should do now: it fits the A criteria but there is NO deadline today.
• A C task is one that you like to do, something that you can work on whenever you have some time to spare.

You see, when you prioritize, you must know why a task is important and when it must be done. Do not assume what people mean by the tone of their voice or who they are in the company. Ask yourself “When do you really need it?” Conversely, when you are requesting something from others, you must tell them when you need it and why. That helps them prioritize – and better understand what they are committing to do.

The famous decision-making matrix is similar to the A, B, and C method.

Ø The upper left square is for the time-sensitive, important tasks (A).

Ø The upper right square is for the important tasks that are not due today (B).

Ø The lower left square is for time-sensitive, less important tasks (D).

Ø The lower right square is for less important tasks to complete whenever you can (C).

The tasks on the left must be completed today; when you plan effectively, you will be working on tasks in the upper right so they do not end up in the upper left.

That seems pretty easy right? At least on paper. But sometimes, although we have the best intentions, we choose a task for reasons that defy logical criteria. We choose something easy or something that interests us or something that someone is pressuring us to do. Analyze the tasks that you do first, in order to better understand your motivation. The faster you select and complete the tasks that relate to your goals, your boss, and your key projects, the sooner you can go home. Also, you are more likely to get raises or promotions for completing your “veggies” than for doing easy tasks or even for putting out fires.

Some tips when prioritizing:

Think about each task before you choose to do it: How would you prioritize it with either of the methods explained here? It takes just a few moments to choose smart – and you will act with greater assurance.

Break down projects into pieces: This advice offered earlier bears repeating here. Because we often tend to do tasks that are easier or that do not take too much time. We may procrastinate on projects – unless we break them down into smaller tasks that can complete with the less important tasks.

Know what is important to tour leader (reader): That should help you prioritize, if you cannot decide by evaluating tasks in terms of goals.

Keep this in mind: The number one reason why people do not prioritize correctly is that they are trying to prioritize without the necessary information – why it is important and when it must be accomplished.

Don't bother the posts below, but if you are free, why not?

1. Set goals
2. Do not sweat the details: specify and negotiate
3. Goals: we have to think realistically
4. Multitask: but focus
5. Start now: plan your work