Prioritize Your Day to Be More Productive

Quick Win

Setting realistic daily goals based on their urgency and then coming up with a sequence for accomplishing them may help optimize your focus and cut down on wasted time.

Try This Today

• Write down everything you need to do. Start by putting the list of tasks crowding your head to paper. Jot down everything that comes to mind his helps ensure you don’t forget anything, and it also makes it easier to prioritize tasks based on what really must happen today.
• Determine what needs to be done ASAP. Review each task on your list and ask yourself, “What are the consequences of not getting it done today?” Rank each with a number: 1 = do today; 2 = do soon, and 3 = do at your leisure. Then estimate how long each task will take.
• Transfer your top 3 or 4 to-dos to your calendar. Whether you use an electronic calendar or a desk planner, scheduling each to-do provides a visual reminder of what needs to be done and how long you have to complete the task. Plan to conquer your toughest task first, while your focus is at its peak.

Why

In a review of research on time management published in Current Opinion in Psychology in 2018, the authors concluded that prioritizing your to-do list is one of the best approach for staying focused and doing well on your tasks. “Choosing to complete some tasks and abandon less important ones leads not only to better performance, but also to more time savings,” they note.