Try Prioritizing

One of the biggest productivity myths, in my opinion, is that you will get a lot more done if you multitask. Don't fall for it! Some people tend to multitask without regard to safety. For instance texting while driving. The statistics behind performing this is astounding, nevertheless, people are still multitasking, behind the wheel, and getting involved in vehicular accidents. Multitasking is an attempt to do more than one task at once, usually to save time. When you try to work on a lot of things at once, the likelihood of you getting things done safely, efficiently or properly, lessens. Your mind tends to, continually, shift from one task to another, you tend to forget things and your stress level can increase.

So, what is the key to keeping your mind sane and efficiently complete that mountain of to-dos? Prioritizing, prioritizing, prioritizing! Prioritizing involves determining which task needs to be done right away from those that can wait or which item is most important versus those that are least important. You can actually choose how you want to prioritize: sometimes I complete the item that will take the least amount of time, first, to save the bulk of my time for something that may require a lot of time or brainpower. Other times I prioritize from most important to least important. It's totally up to you. Since most of us live and/or work in a face-paced environment we may fall prey to the assumption that EVERYTHING is a priority, EVERYTHING is urgent, EVERYTHING needs to be completed NOW! But, actually, that is not true nor is it fair to you. Some tasks are urgent, but most (if you really think about it) fall under the category of routine or lagniappe. So...try prioritizing and let me know what you think. Here's a downloadable Priority Matrix worksheet to help you get started! Meleshia Holmes, Founder of GSA Consulting.