How to Prioritise Tasks

You might know the things you need or want to do at work or in your daily life and you might be putting them on a to-do list since that frees your mind. But if you cannot decide which one to tackle the first Eisenhower Decision Matrix can help you to decide on and prioritise tasks by importance and urgency. Where Does The "Eisenhower Matrix" Name Come From? Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He served as a general in the United States Army and as the Allied Forces Supreme Commander during World War II before becoming president. He became NATO’s first supreme commander in 1951. Eisenhower had to make tough decisions continuously about which of the many tasks he should focus on each day. This finally led him to invent the world-famous Eisenhower principle, which today helps us prioritise by urgency and importance.

“Who can define for us with accuracy the difference between the long and short term! Especially whenever our affairs seem to be in crisis, we are almost compelled to give our first attention to the urgent present rather than to the important future.”

– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961 address to the Century Association

He recognised that great time management means being effective as well as efficient. In other words, we must spend our time on things that are important and not just the ones that are urgent. To do this, and to minimise the stress of having too many tight deadlines, we need to understand the distinction between important and urgent activities.

Important activities have an outcome that leads us to achieve our goals, whether these are professional or personal. Urgent activities demand immediate attention, and are usually associated with achieving someone else's goals. They are often the ones we concentrate on and they demand attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate. Tasks in a to-do list should fall into four categories as shown below when assessed in terms of importance and urgency.

1. Important and Urgent "Do important and urgent tasks immediately." You can eliminate last-minute activities by planning ahead and avoiding unnecessary procrastination. If you have lots of urgent and important tasks, highlight which ones you could have foreseen, and consider how you could schedule similar activities ahead of time, so that they don’t become urgent. 2. Important, but Not Urgent

"Decide when to do important but not urgent tasks and schedule them." These are the activities that help you to achieve your primary, long-term personal and professional goals and complete the tasks you perceive most important in life. Decide when you will do them and schedule . Make sure you allow time to complete these activities thoroughly so that they don’t become urgent. Allow enough time in your schedule to deal with unforeseen problems and last minute crises. This will maximise your likelihood of staying on track, and help avoid the stress of your to-do list becoming more urgent than necessary.

3. Not Important, but Urgent

"Delegate not important but urgent tasks to somebody else." Urgent but not important activities are the ones which prevent you from fulfilling what is important to you, your primary life goals and vision. Consider whether you can reschedule the urgent activities or pass them onto someone else. Urgent activities usually come about when dealing with other people. Learn to say "no" to others when what they ask is not important to you. Alternatively, try to have specified time slots available for others, so that they understand they can have your time when it’s appropriate for you. 4. Not Important and Not Urgent " Do not important and not urgent tasks later." These activities are just a distraction and must be avoided whenever possible. You can ignore or cancel many of them. However, some of these may be activities that other people want you to do, even though they don’t contribute to your own goals and desired life outcomes. Again, say "no" politely where possible, and explain why you can’t do it. If people see that you are clear about your objectives and your own personal boundaries, they will avoid asking you to do unimportant activities in the future. Be aware of bad habits, time wasting activities you do like surfing the internet without a reason, checking social media platforms and gaming too long. Remember that such activities prevent you to deal with important tasks that actually matters to you.

Decide which activities are important to you and which are urgent. Prioritise them, organise around your priorities and discipline yourself to overcome procrastination and the tendency to focus on unimportant activities.

“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

-Mark Twain

Get those tasks that you find least pleasant out of the way early. This will give you the rest of the day to concentrate on work that you find more enjoyable. Tackle the hardest tasks at your "peak" times when you are the most effective. If you're prone to delaying projects because you find them overwhelming, try breaking them down into more manageable chunks. Organise your projects into smaller tasks and focus on starting them, instead of finishing them. Do not let others influence your priorities or distract you while you are working on the tasks on your list. Complete what matters to you and you will be much more fulfilled at the end of the day.

If you want to continue the discussion email or follow me on LinkedIn.

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Zeynep Yalcin Parks is lead consultant at Derin Consulting. She helps individuals and organisations become better at achieving their purpose. She can help you manage your time more effectively and efficiently.

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* Cover photo by Hope House Press - Leather Diary Studio on Unsplash.