How To Prioritize Your Work - Personal Development Article

By:Adam McFarland

Regardless of whether you are a student, work at home mom, a web designer, or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, prioritizing your work is critical to your success. Failing to prioritize your work load usually results in being extremely inefficient and extremely stressed out. How many times have you thought to yourself “I have so much to do today, how am I ever going to get it all done?”

There is no exact science to prioritizing, but there are several tips that should help you become a more efficient, less stressed version of your current self:

* Make a list – this may seem obvious but you’d be surprised at how many people try to organize their tasks in their head. You’ll often find that you feel a lot better just getting everything out so that you can see it in one place.

* Consider time constraints – what absolutely needs to get done today and what can wait until tomorrow or next week. Everything may be important eventually, but some things are more important now.

* Consider people constraints – all things equal, move things that other people are waiting on to the top of the list. If you know that your manager can’t finish his proposal without your part, that’s more important than the thing that you always do on Wednesday that could just as well be done on Thursday.

* Consider the consequences – are you going to get fired if you don’t do something? Is another task going to give you the inside track on that promotion? Those things should be more important than mildly inconveniencing the sales manager by responding to their email a day late.

* Re-prioritize as necessary – let’s face it, priorities change. As they do, update your list. It will give you a sense of control over the situation.

* Remove unimportant items – is there something on your list that you always push to the bottom and never end up doing? Then get it off the list. It doesn’t belong there.

* Don’t list EVERYTHING – only list crucial tasks. You don’t need to list routine tasks (like lunch) or menial tasks (like checking your email). Also, you’re going into too much detail if you put down prioritizing as a task.

* Do everything you can to keep your list small – this means saying NO sometimes. You are not other people’s gopher. Do your work and help other people with theirs when you have something to offer, but don’t do their work for them. Along the same lines, learn to delegate things to the people that are supposed to be doing them. Why book your plane tickets when you have an assistant for that?

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: organize, prioritize, time-management, task list

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Adam McFarland owns iPrioritize - Lists that can be edited at any time from any place in the world. Email, print, check from your mobile phone, subscribe via RSS, and share with others.

Top Personal Development Articles
1). What To Do When Your Fears And Worries Overwhelm You By : Stan Popovich What do you do when your worries and anxieties overwhelm you? Here is a brief list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their worries and anxieties. Sometimes what we fear may happen can be overly exaggerated. A lot of times, our worrying can make the problem even worse. Remember that all the worrying in the world will not change anything.
2). Stuttering And Stammering Speech Impediment By : blueboy Stammering or as it is sometimes known as stuttering is a form of speech impediment. My name is Stephen Hill and I had a stammer for eighteen years. I went to various types of speech therapy which even though was of some use, never really offered me any hope of a "cure". At the age of twenty two, after a lot of hard work I managed to overcome the stammer and I now help other people to achieve fluency.
3). The first 14 dominant laws of the subconscious mind By : Emmanuel Segui Copyright 2006 Emmanuel Segui The subconscious mind is fascinating and intriguing. Yet, it is challenging to understand how it works so you can use its full power solve our problems and enhance every aspect of your life. Here are the difficult principles of the subconscious mind made very easy so you can apply them in your life today and see results tomorrow.
4). Stop Fear Now By : Denton Krypps I'm convinced that fear is one of the worst things in life. Think about all of the negative ways that fear affects your life. Think about all of the decisions you make or do not make because of fear in your life. Or think about the risks that you do not take or the relationships you do not pursue because of fear. You would do well to take a good look at the fears in your life and to attempt to tackle them head first until they are no longer fears.
5). How To Be Assertive Without Getting ANGRY By : Rosella Aranda Sometimes our efforts to show our assertiveness cross the line. We end up coming across as rude, aggressive or downright belligerent.
6). Avoiding Your Persistent Fears Will Not Make Them Go Away By : Stan Popovich Your fears, anxieties, and other problems have the best of you and you don’t know where to turn for help. At some point you feel totally helpless as you struggle each day. What do you do? As a layman and an author of a Managing Fear book, there were times that my fears had the best of me. Through these experiences, there is one thing that I learned.
7). Success After Failure - Even Genghis Khan Lost Some Early Battles By : John Watson Both the worst and the best of the great achievers had the belief in themselves and the resilience to overcome early failures. One of these was none other than Genghis Khan. There are powerful lessons we can learn from him. In 1162 a child, called Temujin, was born in Mongolia clutching a blood clot - a sign that he was destined to be a great warrior.
8). Crisis Management: The Most Basic Of Needs By : Sandy Baker Crisis management is something that every individual needs to consider. Whether you are preparing yourself for a crisis situation or if you are responsible for a school full of children, it is necessary to be prepared. There are excellent resources to help you do this and it also helps to take a good look at your individual situation. There are many types of crisis management situations and we will discuss that here.
9). Being the Mountain By : Judy Ringer As I hiked up the path to the Peaceful Valley Chapel, I relished the quiet of my early morning solitude. After many years as a participant and assistant instructor at Thomas Crum's Journey To Center Program, this beautiful and energizing ten-minute hike had become a personal ritual. Each morning of each Journey to Center week, before our breathing and meditation session at 7, I always hike to the top of this small mountain to be inspired by the view of a much higher mountain range in the distance.
10). What Causes People To Develop A Speech Impediment? By : blueboy I am one of many people who are unfortunate enough to develop a speech impediment in childhood. This article describes why these impediments may occur and how I went about achieving fluency. For the purpose of this article, I concentrate on the speech impediment known as stuttering. There are many reasons why people may develop a stutter, it can be.

New Personal Development Articles
1). Achieve Emotional Freedom By : ian Williamson Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT as it is most commonly known, is probably the most popular of a group of techniques collectively referred to as Energy Psychology (EP)
2). Assertiveness vs Aggression By : Robin Chandler When feelings are bottled up assertiveness can spill over into aggression, leaving the other person feeling attacked rather than reasoned with.
3). Are You Really Making Decisions? By : Garry Zancanaro There is a massive difference between hoping and wishing for success, happiness, self improvement, or that something will change in our lives, and actively deciding to make changes to our lives.
4). Why Self Improvement Is Important - Part 1 By : Garry Zancanaro An alarming percentage of people spend most of what they earn and many also have large debts. They are often no more that a few paydays away from bankruptcy and have little, if anything, put aside for emergencies, much less for a comfortable retirement.
5). Have You Got Your Priorities Right? By : Garry Zancanaro The ability to be able to set priorities and deal with our most important tasks first is an essential skill for making progress towards our goals and achieving results.
6). Dealing With Frustration By : Garry Zancanaro We all suffer from frustration, and being able to effectively deal with frustration is a very important skill to develop. It can be a decisive factor between success and failure.
7). Creative Napping and Other Power Tools - Part 2 By : Angie Dixon Creative Goofing Off, and other power tools, in part 2 of this 3-part series.
8). Quit Smoking with Self Hypnosis By : Gail Metcalf With the help of a self hypnosis program, you can overcome your craving for cigarettes.
9). Creative Napping and Other Power Tools - Part 3 By : Angie Dixon Final article in a series of 3 on creative power tools
10). To Move Forward You Have To Be Able To Bounce Back! By : Garry Zancanaro Successful people are also disappointed and affected by setbacks, and certainly get knocked down more often than most, if only because they try more things. This may happen not once or twice, but dozens or even hundreds of times. But successful people refuse to stay down - because they are resilient and will not be denied their dreams and goals.