Prioritizing your work will make it easier to complete in a timely manner
No matter what profession you’re in, there will be times when you feel completely overwhelmed. While most of us can’t determine the amount of daily work flow that comes in, there are some ways to help prioritize your workload. Prioritizing your work is extremely important to achieve efficiency with your time and to get a lot accomplished. Instead of trying to battle all of your projects at once, take a step back and follow these following steps:
1. Develop a strategy: If you are inundated with work, always have a strategy for handling the workload. There are so many different paths you take towards getting your work done that you need to have a sound strategy that will keep you moving in the right direction. An effective strategy will help keep you focused and avoid distraction from activities that don’t fit with what you are ultimately trying to accomplish.
2. Set reasonable goals: You need to be realistic about what can and cannot be accomplished in a day. One way to keep yourself on track and working on the most important activities is to set goals. Whatever your goals are, make sure they will lead to your ultimate success. Learning how to set reasonable goals is an important skill for any professional.
3. Schedule your time: Once you have set your goals, schedule your time accordingly so that you can achieve those goals. Sticking to a strict schedule helps reduce the amount of unproductive time, and it will force you to decide what work is most important. If you have a timetable or schedule, you will also feel more productive throughout the day because you will be following a plan. Without scheduling your time, you may end up wasting a lot of time throughout the day trying to figure out how to fit everything in.
4. Get organized: For a lot of people, getting organized can become more time consuming than the work itself. Instead of reaching the point where you can’t find anything on your desk, spend five minutes each morning making sure that the things you need for the day are easily accessible. Getting organizing doesn’t only mean clearing up your work space. What element of your workday feels the most unorganized? Whatever areas are the most time-consuming for you, such as managing your inbox, make them a priority first thing each morning. You will feel much better about tackling the rest of your workload when you don’t have to worry about chaos.
5. Use to-do lists: Creating a daily to-do list is one of the most effective ways to prioritize your time and work. Every different there are new projects and jobs that need to get finished, and it’s hard to remember everything. With a to-do list, you will always know what is most critical and what needs to get done first. Crossing each item off a list means that you can move on to other things. Using a to-do list will also help you focus on one project at a time. Even for people who are good at multitasking, it’s important not to spread yourself thin. The to-do list helps you resist the urge to start something new before you’ve achieved some success with your current project. It is also helpful to write out your to-do list at the end of the night for the next day or first thing in the morning before any work gets started.
How do you prioritize your work and keep yourself on the right track?
The Official StaffingPower Blog 