I have found prioritising tasks in the past a struggle. I am a people pleaser and so I often pile on a load of work for myself but sometimes leave what I think to be the least important tasks to the end but in fact, to others, they are more important/urgent.
I wanted to improve on this, so I took a course in time management to get a greater understanding of how I can manage my time and more importantly, prioritise my tasks better. In this course, I learnt about the time management matrix and it has honestly helped me reason why I am doing certain tasks first over others as well as structure my day. Since it has helped me so much, I thought I would share it with you and for it to hopefully help you in your prioritising as well.
The Time Management Matrix: Diagram Example -
Below I have included an example of the 4 categories we will be covering in this blog post...
Now let's go into a bit more detail.
Urgent and Important Box:
This area is for tasks that have been left to the last minute or have suddenly come up, leaving you with little to no time to plan. It is recommended to keep tasks out of this box as much as possible.
Not Urgent but Important Box:
This is the box that is used the most out of the 4. In this box, all the tasks that are central to your role should be in here along with anything that contributes to the businesses aim. Some tasks to include are: deadlined tasks, not pressing tasks, on going projects, one-off tasks.
Urgent but Not Important Box:
These are the tasks that are not essential and that can be delegated to other members of the team
Neither Urgent nor Important Box:
In this box, this is where you would locate tasks for when you have a bit more time and can't delegate them to others.
To give you a little bit more of a helping hand, I thought it would be helpful to include some pointers to help you decide which tasks to put in which box.
5 W's:
Who? - anyone else involved? What do you require from them or what do they require from you?
What? - what does the task entail?
Where? - is there anywhere specific or any equipment in particular that's required in order to complete the task?
When? - is there a deadline attached? Is there a start time and if so, how long will it take you?
Why? - why does the task need doing? What will it achieve?
Knowing these details will enable you to work out which tasks are more important than others.
The hope is that with this method and prompts you will be able to prioritise your tasks better and be more effective when you're next asked to complete a particular task.
Let me know in the comments whether you have used this method before and if it has been effective.
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