Getting control of your life and knowing which tasks to do is one of the most useful skills you can learn.
It doesn’t matter if you can work 12 straight hours unless you know why you are doing it.
Learning how to prioritize your tasks is the natural intersection between short term planning and long term planning and it helps beating procrastination because you are always using your energies on what matter the most to you.
Fortunately it’s easy to know what’s important to do if you follow these steps:
- Focus on the essential. You can have great results if you focus on a few things at a time an do them well.
- Order your tasks. Ask yourself which of your tasks would have the biggest impact on your goals if it was already done, and put it on the top of your list. Do the same for all your tasks.
- Un-clutter your list. It’s a good idea to go through your list and once again remove all the superfluous and time consuming tasks that adds little or no value to you.
- Start at the top. Now it’s time to finally take action. Do the most important thing at the top of your list and work your way down till the bottom.
- Keep a timer. It’s a good idea to track how much you are working, unless of course you want to work from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed.
- Set a time limit. Or better yet, use the pomodoro technique.
- Log your results. I keep track on paper of the tasks I did during the day and I put them in a special folder in the evening. I found it useful to revisit my files after a while to see if I’m making some kind of progress, or to see if what I was doing was worth it.
Keep in mind that this process is really simple in reality and you should focus on it only 5 minutes a day, and take action in the remaining time.
An example of todo list
Here’s a practical example of todo list I made this morning for the entire day:
- Watch paid to exist seminar
- Business planning
- Work on blog template
- Work on priorities post
- Think of a new guest post
- Comment on other blogs
As you cas see, I only had 6 tasks on my todo list for today, but those are all high value activities for me.
On other days I would probably spend more time focusing on other areas of my life, but for today, that’s all.
I also ordered my tasks in a way that felt natural for me. I started with an easy task which took me around 30 minutes to complete, but then I moved to the one where I wanted to have the maximum concentration and energy.
The last one, commenting on other blogs, is something that I can easily do in the evening if necessary, because I don’t need all my energies and I can relax enjoying content while creating relationships with other people.
Moral of the story
This post covered the basics of time management. Still, consciously applying the tips presented here can make a great difference in the long term, and it helps avoiding those times when you feel stuck and don’t know what to do.
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I like the idea of starting soft, working hard and then ending the day soft too.
Going to try that in the coming weeks because I often feel like it’s too big of a step to start off with a 3 hour webdesign task in the morning.
Good post,
Jonas
Hey Jonas, definitely try it. This morning I had a web design related task too (a new design for this blog).
I prefer to get my hardest task out of the way 1st thing because I often find that if I don’t do it first thing, I tend to avoid it.
Great post, thanks!
Deirdre J
Deirdre J´s last blog ..Tips For Affiliate Newbies
That’s for me also, I think it’s because when we start we have more energies.
Agree to you guys and 1 more point taking your idea forward. We should start with the tedious task first so that we use the best of our energies. But once that task is tarted (assuming its not a simple one) bifurcate it into sub-tasks and pick the simplest one first. This will help us not to procrastinate or exhaust and will even motivate us as things start getting cleared and uncluttered of that tedious task.
Hope this helped….
Chanda | BizDharma.com´s last blog ..Are you trying to be an “iPhone killer”? 7 good reasons to immediately stop.
Hey Chanda, thanks for your comment and your tip!
It’s amazing how a simple list can get things going. I find that even having a list is the best way to start. So many people don’t even get that far and always feel overwhelmed. A list is such a great visual indicator that things are getting done and you automatically start to feel more productive! Great post Oscar!
Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..10 Reasons Why You Should Start Playing Badminton
Thanks for your comment Amit. Lists helps a lot to organize and prioritize.
Hi Oscar,
Agree, this is a great tip: Listing tasks we boost our productivity.
Focus on the essential, it reminds me the Pareto principle: roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. I discovered it on the Tim Ferris book, and it’s true, if we would just focus on what’s really important we would obtain the best outcome with the minimum effort. Great!
Good post Oscar,
Dave
David | ilcantone.com´s last blog ..ENTREPRENEURIAL CHALLENGE: How to Turn $5 Into $650 in 2 Hours
Hey David! Yes the Pareto rule is fundamental and can be applied on everything.
Oscar… keep those great blog posts coming. I like this one, as its essential and it works!
Thanks for the feedback Jon! I’ll do my best
I’ve been reading a lot lately about time management, because I think it’s more important for me now, than it has ever been.
I’ve got a wife and two kids, a full-time job, and three blogs etc.. it’s not easy to keep up with everything.
Therefore, what you’re writing about focus on the essential, is my most important task every single day.
I’ve read the pomodoro technique ebook, and I’ve tried it for three days. This works great for me. I combine it with Todoodlist by Nick Cernis.
I use a pen and paper to list everything I need to do, every single day, and I spend 25 minutes intervals doing them.
Jens P. Berget´s last blog ..How To Create A Twitter List
Hey Jens, looks like this pomodoro technique is working for many! Good luck with your three blogs and your busy lifestyle
I don’t know where I would be without a daily to do list. I even consider myself to be a bit of an obsessive list writer. But – it works. It keeps me on track and I get work done. There is something terribly gratifying when you put that little check mark beside the task. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m in grade school, almost like getting a sticker when I did a great job.
The way I prioritize my to do list is a bit different however, I tend to all the easy things during the day because I find myself getting easily distracted when the sun is outside, children are laughing, my cat is going nuts and phones are ringing. So I do things that I can easily get back to doing if I am distracted. At night is when I do all my serious work. It’s quiet and disturbances are at a minimum, but at the same time, I have pressure sitting on my shoulders as well. I have to get it done. And, I work very well under pressure. I write better when I know it needs to be done before midnight. That’s why, back in my school days all the essays I wrote the night before were A ones, and the ones I tried writing in advance were B or C ones.
Karina´s last blog ..Thankful Thursdays
Looks like you are a night owl! Keep doing what works best for you!
Hey Oscar -
A big one for me is DEFER. Let the cream rise to the top and let the junk sit at the wayside.
We all have so many tasks ranging in importance and it’s a tricky balance deciding what the best task is that we should be working on right now. I strive to focus on the important as there are a lot of little things that start to ‘creep’ in. I’ll defer what I deem is unimportant for as long as possible.
Nate´s last blog ..Get Living or Die Trying
Hey Nate, I’m learning to do the same for low value activities. My problem was that I was deferring tasks that was important instead. Thanks for your comment.
I seriously need to log on the tasks and activities I complete daily. I started using the Pomodoro technique this week and I’m amazed with the improved focus and number of tasks I accomplished.
Mighty
That’s great. I didn’t even imagined that the pomodoro technique would have worked so well for many people. I may write again about it some day.
Everytime you mention the pomodoro method it makes me smile and I get hungry!
I definitely start my day with a list, otherwise, i find it too easy to “get distracted”.
I’m convinced “getting distracted” is just a nice way of saying “finding easier things to do.”
brian papa´s last blog ..CHEERUPNATION takes to the AIR WAVES!
Lol, I too think it’s a funny name, that’s why I like it
Thanks for your comment Brian.
Time management. You’ve covered almost everything!
Basant Singh´s last blog ..Web 3.0: The Intelligent Web
Yes, in reality it doesn’t need to be complicated
Nice tips for me indeed. I always mess my mind with many tasks to fulfill. Recently I find that writing down tasks on a paper in the morning, spend about ten mins to think through them and sort them by priority may help me. Since then, I only focus on each and move to the next.
Phaoloo´s last blog ..12 Free Tools That Alert You Useful Information
Hey Phaoloo, I think you are definitely on the right track!
It’s cool to start with the worst or most difficult task and plough into it to get it out of the way. Brian Tracy calls this, “Eating a live frog”.
Gordie Rogers´s last blog ..Help! I’m At A Lifestyle Design Crossroads.
Hey Gordie!
I remember reading eat that frog on an airplane while I was going to Seattle. Great book, I’ll probably re-read it soon.
Tackling the hardest first, which is usually the most essential part of the list, gives you that extra bit of energy to do the rest – after all, you’ve tamed the most challenging one first. Everything else after that gives you the confidence as well. Anything is possible and to think the day is not over yet.
jan geronimo´s last blog ..Read My Lips: Twitter Lists Are Meant to be Exclusionary
Hey Jan, what you said is right. Thanks for your comment.
Oscar. I’m loving promodoro technique. It’s awesome I must say. Can’t thank YOU much for introducing it.
Hey Karlil, if I knew it would have worked so well for so many people I would have made an even more detailed post. I hope you took a look at the resources on the website.
Oscar
This is a solid time management post that I appreciate. I discovered early on in my blogging that I needed to be a good time manager and I reviewed several online to-do lists that could be used. The one I prefer is rememberthemilk Some other bloggers I know prefer using toodledoo Toodledo is now available as a native application on your iPhone. You can use it as a standalone application, or you can have it seamlessly synchronized with Toodledo.com, so you will always have access to your important tasks, even when you don’t have an internet connection.
P.S. Although I have not used the pomodoro-technique per say I work for no longer that 45 minutes on a task and then get up and do my yoga stretch routine before I move on to the next task. T
Hi timethief, thanks for your comment It doesn’t matter if you do 45 minutes, if you can focus for that amount of time, that’s awesome. What’s really important in my opinion is the break after it, something that you already do.
Great list there, Oscar!
I like your way of thinking. In prioritising your life, not only does one need to understand time management but also one needs to see things simply.
Life is short and time is at a premium when you consider what busy schedules we live – so it’s of the utmost importance to manage the time doing the things you love doing, something which I wrote a post about a while back:
http://www.knowledgereform.com/2009/08/25/how-to-manage-your-time-doing-the-important-things-you-love-part-2/
Jason Cooper´s last blog ..Kymatica (2009)
Hey Jason, yes time is a premium and time management should simplify our schedule and get more done. Thanks for stopping by.
I like this post a lot. It simplifies things. It also inspires me to use several of the pointers as launching points for blog posts of my own. And it reminds me of tactics I’m already aware of but don’t necessarily put into practice as often as I should.
Hey Nancy, glad you liked this post. Feel free to use this content as an inspiration for your blog, that would make me super happy
Yes, thats a nice one. Almost many people and books suggest the similar techniques!
Raghavan alias Saravanan M´s last blog ..3000 Posts in JavaRanch
Hey timethief,
Thanks for the url of tootledo! It is an awesome and I would be one of the few perfet target audiences of it
.
Cheers,
Raghavan alias Saravanan M.
Raghavan alias Saravanan M´s last blog ..3000 Posts in JavaRanch