How can you prioritize tasks in high-pressure environments?

First, drop the "stress". It will cloud clarity. Become aware of the entire back of your body, beginning with the back of your head and letting your awareness spread down through all the rest of you, until you reach the soles of your feet and the pads of your toes. Rest back into that part of you. Breathe. Let the planet hold you up. Notice what shifts. THEN, and only then, look at the tasks in front of you and prioritize them using the various filters of when they're due, the time needed to do them, necessity, resources required, and who would be best to do them, assuming you're working with a team. Mistakes are made and complications happen when people are present to their stress instead of their work. A relaxed chef's food tastes better.

How can you prioritize tasks in high-pressure environments? 1) Use 4 quadrant of time management matrix 2) Use Eisenhower matrix, this is a tool that categorizes tasks based on urgency and importance, helps us focus on those truly required 3) Use Pareto principle , 80/20, focus on those 20% of tasks that produce 80% results 4) Break down bigger tasks into small ones , it makes easier to tackle, especially while under pressure 5) I try stay flexible to adjust to changing priorities (when I started accepting facts pain was reduced) 6) Distractions must be reduced or avoided 7) Delegate to team wherever possible, have clear understanding, have alignment with team 8) Continuously reflect on happenings 9) Take care of physical & mental health

One thing I’ve found effective is to evaluate upcoming tasks and their level of priority at the end of each workday. For instance, take 10-15 minutes at the end of your work day to evaluate the progress of your tasks and plan the tasks for your next work day. For the later, pick 1-3 priorities and 1-5 non-priority tasks and organize them in your schedule. The amount of priorities and non-priorities allocated will depend on the size of these tasks. Remember to be realistic to fit what you chose within the amount of time you have in hand. It feels good to have all that set up once you are ready to start the new work day. It boosts our focus, motivation, self-esteem, and helps to reduce anxiety and manage stress.

When managing large complex projects I look for the “long pole in the tent”. What will take the longest to complete and must be complete before your project can “go live”, whatever that means for your type of project. There will always be things you want to do and things that cause procrastination. Many times the things we don’t like we put off, even when they are short or simple projects. I always try to get them out of the way first. Then my reward is all the things I enjoy. I also assume Murphy is alive and well, as in Murphy’s Law. I plan for and budget time and resources to cover the unknown block that will always show up in all projects. The bigger the projects the more Murphy shows up so plan accordingly.