Are you that person who feels as if their tasks will never end? Maybe it’s because you do everything last-minute, or because you don’t plan efficiently. Prioritizing can help you to make your tasks feel more manageable. In today’s article, I will be sharing with you a quick, efficient 5-step method to prioritize your tasks.
1) Write a to-do list for everything you have to do.
Start off by writing everything from your head in a piece of paper. From watching Season 6 of your favorite show to revising for that exam to doing all your chores, just write whatever worry or task you have to accomplish. Do not worry about how it looks or whichever order it is in.
2) Make a key with highlighters or colored pens.
Take four different colored pens or highlighters and make a small key. For example, I can take a pink, yellow, orange and a green highlighter. Then you assign each color to a specific deadline. For instance, I make pink the deadline for ‘today’, yellow for ‘tomorrow/within a few days’, orange for ‘by end of this week’, and green for ‘2 weeks or more’. This will allow you to have a visual outline of each task deadline.
3) Highlight/underline each task according to its due date.
This is the most important part. You have to now prioritize and see every single task, check its deadline, and continue along the list. For me, if I have homework due tomorrow, that is definitely more important than going out shopping to buy some new pair of trainers. Go through and highlight, and you shall see everything come into place.
4) Write the to-do list for today.
After you have highlighted, see which are due today and tomorrow. Take a separate piece of paper and write down your to-do list for today. By your visual outline, you should easily be able to spot which tasks you have to do today and by tomorrow. This will allow you to not be overwhelmed.
5) Set the other tasks for future dates on a calendar.
All the other tasks should be put on a monthly calendar or a weekly calendar. This will allow you to visualize your upcoming tasks and you will feel like you have dealt with every task. You can then bin the piece of paper with all the tasks you had to do or simply keep it somewhere.
I hope this article helps you to feel a bit more organized and productive. It’s important to deal with this and know exactly what you will do before starting. Check out my other articles too:
Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day.