How can you prioritize your work to meet deadlines?

Something that I found useful is to write down my thoughts over the course of my actions. Having a visible note of what needs to be done creates an image that always pops up to remind the actions to be done.

Pruning a garden is a great analogy for prioritization. Prioritization should not be just about doing the most critical tasks in the order of urgency, but equally about cutting out, completely dropping or delegating unimportant tasks! That's when the mind clears a.k.a. the plant flowers/flourishes. Most organizations do not die of starvation, they die of indigestion.

Personally, a consistent routine has enhanced my productivity by minimizing decision fatigue, ensuring focused work periods, and fostering a proactive approach to managing time-sensitive assignments. Maintaining a structured routine is crucial for meeting deadlines as it provides a clear roadmap for task completion.

Being realistic about your timeline is critical especially if you have other priorities or projects on the go. Another important step of identifying your gaols and expectations is understanding what type of work each task requires. For example, some tasks may take more creative work where others may need deep focus. Understanding the type of tasks will help your prioritize your schedule better.

Identifying Critical Tasks: Determine tasks crucial for project completion. Setting Clear Goals: Define specific and achievable goals. Using Time Blocks: Allocate dedicated time slots for tasks. Delegating When Possible: Share workload by assigning tasks to team members. Regularly Reassessing Priorities: Review and adjust priorities as project dynamics change. Staying Focused: Minimize distractions to maintain productivity.

Conducting a thorough resource and risk assessment stands as a paramount step in project planning. It is imperative to undertake this evaluation before the commencement of any project or task. Furthermore, anticipating potential contingencies is equally crucial. Having supplementary resources readily available serves as a strategic advantage, offering a safety net to swiftly address unforeseen challenges that may arise during the project lifecycle. This proactive approach not only fortifies the project's resilience but also ensures a smoother trajectory toward successful completion

Start by outlining all tasks and deadlines, identifying the most critical and time-sensitive ones. Break down complex projects into manageable steps with clear timelines. Prioritize based on urgency, importance, and dependencies, allocating dedicated time slots for each task. Regularly reassess and adjust priorities as needed, staying flexible to manage unexpected demands while ensuring steady progress toward meeting deadlines.

Franklin Covey said we should begin with the end in mind. Knowing where and when you need to finish will allow you to work backwards from there. As you calendar out your plans, you can look at the other projects and constraints that are along the way and adjust accordingly. But, if you don't start with knowing where the end-point is, it is much more difficult.

Beyond individual capabilities, recognize the strength of collaboration. Identify complementary skills within your team and encourage open communication. Leverage the diversity of perspectives to overcome resource limitations. For instance, if your team lacks a specific skill set required for a task, consider fostering a mentorship culture where team members can learn from each other, enhancing overall capabilities.

The Eisenhower Matrix (described in this article section) is a timeless classic that can help you align your time with strategic priorities to maximize the return on your efforts. When used effectively, it can cut through the noise of urgent requests and help you find clarity. One of the most valuable aspects of the Eisenhower Matrix is that it encourages you to take things off your list. When we lack clear priorities and focus, we dilute our efforts. Every “yes” to someone else’s priorities is a “no” to our own. By using the Eisenhower Matrix, you can prioritize your tasks based on their urgency and importance, to carve out time for what truly matters.

This matrix is magic. There are so many tasks that we do that are urgent and unimportant or just unimportant because they are easy to do. Except most of our time should be spent doing important and non-urgent tasks. It's not easy to use and make decisions based on the matrix; keep trying anyway. The more proactive teams can get in their tasks, the more important work they can focus on and meet deadlines.

I always start with the easy wins first, then move forward from there. to stay on track for the day, i feel its best to use a daily agenda

I find it helpful to think about impact and capacity. Will the task make an impact to goals, the team or organization and does your team have the capacity? These 2 elements can help assess whether or not you should move forward with a task.

I personally find the "Eisenhower Box" very effective concept. Start by classifying tasks into four categories: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important. Then, take it a step further by assigning estimated time durations to each task. This helps in creating a more detailed and realistic schedule, ensuring that time-sensitive tasks don’t monopolize your day.

Multitasking is a myth. Don't try to convince yourself otherwise. If you have an iPhone, switch to "focus" mode or DND. Same for your laptop. Do it now. When you begin to block everything else out for 30 minutes or more, you'll see a definite spike in your productivity. At first, you might need 2 hours of blocked time. As you get used to this method of prioritisation, you'll need less "focus" time. I now restrict myself to 50-55 mins of block and then walk for 5-10 mins. I don't need more than 2 such "block-outs" in a day for high priority work. Try it, you'll love the new you.

The benefit of ACTUALLY blocking off time on your calendar when scheduling things cannot be overstated. In my time training and coaching people, I've realized that people tend to keep things in the back of their mind, often thinking, "I'll get back to this later," but the issue with that is that you're left with a nagging feeling in the back your mind of knowing there is something that has to get done. This can result in feelings of pressure or guilt for not having done it yet. If this is physically blocked off in your calendar for a later date, then this helps negates those feelings because you can be confident that it's taken care of and there is a plan on when you'll get to it.

Break down your work into different tasks and how much mental energy each task requires. Mental energy is how much brain juice you require- separate from physical energy. E.g. you could bike 20km in the gym but your mental energy may be so low that you cannot even write a document for 20mins. At different points in the day, we have different levels of mental energy. Match your mental energy to the task requirements. This will be way more efficient than haphazardly slotting your tasks. E.g. during a High Energy time slot in your day, it is easy to do a High Energy task. You could waste it on a Low Energy task, but it will take you way more energy to do the High E task during a Low E slot.

In the realm of successful project management, meticulous tracking of tasks and project progress stands as a pivotal factor. Various tools, ranging from Excel trackers to calendar blocking, play a significant role in this process. Personally, I have found immense value in utilizing tools like Kanban boards and Gantt charts. These tools not only provide a visually intuitive representation of the project's status but also offer a profound insight into task dependencies.

Apply the Pomodoro technique - break down your work into focused intervals, typically 25 minutes long, followed by a short break. This time management technique improves concentration and productivity by leveraging the psychological principle of the "flow state." Apply this method when scheduling tasks, helping you maintain sustained focus while also preventing burnout. You can experiment with the length of Pomodoros to find what suits your work style best.

Assessment is always an important component. You should assess the impact your team is making against the processes you have been using to prioritize. This will help you know what to celebrate and where to adjust your approach.

If you aren't willing to review and reflect, you will not find the success you are seeking. You have to be willing to learn from where you've been and what you've done, and that happens with meaningful, intentional assessment. It doesn't have to be a formalized assessment tool, but it does have to be intentional and thoughtful. It also cannot only include your point of view. Yes, you need to look at it through your own lens, but you also need to include the perspectives of others. How do they feel about progress? If they are collaborative partners, do they have what they need to continue on to the deadline? Checking in and evaluating progress is key. However, if you are going to ask for feedback, be ready to take it and implement it.

Instead of just feedback, conduct structured "After-Action Reviews" after completing significant tasks or projects. Analyze what went well, what didn’t, and why. You want to encourage open dialogue within your team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This reflective practice not only enhances individual learning but also contributes to organizational knowledge, creating a more adaptive and resilient team.

Performance feedback is a process of providing constructive information and evaluation regarding an individual's or a team's performance in a specific role or task. In our company, we apply three fundamental methods of providing performance feedback: 1. Formal Performance Reviews: Scheduled meetings between supervisors and employees to discuss overall performance, set goals, and plan for development. 2. Informal Feedback: Ongoing, day-to-day communication between team members and leaders. This can be spontaneous and addresses specific situations or tasks. 3. 360-Degree Feedback: Involves input from multiple sources, such as peers, subordinates, and superiors, to provide a comprehensive view of an individual's performance.

It can be asked this way: 1 What do you want to achieve? 2 Do you have all you need to achieve it? 3 Have you really prioritize your goal? 4 Did you schedule your tasks? 5 Have you made a plan for reviewing your results? 6 Is there "out-of-box" solution you ran into?

Create earlier deadlines for yourself and your team. Always build in a buffer to account for any contingencies that you or your team may experience. If your deadline is a week earlier than the actual deadline, you have time to fine-tune and make any changes, or adjust for anyone who missed their deadlines.

I would also recommend delegating whenever possible. This creates bandwidth to achieve time sensitive objectives and also empowers staff to have more direct buy-in to the goals and tasks expected. Note the term “Delegate” and not “Dump” the tasks you do not want to do. Staff are very smart and know the difference as this will counteract any positive results hoped for. In addition, do not hesitate to ask higher leadership what their most pressing priorities are so you can focus on those first. In many cases, higher level leadership appreciate providing feedback and may not be aware of all the tasks he/she have delegated to you.

Apart from urgency & importance, you can prioritize work through a few other different lenses: -The Cost of Delay: If delaying something results in a big cost (time lost, budget, dependencies from other teams) then it should be more highly prioritized than something with little or no cost of delay. -Value vs Effort: If something is high effort & low value, then consider negotiating whether or not it even needs to get done. While low effort & mid-high value tasks (low hanging fruit) can feel rewarding to complete ASAP, you may instead tackle high effort & mid-high value tasks first to ensure you have enough time to complete them in case some unexpected barriers pop up.

Not prioritizing can lead to procrastination! It is the illusion of the mountain of tasks on the to-do that is more anxiety inducing than the tasks themselves. Breaking tasks into bite sized pieces helps and prioritizing even within one big task is important while considering the dependencies of subtasks within the tasks!