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Everything related to work seems to be important and urgent at first, with a deadline that is not even set for today or tomorrow, but for yesterday and the day before that! It is also common to find overdue tasks or to feel stressed out about all those still pending. So, the best way to avoid these situations is to learn how to prioritise our tasks at work.
Great organization and even better planification are key to any good worker
A great organization and a proper planning beforehand are two key concepts to any good worker. So, if we want to face our daily routines as efficiently as possible while keeping our hours productive, we ought to prioritise tasks. In this article, we’ll look at the possible ways to organize all of our tasks in the most effective way possible.
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Organising work tasks
Is beyond any doubt that efficiency and productivity are key everyday concepts within any company. So, to achieve our goals and fulfil our assignments, we need to follow a proper schedule. But, how to do so?
Here you may find some free advice on how to better plan and properly schedule your work projects most efficiently.
1. Write a pending tasks to do list
We must know what exactly it is that we have to accomplish so we can prioritise one assignment over another one! One thing we all do is writing down different responsibilities suddenly coming up during the day, what leave us with an endless list of pending errands.
Of course, we need to have all of our unresolved tasks gathered together on the same list for us to be able to determine whether they are a priority or not.
We shall not underestimate this process although it seems simple and rudimentary. Writing down a list is key to turn your previously chaotic working day into an organized and natural journey.
For example, if we find big events coming up on the list, or even medium responsibilities that we can dismember into smaller assignments, we should definitely do so! This way, it would be way easier to fulfil more complex activities in no time.
Some extra information besides each line would also be interesting to add! Maybe they have a due date or an estimated time for us to complete them… you’ll need to know sooner or later!
Moreover, there is no need for a traditional written-down-on-a-paper kind of list. If it suits you better, you can reach out for the technological tools we have in hand. You have plenty of apps that will help you deal with your work every day.
Remember that every task collected here has yet to be organized hierarchically, so don’t worry about critical assignments alongside some dispensable ones. We will take care of it right away!
2. Urgent does not mean important
Learning how to separate urgency from importance is essential while prioritising our work assignments
Learning how to separate urgency from importance is essential while prioritising our work assignments. These emergencies may require all of our attention, keeping us from focusing on what’s really of great importance.
If we leave those truly significant tasks aside just because they are not close to deadline today, they will become urgent tomorrow. We will have provoked here a tense and stressful situation for us that wasn’t at all necessary at the beginning.
This is why knowing how to differentiate important from urgent will help us, not only organizing our daily routine, but also avoiding stress in the near future.
3. ABCDE Method
In order to properly schedule our time, we can use the ABCDE method. But, what is it about? The ABCDE method will help us list our tasks hierarchically after their importance rate. This way we will be able to finally organize that list we made earlier.
To do so, all we have to do is assigning a letter from A to E to each one of our yet-to-do chores, depending on their relevance. The more important they are, the closer they ought to be to the A position.
A and B errands would be then the principal ones, while E-type might be completely dispensable for now, or even delegable to somebody else.
At the beginning of our day, we must focus on those projects marked with an A or a B so that we can have an organized schedule for the day.
4. Avoid procrastination at all costs
Procrastination is a worker’s worst enemy! It would be of no use learning how to prioritise at work and schedule our projects thoroughly if we leave everything for tomorrow.
Once we have planned everything in the way we should, it’s time to follow our strategy. Even though we would personally rather be spending our time on a D-type , instead of working on a A or a B-type, we must resist the temptation!
The sooner we cross the most important and urgent points on our list, the better! This way, we’ll keep up with our pace at work while remaining as calm and relaxed as we can!
5. Close and finish activities once and for all
Another trend is starting multiple tasks at once but finishing none after all. If we find ourselves in such situation, do not panic! Follow the third point on our advice list and prioritise assignments, but make an extra effort to finish everything we have started.
If we have half done projects yet on our list, our main goal should be closing them. Incomplete chores will only steal our energy, keeping our head constantly occupied just because we haven’t finish them.
Thus, if an effective organization of our time is what we are looking for, completing what we have already started should be our prime concern. This way, worries will be over!
Organization and teleworking
Organizing and planning properly at work has always been key to success. But now, both concepts are becoming even more essential than before, if possible, with teleworking arriving to our lives. We are now the boss of our time, with no one there to control us in some way.
Teleworking is now a productivity tool for every professional. However, this efficiency we are looking for should be met equally at a flex office and at home. Keep in mind all these advices we are giving you, they are crucial and for free!
Not having a closed schedule or our boss behind our ear may complicate things, so learning how to organize our assignments from home is basic. This way, our working hours won’t go on forever, and we will have enjoyable spare time for ourselves during the day, knowing we have nothing important left to do.
“Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Poor Performance”
Stephen Keague.