Prioritise all the tasks at hand
Learn how to juggle various tasks at hand effectively.
On days when you have far too much to do such as an overflowing inbox, meetings to prepare for and chores to complete, it is easy to end up darting from one task to the next, never making any real headway.
When you have got a lot to juggle, you need a battle plan. Here is some guidelines of what to do.
“Firstly, write a list. Write down everything that needs to get done today. Your list does not have to be complex, and you don’t need to worry about sorting it at this stage,” says Yusuf Essack , Learning and Development Specialist for the Executive Training Institute of South Africa (Etisa).
If something’s on your mind, make sure you record it somewhere, even little things can drag down your mental energy.
Once you’ve got your list, it’s time to figure out what order to tackle your tasks in for today. First, look for anything that can be delegated or postponed.
Next, work out what you want to do first. It makes sense to tackle the more important and urgent tasks first, but you may prefer to go for a few quick wins in the first half-hour of the day to build up a sense of momentum.
Put some sort of mark against your first, second, and third tasks.That way, you can relax and get on with your tasks in order, knowing that you’re dealing with things efficiently.
However tempting it is to have your emails open in one window while you reply to Tweets in another and edit that document in a third, don’t. You cannot focus on several things all at the same time, and you’ll end up making silly mistakes or forgetting to finish part of a task. Rather tackle things one by one.
If you find yourself trying to tackle several things at once, stop. Remind yourself that you’ll work more effectively when you complete task A before moving onto task B.
“None of us can focus for hours at a time, but when we’re busy, we often try to. This just leads to slowed progress, mistakes, and procrastination,” says Yusuf.
“To stop yourself procrastinating, plan for regular breaks. Work for, say, 45 minutes on your report, then take a five or 10 minute break to stretch your legs and grab a glass of water. When you know you have a break coming up, it’s a lot easier to stay focused.”
If you seem to be in a constant pattern of rushing around, juggling more tasks than you can manage, then look for ways to make changes. That might mean learning some better time management skills, or talking to your manager about your workload.
