How to Prioritize your tasks correctly

Most Entrepreneurs have to-do list full of all kinds of different tasks that are fighting for attention. They have to be on toes to deal with unique challenges. But the ultimate goal is to make full use of profit-making opportunities. No matter how smart you are, you only have 24 hours in a day. Having productivity in your mind is great but having productivity on the right tasks is most important. Follow these 6 amazing tips on how to prioritize your tasks effectively-

Make a list of all your tasks

You need to ensure that nobody’s is working on yesterday’s priority. It takes a lot of efforts to make it right. First of all, collect a list of all the tasks that need to be completed. Don’t think about the order. It is just pulling together everything you want to accomplish in a day.

Decide between Urgent and important

The next step is to figure out which task needs immediate attention. This is about that work, if not completed in next few hours or by the end of the day, will have negative consequences. Think about now and put urgent things in front. While important tasks imply things, which have to be completed but not on immediate basis.

Respect deadlines

Something that determines urgency and priority is deadline. If the project deadline is approaching, the task will be added in urgency category. In order to become a successful entrepreneur, meeting deadline should be given utmost importance. When you strictly follow the deadlines, you leave a positive impact on the client.

Set milestones

Keeping in mind the deadline of the project, break down the project into different small steps or parts. Assign each part with a deadline to achieve a certain milestone. This step will motivate you to move on to the next step, feeling a sense of satisfaction. The point is to set some self-imposed deadline so that you can have full control and understand of the goals. This way you will not rely on the final deadline, which may seem far off into the future. Stay on pace by dividing the big task into smaller steps.

Remember consequences

Most likely there will be times when you are not able to complete everything on time. If you have several different tasks to be handled and you are not able to prioritize, consider the consequences of not meeting the deadlines. There will be different consequences of different tasks. Find out which task has to be put on the priority list and which can be put a little behind schedule.

Consider payment terms and time required

Keep in mind the impact that a task will have on getting paid. You may have a project where you will be paid at different milestones throughout the project. If you are just a step away on reaching the milestone and get paid, you may want to give it a priority. If the client has already paid for the services, you have to complete on time. There may be times when you have to complete two tasks of equal urgency. The best way is to prioritize the task that will take less time to complete so that you can get it crossed off from your list and put complete attention on the remaining task.

Reshali Balasubramaniam

Head of HR, HR Counselor and adviser at https://work.lk/. Do you offer a Service? Signup for an account at work.lk