Welcome back to Tuesday To-Do, a weekly column on ember + march where I share a quick tip to help you get your week back on track, even if Monday as less than productive.
This week, I want to talk about prioritizing, and organizing your lists, notebook/planner and even your work space according to what needs to take priority.
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First, what needs to be done?
Not the grandiose list of things you’d love to accomplish if you had 16 more hours in the day, but the actual list of items you need to get done. Maybe you need to write blog posts, get a proposal to a client or mail out packages. Whatever those accomplishable items might be, get them down on paper.
Now, rank those items from highest to lowest priority.
High priority items are ones with tight deadlines or deliverables, tasks that will take the most time and have the biggest impact on other tasks if they aren’t completed. For me, a high priority item is usually sitting down to write posts (a pretty large part of this whole blogging thing –who would’ve guessed).
Now, let’s organize….
On your desk/workspace
Arrange your desk or workspace so that items that have the highest priority take up the most space and are easily accessible. If you’re working on writing, move your laptop or keyboard up and push things like books or extra gadgets to the back. Remove as much clutter as you can so that you can really focus on the task at hand.
When I’m out at a coffee shop working on writing for the week, I tend to put all of the extra stuff in my bag, go full screen on my browser and hunker down.
In your notebook/planner
Rearrange your lists or schedule for the day so that the high priority items come first and lower priority items last. This may mean that you deviate from your typical daily routine, but that’s okay. Be flexible in the name of getting back on track and getting things done!
When you complete a task, check it off of your list. It will make you feel better and so accomplished.
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