You probably have a never-ending list of things you feel you need to do. I know at times it feels that my To Do list gets longer and longer not shorter. So, how can we tackle the To Do list while still doing the day job? Try this simple exercise.
Is it urgent is it important?
Look at your to do list. Mark each item as urgent yes or no and important yes or no. try not to overthink this, go with your gut.
Urgent and Important.
Something that is urgent and important must be done now. Like writing that client proposal. Timing is important and if you win the business it means money for the company. This is a priority Do it task. If you find you have more than a few tasks in this category review and rank them for urgent and important. Now complete them in this order.
Urgent but not Important.
These are things that need to be done but not necessarily by you. These can be delegated. Like the washing-up. It needs doing in a timely fashion but it doesn’t have to be done by you. Look at the tasks here and decide who could do these instead of you. Read our blog on delegation for more tips.
Important but not Urgent.
These are things that will need to be done but not straight away. These can be delayed. Things like your tax return or your annual insurance renewal. They will be important but at the moment they don’t need to be done. Mark them for later with a sensible due date. Put them in your calendar with plenty of time to make sure they get done or think about using an app such as Asana or Trello to manage your to do list.
Not Important and not Urgent.
Why are these on the list? If you feel something is not important and there is no urgency to get it done these things can be deleted. Just one check though – are these things that you want to do and so actually really important to you? Don’t always put the things that you want, to the bottom of the list.
Double handling.
Finally, try not to double handle. Pick it up and do it. Each time you look at a task you waste time thinking about how you will do it, so it is much more productive to simply get it done the first time.Image
