How to Prioritise: Tools, tricks and tips for busy professionals (Part 2)

Since posting part 1 of the “How to Prioritise” blog a couple of months ago, I have enjoyed hearing from people who took the time to tell me that they found the tips useful in reference to helping them balance their responsibilities / tasks. This series of posts is designed to help you feel more control, get past ‘overwhelm’ and ultimately - give you the tools to help you answer the question “what did I achieve this year” with your head held high.

You can check out “How to Prioritise: Tools, tricks and tips for busy professionals” (Part 1)  here… and check out a few more suggestions below:

Embrace Mind Maps – Part 1 of this blog mentions making a written task list, however it’s worth bearing in mind that sometimes thinking in a linear fashion doesn’t necessarily channel the information you need for that list you are looking to create. By (literally) spreading out your thinking through creating a mind map – your thoughts sometimes flow more freely. Once you’ve done this, you can then categorise or order the varying things on your list – to help you prioritise.

Set deadlines - In the same way that you had deadlines at school, set deadlines against the items on your to do list. This works on a variety of levels. On a straightforward level, it gives you the opportunity to think through the range of tasks in your life and means that you have clear dates to work towards. Do you have a big project deadline at work? Do you have a birthday or anniversary card to send? Are you applying for business funding? All of these things will have pre-set deadlines so you can stick to those dates or impose your own date in advance - allowing you to make these tasks as seamless as possible.

For anything else that may not be as clear cut - set deadlines anyway. If you stick to them as per the above that's the ideal situation but if you don't you can show some flexibility and provide a new deadline when necessary. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Sometimes there are things on your list that get moved and moved and moved. That's still helpful believe it or not... let me tell you why. Tasks which have endlessly moving deadlines generally eventually result in one of two responses:

1. You get so sick of seeing this same task pop on on your to do list that you either just do it as the fact that it's still there is really ******** you off [insert appropriate term of frustration here].

OR

2. You have a hard long think about this task and what it will really take to do it. At that stage, either you'll give it a much more realistic, considered deadline OR you will just take it off your list full stop. Maybe it just isn't that important to you anyway.

You now have 5 tools, tricks and tips for prioritisation between these two posts and I hope you'll take the time to give them a try if you would like to improve your ability to prioritise. Maximising productivity sounds good to me. You too?

I've also recently recorded video blogs with even more "How to Prioritise" content so sign up here to keep up to date about when you can access those (and other useful content).

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Gina Visram is a career coach, speaker, mentor and author who works with ambitious, multi-tasking women (and men!) who are ready to work hard at being successful in their careers and personal lives - on their own terms. She has recently published Happily Ever After for Grown Ups: A Post-Wedding, Blues-Busting Guide for Newlyweds" and is committed to helping people get over overwhelm and achieve the career success/life balance they seek. For more information and to sign up to her free newsletter visit www.limitlesscoaching.com. 

 

How to Prioritise: Tools, tricks and tips for busy professionals (Part 1)

As we rapidly approach the second half of 2013 (yup… the time is nigh) – conversations I have recently had with colleagues, clients and friends led me to the conclusion that it was time to write a short, thought provoking, action-orientated post on “How to Prioritise”... so here goes:

Why?

Well 2013 seems to have the potential to turn into another one of those ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ years. You know the ones. The ones where January comes and the year feels like it’s full of promise. You take a deep breath and exhale when you think of the promise of the blank slate ahead of you. This will be the year that X, Y and Z happens. This will be the no-nonsense ‘I can do it’ year. 

Suddenly – before you know it, it’s July and although you hopefully have some of your main goals ticked off your list, you realise that unless you get your skates on- you’ll have less to celebrate by the end of than you would have envisaged. 

With that in mind, read the points below (and those in the rest of this series of posts) – designed to give you the tools to help you answer the question “what did I achieve this year” with your head held high. Have a look and adopt, remember and/or repeat anything which takes your fancy. Remember, when it comes to achieving your goals, the adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” applies if all is going as you’d like it to… but if you feel like you can stretch yourself even further – try something from the list below that you have not yet explored this year.

·         Make a (written) task list – This is a back to basics approach to prioritising, but SUCH an important one. Remember, your brain is crammed with the goings on of your day job; the funny YouTube video you watched recently; the conversation you had the other day which upset you; your exciting plans with your other half/friends for the weekend and more. A MENTAL CHECKLIST IS NOT ENOUGH. Whether you (like me) take the old school approach of a pen and paper list, use a time management app or anything in between – make sure you write down your to do list to give yourself the best possible chance of actually getting some things done.

·         Get to know your A, B, Cs – Once you have your written list – prioritise the tasks on your daily list using an ABC approach:

-          As are the tasks that are must do today – these are the TOP PRIORITIES and if you have more than one of these – prioritise them further using A-1, A-2, A-3;

-         Bs are important but less time critical – if not done, someone may be inconvenienced, but it is nowhere as important as an “A” task. Returning an unimportant telephone message would be a “B” task and to keep your head above water, you should aim to get all “A” tasks complete before moving onto these; and…

-        Cs reflect something that would be nice to do but really have no bearing on anything work critical. These tasks include phoning a friend or completing some personal business during work hours. Activity in the ‘C’ category has no real impact on your work life.

[Please note – this may not be mentioned by the ‘time management gurus’ out there but it’s something that has worked for me.  Sometimes, I reward myself with tackling a ‘C’ task when I have gotten through a number of As. For example – if an item on my list is to contact a friend to book a time to catch up – that would fall into the ‘C’ category – and although it’s not important on a work / professional priority level – it is a priority when it comes to feeding my soul! With that in mind – when I work my way through a number of A tasks – I’d take 5 minutes to focus on one of these tasks before getting back on track.

·         Real life doesn’t always fit on a daily task list – When it comes to prioritising and being ‘on task’ – remember that not everything can go according to plan or will be on your initial list. Sometimes life happens external to our priority lists and swoops in presenting you with something that becomes more important than anything you have written down. This may be dealing with a health issue; grieving a loss; going on an important trip; dropping everything to see a parent or friend due to an emergency and many others.

What do you do then? Be flexible, change your plans and go with this new priority.  9 times out of 10 – these sort of emergency priorities require our full attention so when they occur – try to tackle them head on and with your full attention. Your ‘to do list’ will still be there when you get back and  you will be in a much better position to keep working through it when you feel confident that you have wholeheartedly handled any other (albeit unexpected) priorities. 

So, here are three things to explore / remember when it comes to prioritising. If any of these speak to you – do implement. Give it a go and see if anything increases your productivity. 

There are many many more “how to prioritise” tips so this is the first in a series of posts addressing this topic. Stay tuned for more.

In the meanwhile, do share your comments, own experiences/tips and any questions in the section below. I’d love to hear from you… 

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Want to use this article on your blog or ezine? No problem... you just need to include the below:

Gina Visram is a career coach, speaker, mentor and author who works with ambitious, multi-tasking women (and men!) who are ready to work hard at being successful in their careers and personal lives - on their own terms. She has recently published Happily Ever After for Grown Ups: A Post-Wedding, Blues-Busting Guide for Newlyweds" and is committed to  helping people get over overwhelm and achieve the career success/life balance they seek. For more information and to sign up to her free newsletter visit www.limitlesscoaching.com.