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Tasks can add up. It is important to keep track of how they impact your overall career progression and ensure individual items don’t get forgotten in the process.
Stick to one or two methods for prioritising tasks
So many options are available for organising tasks that switching from one to the other can end up a job in itself. App stores are full of pretty applications that promise to make your life simpler, but take caution or you may become overwhelmed with choice. Select one or two methods maximum to ensure that you keep a handle on your eager list-making.
At Aldrich & Co, our favourite option to manage lists at work is to keep track of our work in one digital (an organisation app like Notion or our iPhone’s Calendar) and one physical (a notepad) format. This way, we can feel that we always have our priorities to hand wherever we are, and we only have two methods to update. At the beginning of every week, we check through our tasks on both formats to ensure nothing gets left behind.
Define the urgency of each task
Do certain tasks have deadlines, impact project timelines, or have negative consequences if they go unmet?
You give your work structure, meaning and focus by identifying and then categorising your tasks based on how soon they must be completed. We recommend doing this at the beginning of the work day and committing to each task in the order you have listed them.
Delegate non-priority tasks
Once you have proactively set out your own structure, you may find some tasks keep getting moved to the bottom of the day or consistently never get done. This might mean that these tasks do not directly impact your work or are a poor use of your resources. If this is the case, we recommend delegating the task to another team member.
To ensure the task doesn’t continue to get bounced around the team, give the delegated individual a timeframe within which to complete it. Remember to make a task for yourself to check up on its completion!
Block off time to manage your lists at work
We might feel like we need to deal with the most pressing task, but don’t ignore long-term goals.
Every two weeks, review your priorities and adjust where necessary. For the tasks that you cannot delegate but can’t seem to get started either, block off an afternoon. This is your time to strategise. Break that task into its constituent parts, and set milestones for yourself to ensure you work through each one.
Be kind to yourself
Recognise that everyone works differently and that being productive isn’t a competition. By all means, listen to your colleague who has the new application that completely redefined list management. But don’t feel bad if their approach to task delivery doesn’t work for you.
Often, there is no single “right” way to handle a task. Be open to new tools and approaches to task management, but choose what helps you the most.
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Do you love list-making? Have you found the perfect app or method that gets your tasks done quickly? Let us know on our social channels!
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