To put things in perspective, it often helps to ask yourself: What’s the most important thing that I can do today that will make tomorrow better? To master the art of prioritization, you have to do some self-reflection. It’s not always obvious what tasks you should prioritize. Think about what’s truly important to you
?If the type of work you do forces you to switch between tasks, check out How to switch between projects and tasks without losing productivity. It’s much more efficient to work on one task at a time, finish it completely, and then move on to the next one. You won’t get more done in less time – you will just end up with a few half-completed tasks. I know it may be tempting, but don’t multitask. Having your to-do list in your field of sight will keep you focused and motivated to cross things off as soon as possible. You can stick them to your laptop or a wall in front of your desk, like a vision board’s more boring cousin. Keep your list somewhere visibleĪfter you have made your list(s), place them somewhere visible – preferably somewhere in front of you so you’ll look at them often. Also, there are many sorts of to-do list templates if you want to make the process faster and easier. Choose a few of the most important tasks for the month and break them down into smaller chunks for your weekly and daily to-dos. Break it down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals. It’s easier when you have all tasks in front of you, on one master to-do list.Īfter you write everything down, look at your big to-do list and slowly and thoughtfully start working on it.
Gather all your small to-dos scribbled on random pieces of paper, written in the Notes app on your phone, screenshotted, or noted in your planner. Grab a piece of paper / open a blank document and make a list of all of your tasks, big and small. Here are some of the tips that can help you to set your priorities straight with less stress. And when multiple tasks get involved, it can get quite overwhelming. Prioritizing one task over another is not always easy, especially if both tasks are important. If the goal is to increase sales, the priority could be launching a new product or coming up with a new strategy with the sales team. If your goal is getting a promotion at work, your priority will be working hard to meet all the requirements. Goals are the concrete things you want to accomplish, whereas priorities are what’s important to you and what you’re dedicating the majority of your time to.įor example, if your goal is passing a hard exam, your priority is probably studying. They do go hand in hand, but they’re two different things.
Difference between priorities and goalsīefore we go into bits and pieces of (re-)prioritization, we need to clarify a distinction between a goal and a priority, since they’re often used interchangeably. In this article, we’re going to focus on work priorities and how to prioritize tasks we’ll also go over the signs that you may need to re-prioritize and how to do that. It’s also a good idea to categorize your priorities – work, health, personal life, etc. Have you thought about what your priorities are? What tasks of yours are more equal than others? A good way to become less overwhelmed is to simply prioritize.
Good thing is, not all tasks are equal – some tasks are more equal than others. It’s easy to get stressed in a busy world where to-do lists seem to only get longer and juggling all the tasks feels like an extreme sport.