Many studies show that people aren’t naturally good at multitasking. To excel and achieve your goals, you need to master task prioritization. Without this focus, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and always pressed for time. You might stay busy, but in the end, realize you haven’t made any real progress toward your objectives. Even worse, without this key skill, you risk burning out.
Task Prioritization
There are only 24 hours in a day and even fewer for work. As a freelancer or self-employed individual, it can be challenging to determine what to focus on. Especially, when no one assigns tasks to you. However, the technique I’ll share will also benefit those with managers. It’s called the Eisenhower Matrix.
Take a moment to sit down with a list and a pen, or feel free to use an iPad, Notion, Canva, or any other tool for making notes. Start by writing down all the tasks on your plate – both professional and personal. Then, draw the Eisenhower Matrix shown below and assign each task to one of the four quadrants:
- Urgent and Important: You should complete the tasks within 24 hours.
Examples: calling or responding to a client who has left a bad review or reported a malfunction of the service/software. Finalizing a web design for a client whose project is due tomorrow. - Not Urgent but Important: These are the tasks that move you and your projects forward and help achieve your goals. Schedule time for them.
Examples: creating a six-month content strategy for your social media; attending a networking event to expand your professional connections and/or finding a new client. - Urgent but Not Important: Delegate these tasks to save yourself time.
Examples: making a post/story on Instagram; updating information about your service on the website; answering a query on Facebook (all these things should be delegated). - Not Important and Non-Urgent: Eliminate these tasks or activities, as they consume your time without providing value.
Example: spending an hour scrolling through a competitor’s social media without a clear research purpose; participating in a lengthy online discussion about industry news that has little relevance to your business.
Here’s one more chart to make the process of task prioritization easier. You can use it anytime you decide on how important and urgent the task is.
Task execution
The next steps will be to:
- choose the three most important tasks from the second category “Not urgent but important”. Schedule these tasks for the week in your calendar.
- daily in the morning choose three tasks from the category “Urgent and important”. Do them in the first place. Be sure to roughly estimate the time needed for each task so you have a realistic view and can avoid burnout.
What does this “three tasks” approach give? It keeps you focused, reduces stress, and gives you satisfaction. Additionally, it helps you save time because you don’t need to think about the next task and its priority. You already know it.
I recommend to plan tasks in a written form. Early in my career, I relied on a simple notebook to keep track. Then I transitioned to using Notion. You choose your instrument. Over time, managing tasks will become second nature, and you’ll be able to mentally map out your day. Even so, I recommend keeping a list of important and urgent tasks in a written form.
Automation
Let’s talk about automation. These days, there are so many AI tools available, and everyone seems to be talking about them. But in reality, only a few people use AI or any automation tools.
Take a look at the tasks you do every day – both at work and home. Are there any that you could automate or partially automate? For example, when managing your finances (personal or business), use financial trackers that sync with your bank accounts. This way, you can easily see your financial situation without manually entering every transaction. With a few clicks, you can also see spending/revenue predictions. It’s especially important if you’re managing a business on your own and need to think two steps ahead.
If you’re constantly writing emails or responding to clients in chats, take advantage of ChatGPT prompts for writing emails to speed things up. Use it to craft your emails. You’ll be amazed at how much time you can save, sometimes cutting your writing time by up to 50%.
Delegation
As with automation look through the list of things you do daily and decide what tasks you can delegate.
For example, you spend hours preparing presentations. Consider visiting a freelance website like Fivver, or Upwork to find a skilled person for a few bucks. Remember, you shouldn’t do everything on your own, even if you think you’re the only person who does it best.
Concentration
As someone who values mindful practices, I recommend focusing on one task at a time. Multitasking weakens your effectiveness as a professional. Sit down, remove distractions, and work on one task for a set period. You can try the Pomodoro technique. It looks like that – 25 minutes of work, followed by a 5-minute break. Or create your routine (e.g., 50 minutes of work, followed by a 10-minute break). Over time, you’ll also notice when you’re most productive and which times of day work best for you.
Regular Review and Adjustment
Your priorities may change as time goes on, so it’s important to regularly review and adjust your tasks to match your current goals. Consider doing this review every three months. This approach will help you stay focused on what matters most.
It’s important to not only set goals but also to regularly review your progress. Because goals and tasks can vary, you’ll need to determine the right review schedule for each. For smaller tasks, a weekly or bi-weekly review might be best. For larger objectives, a monthly or quarterly check-in could be more effective.
To sum up, mastering task prioritization takes time and involves a set of small steps, such as creating detailed task lists, using the Eisenhower matrix, managing time well, and regularly reviewing your priorities and results. Remember the importance of focusing on tasks that align with your bigger goals, so your time and energy are invested wisely.
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