Priorities are things that are important—I know that, you know that. But a lot of us are guilty of the habit of reacting to the urgent things on—and off—our to-do list, rather than responding to the important ones.
Think about this: Important activities should be of high priority because they are the things that contribute most significantly to our objectives. They have more long-term impact, and they should help us the most in reaching our goals. Urgent activities are usually more short-term in nature and may or may not relate to our big-picture objectives, and they do not usually make significant contributions. Instead, by pressuring us daily, they make endless demands on our time.
There is a constant tension between the urgent and the important. And because the important things seldom need to be done today—and the urgent almost always do—there is a critical need to learn how to set proper priorities so that our visions, goals and desires can be met more effectively.
Don’t prioritize based on who gave you the work; fit it based on its importance and urgency for the big picture. Most people don’t take this time, the time to prioritize. They are usually reactive, so make a concerted effort to be proactive.
How much time could you gain by changing your habits—by more effectively prioritizing? Here are 8 time-gaining tips that you can apply to everyday tasks:
1. Creating a to-do-list
Prioritized notes and lists help with focus and multitasking.
2. Set priorities during your daily planning.
Eliminate or minimize unproductive to-do items from your daily list to make room for the productive ones.
3. Learn when your high-energy time is.
Scheduling your priority work for when you have the most energy gains minutes through more effective work.
4. Early in the day, sort email.
and quickly categorize each piece appropriately (now, future, trash). Because each piece is only addressed once, you gain time throughout the day.
5. Request simplified emails.
When appropriate, request that people send you prioritized emails that spell out the actions required of you with clear bullet points, not long narratives. Set the example yourself by sending only efficient, bullet-pointed emails.
6. Write down your objectives before you return answers (phone calls).
to gain time through quicker, more effective communication.
7. Prioritize your reading.
by learning to skim industry newsletters, articles and books. Then read only what really gives you value.
8. Create a written agenda and follow it for every meeting.
creating a written agenda will always help you to keep in mind of your next meeting or work
9. Managing Deadlines
Many tasks at work are driven by deadlines. Deadlines help in managing priorities and also give a road map on how much time you need to complete a specific task. This helps one to adjust their effort and speed accordingly.
10. Dealing with Interruptions
Interruptions are an inevitable part of the work day. Too many interruptions can take a toll on your productivity and eat up valuable time that could be channeled towards your priorities.
11. Asking for Help at Work
In as much as we would like to confidently handle all our tasks without a hitch, there are moments when this is not feasible.
From time to time one needs help in executing tasks. The key thing to keep in mind is not being afraid of requesting for help when it is needed.
It is better to ask for help than to miss critical deadlines that could have an impact on your performance, reputation and the company.
To make it easier for others to help you, regularly invest in helping your colleagues as well. It creates goodwill.
Always remember to sincerely thank anyone who helps you.
12. Preparing Agendas for Meetings
In the absence of an agenda, a meeting can easily veer off in many different directions and waste attendees time.
When planning a meeting, an agenda helps to prioritize the important items to discuss.
An agenda also acts as a compass in guiding discussions to ensure that the meeting time is utilized efficiently.
Aim to send the agenda and any background materials at least a few days in advance to meeting participants. Bring enough copies of the agenda to distribute during the meeting. Similarly encourage others to develop agendas for the meetings they convene.
When requested to attend a meeting, ask for an agenda. This can also help in weeding out unnecessary meetings which you don’t have to attend.
By reviewing the agenda you can determine the value of a meeting and whether your input or participation is required, thus helping in prioritizing your time.
10. Giving Status Updates/Reporting Progress
Critical components for getting along well with your boss and other stakeholders include regular communication and providing status updates.
This is typically achieved through regularly scheduled check-in meetings with your manager and also through meetings with others.
The reporting of status updates can be achieved through various modes such as an email update, a telephone conversation, a text message, an instant message, weekly status update reports, a summary progress report, a detailed progress report, a morning huddle meeting, a presentation, a site visit etc.
Make an effort to regularly provide relevant stakeholders with progress updates on the tasks you are working on, tasks completed, upcoming priorities, challenges, solutions, feedback and address any questions raised to ensure that all parties are on the same page regarding expectations.
11. How to Support Your Boss’s Priorities
How can you help your manager to succeed in their role?
Generally, some bosses are much easier to work with than others.
To a great extent, job success and personal satisfaction at work depends on the kind of relationship that you have with your direct supervisor.
Your boss can help you to grow in your job and advance within the company. Having a good working relationship with your boss can motivate you to look forward to going to work each day.
One way of nourishing and strengthening your professional working relationship with your supervisor is by learning their priorities and helping them to manage their priorities.
12. Managing Long-Term Priorities
A to-do list can have a mixture of short-term and long-term priorities. Short-term priorities have a small window before they are due or should be completed ranging from a few minutes, to a few hours, to a day, a few days, a week, a month, a quarter up to one year.
Long-term priorities have a longer time frame such as more than one year to complete.
Examples of long-term priorities include writing a bi-annual project report, planning a workshop, conference or event, annual budgeting and implementing a new system.
Think of when the priority will be completed and how the final product should look like then work backwards.
13. Learning About Other People’s Prioritization Tips
Different people have different ways of managing priorities. Some people are able to get more work done in a day than others.
It is a good idea to talk with colleagues especially the high performers to learn the tips and tricks that they use to keep their to-do list under control and achieve more results.
14. Handling Repetitive Processes and Projects
As your work over and over on a specific task, activity, process or project, there could be opportunities or areas for making improvements and increase efficiencies.
One of the questions to ask is how can we shorten the process or project cycle without compromising output?
Streamlining processes could help in efficiently utilizing your time and resources to achieve the same goal. An initial step in handling repetitive or routine processes is by mapping out all the steps required to complete an activity. This can be captured through standard operating procedures coupled with checklists.
Then look for areas to eliminate or consolidate steps where possible and with proper authorization without compromising the final output.
Time savings can also be achieved by preparing templates such as weekly report templates, progress report templates, to do list template, budget template, standard operating procedure template etc.
Additionally, preparing standard responses for commonly asked questions, or preparing a frequently asked questions list and answers helps to save time in the long run.
Implement quality control checkpoints such as kickoff meetings at the beginning of major projects to explain requirements, deadlines and reporting needed to ensure everyone is on the same page before proceeding.
At the tail end of a process, conduct postmortems or lessons learned when a project is finished to explore how to improve the next project.
Areas for improvement can include better communication to ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding expectations, frequency of team meetings and working on improving turnaround or response time. Other areas for improvement entail undergoing training on better methods and using software to improve and automate processes.
15. Managing Perfectionism and Procrastination
On the one hand managing perfectionism is about knowing when to step on the brakes once you have reached a destination instead of keeping on driving.
On the other hand managing procrastination entails pushing yourself to step on the gas in order to arrive at a desired endpoint.
16. What to do When You Are Prioritizing for Others
Part of the roles of a supervisor, manager or team leader is to plan and prioritize work for others to accomplish departmental or organizational goals.
17. Dealing with Changing Deadlines and Priorities
When deadlines and priorities change at a moment’s notice, it can have the potential of throwing your well-laid plans into disarray. It could increase your workload and heighten pressure to perform to meet tight deadlines.
Being flexible and adaptable is critical in navigating scenarios where the goal posts have moved. Aim to change gears as smoothly as possible despite the limited time to make adjustments.
When deadlines are shortened, there is simply less time to complete the work and more effort needs to be expended.
When priorities change, it requires one to stop focusing on what they were doing or put it aside and focus on another task.
Deadlines and priorities can shift or change because of many factors such as a client request, your manager or upper-level managers requesting that work be submitted earlier than scheduled, the scope of work might increase or decrease, a project might get cancelled or other activities or projects can end up taking more prominence.
18. Why Deadlines Get Missed
There are many reasons why deadlines are not met. Regularly missing critical deadlines can have negative consequences and impact on an employee, team, boss and even the company.
Failing to meet deadlines can have a chain reaction effect whereby when you miss a deadline on one activity it can delay your other tasks. Likewise missing a deadline on a team activity can delay others who are waiting for your input to complete their tasks.
19. Benefits of Meeting Deadlines
A deadline focuses action like a laser. It helps in managing time effectively. When you deliver work on time, it increases your motivation to meet even more deadlines.
20. What to do When You Miss a Deadline
Despite our best intentions to meet deadlines, there are moments when we fail to meet them. Sometimes it is our fault and at other times it could be due to external situations or even unavoidable circumstances.
It is a discomforting thought when we see a deadline approaching and we are unable to meet it.
The worst case scenario is completely forgetting a deadline.
What should one do when they fail to meet a deadline? Here are some steps that you can take when faced with this kind of a situation to help you to get back on track:
- Apologize for not meeting the deadline.
- Give early warning on possible delays.
- Offer a mitigation plan on how you will accomplish the required task.
- Present or deliver the portion of work that is already completed.
- Request for a deadline extension.
- Ensure that you meet the extended deadline.
- If you forgot a deadline in the first place, own up to the mistake, ask for forgiveness and offer a solution.
- Push yourself hard to turnaround the work as fast and accurately as possible.
- If necessary, ask for help in meeting deadlines.
- Use the lesson learned as a future learning opportunity to avoid mistakes from happening again
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