Obviously, the answer to this one is, of course, make the cup of tea and then call the client! We’re only human and we need tea to fully function for client interaction or any manner of business.
However, not all things that we have to prioritise include choices between cups of tea. In my previous blog about lists, I concluded that lists were a good thing but warned not to get lost in them and end up losing time. Prioritising effectively is one way to stop this happening.
So you have your list in front of you. It looks rather long and intimidating. The first thing to do is not to panic-get your cup of tea.
Next, whilst sipping on your lovely mug of comfort, take a quick scan of the list. Try and identify which items need to be done as soon as possible-the ones with the deadlines most imminent-(if this is your entire list then don’t worry-worry that you have possibly left everything to the last possible minute but not that there aren’t further filters for you..)
Put all these aside for a moment and look at the leftover items. If there is anything that you are being ultra-organised about (and therefore doesn’t need to be done for a while), then move these aside for now. You have enough to think about with all this prioritising without that! If you complete your list, then by all means go back to these future ones but otherwise don’t worry-they will move high enough on your list to be completed at a later stage.
Right, you should have two groups now: one with things that need to be done ASAP and one with the rest of the items.
Try and estimate how long each item will take you to complete. Any that will not take very long, put a mark next to (with a star or a smiley face or a super-fast car, whatever you like). Any that will take a long time, put a different mark next to.
NB if all your items will take a very long time then I suggest that you do them in order of preference. Whichever item you are dreading, do it first and get it out of the way and so on. Then you are always working towards the feeling that ‘things can only get better!’
At this point, look at your schedule for the week. Try and work out where to fit in your various long and short tasks (starting of course with your high priority ones).
Hopefully, in a perfect world of course, they will all fit in wonderfully and you can happily sit down and re-write your list in a more concise (and hopefully very colourful) fashion.
This is all the advice I can give you-apart from this final piece: make sure when you finish something, cross it off with the biggest pen you can find. It will give you the most enormous feeling of satisfaction-if you have the time (and you are very careful with health and safety!) then go and burn your list in a ritual-like style, complete with headdresses if you have the time. Or you could burn off each item as you do it but I foresee burnt fingers down this road..
Or you can just do what I do-cross off each item as I do it and when I finish my list, chuck it as hard as you can in the bin with an enormous ‘HAH!’. But my following ‘I’ve completed my list’ dance is optional, although if you wish to learn it-let me know and I will be more than happy to teach it to you.
Happy trailing!
-Emily
Picture credits: Tea Appreciation Society
Comments