How to Prioritize Your To-Dos and Increase Productivity

When you’re only in your office once a week, spending most of your time running from one client commitment to the next plus traveling constantly, how do you keep up with the demands of your business?

The answer is simple – you have to maximize your productivity, being able to get more done in less time and for this you must prioritize your to-dos.

Here is a daily practice for you to try. I have personally implemented this practice and it helps me not only increase my output but also sustain my daily productivity.

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The first thing to do is to take physical note of everything, not relying only on your memory to do the things you need to do. Take notes on your computer, iPhone, on a piece of paper or try a note taking program like Evernote.

Of the things you write down, not everything is a priority. Twice a day, go through the list and categorize each item into one of the following five priority buckets:

Top priority items should be completed within 24 hours. These include coaching calls, client work and personal priorities.

Priority tasks should be completed during the same week. Projects like developing workshops and new offerings belong in this category.

Long-term planning items are strategic items that require planning and are to be done down the road. These include website improvements and video production.

The “When I Get to It” bucket includes tasks that don’t require much thought and are often outsourced or completed during downtime.

Finally, “Forget about it” tasks stay on the list for a few weeks and don’t fit into any of the four categories above – these tasks prove to be less than a priority and therefore are removed or forgotten about. For example, investigating a new app or technology that I’m not fully passionate about may end up in this bucket.

What system do you use to prioritize your tasks and stay at maximum productivity every day?

For 10 more ways to increase your productivity click here.

© Shawn Casemore 2014. All rights reserved.