Close work tasks, make a doctor’s appointment, finish cleaning, cook dinner and not be late for a meeting with friends – how to manage everything and not forget anything? The secret of effective time management: correctly set priorities. You can master this skill with the help of different techniques. We will tell you about the simplest and most popular ones that will be useful not only at work, but also in everyday life.
The Most Important Task Method
Most Important Task (MIT) is perhaps the simplest method for setting priorities. Start each morning by choosing 1-3 most important tasks for the day. And these do not necessarily have to be tasks that need to be fully completed during the day. You can also select something less urgent, but necessary in the long term. This way, every day you will take small steps towards achieving a complex goal.
Warren Buffett Method
The technique of the famous American investor Warren Buffett is based on the Pareto principle , which states that 20% of efforts bring 80% of the result. In our context, this would sound like this: 20% of the most important things will give 80% of the result.
In practice, you need to make a list of, say, 20 tasks, and choose 4 of them (that is, 20% of 20) that are most important to you – those that really affect your life in the near future. Either delegate the rest, or take them on only after completing the important tasks.
Effort-Impact Matrix
According to this method , all tasks or projects can be assessed according to two key criteria: effort and impact, and thus divided into 4 groups:
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Strong influence and strong effort. Important tasks that significantly affect your life and can bring impressive results in the future.
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Low effort and high impact. These are quick achievements and quick results.
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Weak influence and strong effort are thankless tasks. They can be abandoned or delegated to other people. You can also replace these tasks with something more effective or find another solution.
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Weak influence and weak effort. These are routine tasks that have virtually no impact on achieving an important goal and bring little result.
Method 1 – 3 – 5
It is also known as the nine-task method. It is a way of setting priorities, in which only 9 tasks are set for the day. Of these:
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1 – the most difficult and important, performed first.
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3 – three of medium importance and scale, completed during the day.
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5 – five small ones, it is desirable to complete them, but they can also be postponed.
Ivy Lee (Schwab) Method
The essence of the technique is to arrange the tasks for the day in order of importance and to do them in this order. In the first half of the day, when you are still full of energy and enthusiasm, do the most important tasks. Leave the simpler and more monotonous ones for the second half of the day.
The original version of the method recommends planning no more than six tasks, but this is not necessary. The task formulation should contain the result, not the process. For example, it is better to write “Learn 20 new words in French” rather than “Study French.”
Don’t move on to the next task until you’ve completely completed the previous one. What you didn’t manage to do today, move to tomorrow.
Eisenhower Matrix
This method suggests sorting tasks into four groups:
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important and urgent;
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important but not urgent;
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unimportant but urgent;
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unimportant and not urgent.
You need to tackle the tasks from the first group first. The tasks from the last group can be safely postponed until a more suitable time.
Balance wheel
The Balance Wheel is a visual tool that can help you analyze how evenly you distribute your time and resources in the most important areas of your life.
Print out a ready-made template or draw a circle by hand and divide it into sectors, in which write down different areas of life: work, career, business, health, family, relationships. Rate each of them on a ten-point scale depending on how satisfied you are with it at this point in your life. For example, if you are not satisfied with your job, you can put a 3 in this sector. On the resulting diagram, you will see which areas of life need more attention and time. Think about what exactly you want to see in each segment, and imagine, for example, your ideal job, which you will give 10 points.
Based on the state of affairs in each area, make a list of tasks and goals for the next 2-3 months.
