How Best To Prioritise Your To-Do List Without Letting Workload Get Ahead Of You
- Aug 12, 2022
- 5 min read
Written by: Elena Manole, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
We all try to juggle many things and to navigate through all types of distractions on a daily basis. At times life throws at us challenges and we get side-tracked from the things we said we will do, those that are meaningful to us. Have you ever found yourself wondering where your time goes? Have you ever felt that there was too much on your plate? Have you ever felt at the end of the day that you didn’t accomplish much?
In this article, you will learn how to develop a practice to help you prioritise your meaningful work and learn to say no to those that don’t fit your agenda. Even in the midst of challenges and crises.
Have a rough idea of how much work you might need to get done on a typical day
Start planning your week before planning your day. There might be many “urgent tasks” that come up on a daily basis and you will find the need to prioritise those. Knowing what you work on and what your goals for the week are will help you to identify your priorities on a daily basis and focus on what is truly meaningful. Don’t ignore your urgent tasks, but start asking yourself “is this urgent task really important or is it urgent for someone else?”. Many times we mind find ourselves having to deal with other people’s urgency and not tackle our most important tasks, which are the ones that will make the biggest difference in our life. A more fulfilling life is one which is filled with actions and tasks that inspire us and help us grow in the long run.
Decide what is important and what can be ignored
If you never heard of the Eisenhower matrix, now is the time for you to get familiarised with it! The word might be fancy and look complicated, but it is one of the best tools out there when it comes to learning how to prioritise your to-do list.
Simply, put your to-do list through a quadrant that will define your priorities with some simple questions
Is it urgent and important? Do it as soon as you can.
Is it important but not urgent? Schedule it in your calendar.
Is it urgent but not important? Delegate it, let someone else do it for you.
Is it not urgent and not important? Ignore it! Yes, you don’t need to keep up with all the Whatsapp groups! I promise you. FInd something that will help you relax and unwind.
Use of any potential digital tools that may help in terms of increasing productivity formula output
There are any number of potential digital Workflow tools that can be utilised to enhance productivity. Apps like Asana, Todoist, Things 3 and Trello can help organise a broad spectrum of tasks in a way that efficiently lays out the goals of each one for team members or individuals. That said, it's important to make this digital to-do list not seem overwhelming from a time and management perspective. If the implementation of a digital toolkit requires too much explanation with differing viewpoints from those implementing it might be the case that the use of digital tools may prove ineffective for your team's style of work. This is perfectly OK. Ultimately certain strategies will only work well with certain teams or types of entrepreneurs/businesses.
Factor in hobby personal time so that potential formula is not impacted by burnout/inactivity
Everyone needs a certain amount of hobby/personal time. It’s a legal requirement for employers and employees to take time out of the work environment. As an entrepreneur, we tend to forget that.
Being intentional with our time off is part of being entrepreneurial. Focusing on individual hobbies and interests one can get something out of as well as meeting and socialising with friends who value individuals' time is hugely important. When factoring all this into a potential productivity formula there is no way you cannot win. Burnout can be a real thing and it is something that can be experienced by many business owners. We get all excited about our adventure and forget that it is still work. We spend time thinking of it, implementing ideas and strategies and forget about our social life. Did anyone say hobbies?
Yes, I want to emphasise again and again. A creative and social life will inform your business success. Investing time in hobbies will help you develop your right brain which is the one responsible for finding new ideas. And you need that if you want to run a successful business.
Be willing to utilise formulas but also acknowledge that the same formula may not work for two individual entrepreneurs
It's all very well articles suggesting the implementation of things like productivity formulas to make entrepreneurs more efficient and time management conscious. That said, only individuals and businesses can know what will work best for them. So be willing to utilise the potential formula if it proves effective. Be willing to also have the capability to acknowledge that they may not work in every scenario perhaps causing periods of inactivity or greater time spent for lesser reward. With that in mind, productivity formulas certainly have a place in terms of potentially prioritising a to-do list. No two formulas will be the same for individual cases/scenarios.
As an entrepreneur, I decided to apply the 7/7/7 formula to avoid burnout and practise reinforced stops throughout my work life. I have a day off in the week where I don’t think at all of work. Every 7 weeks, I take a week off, and every 7 months, I take a month off. And guess what? My business didn't stop in those weeks/months, and it didn’t die either. No disasters happened and I was able to pick it up where I left it when I was back. Of course, the business didn’t grow as much, but I was willing to risk that bit. What is your level of resilience when it comes to time off? Prioritising your well-being will help your business in the long run as well.
Elena Manole, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Elena is a time management and productivity coach. She teaches female entrepreneurs how to bring more balance to their life and structure their days so that their priorities are on top of their list. Her clients thrive on accountability and clarity as well as compassion and gentleness. Elena is a hands-on productivity teacher passionate about all things done in a mindful way. She helps her clients fulfil their deepest visions and desires without sacrificing anything in their life. Today she lives her vision and makes a point to remind herself, and her clients, that living a life based on values means that we don't have to wait for the next goal to be reached in order to be happy and fulfilled.
