Having all your tasks under control might be challenging, especially when you realize that they are all equally important. For the purpose of managing all the tasks delegated to you and ensuring that you are still within the time frame, it is essential that you equip yourself with effective prioritization methods.
In the corporate world, prioritization is the key to your effective and productive role inside the workplace, as it defines your purpose in the team and to the company itself. As you and your team unite to attain your set goals, pinpointing priority tasks will be advantageous and eliminate negative energy within your team.
Hence, putting job prioritization ideas into practice might help you increase productivity and make the most of your time at work.
Step 1: Know What It Is
The first step that you do is to identify all of your pending work, such as:
- The estimated amount of time each one will take to be accomplished
- Level of urgency
- Deadline
It is recommended that you create a list of everything that you need to do, have it organized depending on the deadline, and also stop relying on your memory since there are possibilities that you might forget details upon completing the task.
By achieving this, you will now have an overall list of your tasks, and you will now finally work with your senses on how to activate your time management skills and which tasks will require you to exert effort.
In that way, you will have an idea of how to meet the expectations of your employer by having them appropriately accomplished and well-executed.
Upon implementing this, we will suggest that you write down both personal and work tasks in a single list as a means to give yourself a bigger picture of how you will spend your day. All things considered, even routine activities or tasks must be enlisted and considered.
Everything from going out to do groceries to finishing your team’s project should be done in the same place. Once your list is complete, the sense of prioritization automatically happens corresponding to the time length, level of urgency, deadline, and also the reward that it might provide for yourself.
This might sound challenging, but always remember that taking the first step is the hardest of all journeys. You will see yourself struggling to complete all of your tasks with restrictions, but when you get used to it, it will be much easier for you to be disciplined and organized for a long period of time.
Step 2: Narrow It Down
When the aforementioned step is accomplished, you will now proceed with categorizing your tasks based on their level of urgency. Still and all, here are the three types of work that exist in the workplace:
- Single tasks
- Recurring tasks
- Projects
Single tasks are labeled “Do These Tomorrow” tasks as you put a mark on single tasks that can be found in your list and organize them based on their factors, such as urgency, importance, and time availability. Moreover, you might want to consider your energy level upon completing certain tasks and identify where the peak of your productivity is.
Create a separate list on another sheet of paper, prioritize them for the next day of work, and cross them out as soon as you accomplish one; thus, the small wins are felt every time you remove one from your finite list.
As for being a finite list, it is a given that each and every day, more tasks will be added upon completion, and it would be better if the existing tasks were not completed on time; you must repeat them onto another sheet of paper until fully accomplished.
Putting it in a nutshell, single tasks are supposed to be done the day after they are delegated to you. By following this strategy, you will have a clear vision of the tasks that you need to fulfill on any given day. You must also limit yourself by having no more tasks than yesterday’s delegated tasks.
Recurring Tasks, These are tasks that appear regularly on your to-do list such as an email needed to be composed, documents, meeting appointments, etc.
These kinds of tasks are not needed to be done from one list to another, yet just simply create a distinct paper and post it near your workplace alongside other to-do lists in order to signify its category as recurring tasks.
Lastly, projects are the kind of task that will require your patience, knowledge, and time-management.
If you have multiple projects under your name, you must focus on one project at a time based on your level of satisfaction with your progress and your time availability to make initial steps on other projects.
Working on projects is normally defined as working on them on a daily basis for as long as you can, since you will need to set this aside when urgent tasks are assigned to you by other officials in the workplace.
In order to guide oneself, you must ask yourself goal-oriented questions such as, “What tasks will have the biggest impact upon completion?” and “What can I get done today towards my goal?” and “What should I eat or do to reward myself after accomplishing this task?” This will effectively motivate you to complete each and every task assigned to you.
To initiate your progress, you must also consider the category that was formulated by Stephen Covey for his perspective on importance and urgency:
- Urgent and important: These are the tasks that you must accomplish first.
- Important but not urgent: Do not input deadlines in these tasks as it only needs to be done correctly.
- Urgent but unimportant: Delegate these kinds of tasks to other individuals who don’t have much on their plate.
- Neither urgent or important: Mark off your to-do list and focus on much worthy tasks to be accomplished.
Step 3: Prioritize By Urgency
There are a number of pieces of advice from people that an employee must categorize their tasks using different methods such as letters and numbers, yet they are not fully effective realistically since you will be drained out when you initiate to touch the tasks in the third category, which are commonly not urgent or have long deadlines.
Remember that you created all sorts of lists because they all matter for yourself, your company, and your career. All things considered, you can begin by being deadline driven, specifically by something on your list that needs to be done today or tomorrow.
As an employee, you must perceive it as having equal value and accomplish it accordingly based on your availability. It is true that we are the captains of our ships, and this mindset can also be applied in the corporate world as it can give you a real sense of liberty and versatility when it comes to your life decisions.
By applying this, you will realize that you are now regularly doing this as items pop up on your email or to-do list. Apart from learning how to manage work prioritization, your main goal is to accomplish all the tasks delegated to you at any time of the day.
Being knowledgeable on how to manage and prioritize your work will transform you into a more responsible and disciplined person in your workplace. By having time availability, it will lead to high productivity and effectiveness in your mind and body.
The implementation of these methods will teach you to understand which tasks you can accomplish or delegate to others based on their importance and urgency.