Working Smarter

Toolkit Card 1 Task Prioritisation

Working Smarter Toolkit Card 2 Task Prioritisation

Elsenhower Box
This simple tool was allegedly created by US President Dwight D. Elsenhower. Its a way of categorising work tasks by sorting .
them into an order of urgency and importance. Each quadrant has levels of motivation (M) and stress (S) associated with it. This can be low (L) or high (H). The pairing of M & S will influence behaviour

Getting the conditions right

Many things will distract you during a day's work. It's important to consider the following and deal with it: Concentration Average concentration span under perfect conditions is 18 minutes. How are you taking this fact into your planning? Temperature, background noise levels, tiredness, hunger, understanding of task, interruptions, external stresses (personal issues), health, All adversely affect concentration levels. Metabolism Some of us have 'peaks' at which we are at out best - morning perhaps. Schedule your most stressful or demanding tasks to periods in which you are most motivated to complete them. Displacement Watch out for 'displacement activity' trends: this is where you continually find other things to do in order to avoid tackling tasks which you do not want to do. Multi tasking A good technique if you can do it but watch for trends whereby you start something, get stuck or bored, move on to something else and repeat the process. A recipe for stress and missed deadlines. Finding Time Ask yourself - "If the working week was shortened by three hours and I still had the same workload, what could I STOP DOING that wouldn't adversely affect my results?" Identify those activities and eliminate them from your schedule. If they involve other people then begin a dialogue about how to change things

LMHS URGENT Not Important LMLS Not Important Not Urgent

HMHS IMPORTANT & URGENT HMLS IMPORTANT Not Urgent

URGENT

NOT IMPORTANT & NOT URGENT

is a non productive place to work full of unfulfilling and mundane tasks.

URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT is

deceptive because it is busy and stressful

IMPORTANT

but often with short term tasks lacking any real significant purpose.

Seven key questions to ask if task prioritisation is a problem

1 What are the consequences of not completing a particular task (be objective). If they are awkward but neglible then make a decision. 2 What could I have done to avoid the situation I am in right now? 3 Who could help me and what do I need to do to get that help? 4 Have I matched my challenging tasks with my peak production periods (metabolic see Card 2)? 5 Can I multi task? 6 Is the working environment conducive to me making my deadlines? 7 Can I delegate any of my tasks or responsibilities in order to make a deadline?