Prioritize a Schedule for Optimal Time Management
Template:CopyeditbotMost of us feel like we have too much to do and not enough time to do it all. This combination often leaves you feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Learning how to prioritize a schedule for optimal time management can help you gain control of your life by focusing on what's important and getting it done.
Steps
- Write down all of the appointments and tasks you want to accomplish in any given day or week.
- Lists are an important first step in prioritizing and time management.
- Prioritized schedules must allow time for family. When you ignore family, everyone's unhappy.
- Don't forget yourself. What's an important personal goal you want to accomplish this week?
- Number or prioritize tasks in order of importance. A common time management tool often used to prioritize tasks and schedules is to:
- Give each activity that is important and urgent an A.
- Assign a B to important tasks that aren't urgent.
- Finally, place a C by anything you would like to do but doesn't carry any urgency or importance.
- Choose what tasks can be removed from your list or that you can delegate to someone else. Then do it.
- Note which quick tasks you can accomplish during wait times. Perhaps the time you spend on a mass transit commute or at your child's soccer practice can be used for tasks like checking email and voice mail, making phone calls or revising a report.
- Check email once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and that's it. This is a popular time management tool used to deal with one of our biggest time wasters.
- When you stop what you're doing every time your computer chimes with a new email, you get off task.
- Decide what needs to be completed first. A prioritized schedule means completing A tasks first. Completing your most important tasks contributes to a feeling of accomplishment.
- If you have a meeting with others scheduled first thing in the morning that you've decided is a B task, obviously it takes priority in your daily schedule, unless you can switch it for later in the day.
- Consider what time of the day is best for you in terms of thinking clearly and accomplishing more. For many, it's first thing in the morning, but you may be different. If you know that you're in the zone in the late afternoon, then make certain you're scheduling your A tasks for that time.
- C tasks should never be worked on during your high energy time. It's a waste of your resources.
- Create a daily prioritized schedule from your list.
- Display your daily schedule where you will always see it.
- Establish a reasonable goal of what your want to accomplish in a single day.
- While you may only want to concentrate on A tasks, these often take a lot of time. Instead, look at a mix, such as three As two Bs, and one C in a prioritized schedule.
- Say "no." No matter how full your daily schedule is or how well you prioritize tasks, someone will ask more of you. Politely say no instead of feeling like this is the apple that will upset the apple cart.
- Chances are the person doing the asking will be surprised when you turn him down. You may feel a little guilty, but persevere.
- The more your turn down requests when you don't have the time, the more you send out the message that you're not a "yes" person.
- Sometimes you will want to say yes. If you have the time, fine; if not, look at your prioritized schedule and decide what you're willing to give up.
- Emergencies happen, but they occur far less often than we think they do.
Tips
- Give yourself a reward for accomplishing important tasks through prioritizing.
