How to Prioritize Your Work When Your Manager Doesn’t ?
You are lucky, if your manager listens to your problems carefully. And, if he takes care of most of the things without having to say a word, you are even more lucky. However, not all managers are like that.
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The problem arises when they don’t do what they are supposed to, especially if it’s related to team members. For instance, they prioritize tasks for their team members, making work easy for them. But, what if your manager doesn’t do this? Would you start doing the tasks without prioritizing them? I expect the answer to be a no.
It’s certainly a difficult job to prioritize things. But, if you don’t prioritize you may have to come across many problems at work. For instance, you may miss deadlines, face work overload that can affect your personal time. The biggest problem you will come across is decreased productivity.
As they say, “Lack of time is actually a lack of priorities”. You will have fewer complaints about time once you start prioritizing your work. Now the question is what’s the best way to do this effectively? In this article, I will give you some amazing tips on prioritizing work on your own -
Write down all the assigned tasks
Your first step should be making a list of everything you are going to do. Even if you are good at remembering things, it’s always better to write down the tasks and activities. You can also jot down your ideas and strategies on the same list, keeping everything at same place. This way, you don’t have to waste time in searching information while working.
According to a psychology professor, Dr. Gail Matthews, there are 42% more chances of achieving your goals when you write them down. She says that this strategy is helpful in working with commitment.
Divide tasks into ‘urgent’ and ‘important’ categories
Have you heard about the Eisenhower Matrix? It is also known as Urgent-Important Matrix that assists in prioritizing tasks on basis of their urgency and importance. Basically, the four quadrants in the Eisenhower Matrix show ‘urgent and important’, ‘important not urgent’, ‘urgent not important’ and ‘not important not urgent’ tasks. You can divide all your tasks on basis of these categories.
You should complete ‘urgent and important’ tasks as soon as possible. In short, such tasks should be on top of your priority list. When it comes to ‘urgent not important’ tasks, decide when you want to do them. You can delegate ‘urgent not important tasks’ to others. ‘Not important not urgent’ tasks can be simply deleted.
Give priority to complex tasks
There is difference between the tasks you avoid doing and the ones you don’t need to do. It’s human nature to avoid complex work and choose what’s easy. But, you need to change this approach. Once you know the tasks that come under ‘urgent and important’ category, go for the most complex task in the first place.
A quote by Mark Twain will help you here -“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first”.
Set realistic deadlines
You must be aware of the importance of setting task deadlines. You need to take care of them to improve your productivity and contribute to your organization’s growth. At the same time, it’s crucial to set realistic deadlines.
There are different factors to be taken care of while setting deadlines. For instance, complexity of the task and time consumed in similar tasks done by you or any other colleague of yours. The main idea is to not go extreme.
Be prepared for changes
You can’t always continue your work the way you had planned. You may have to unexpectedly change your schedule as per the requirement of your organization. This is why you should always be flexible to such changes. This amazing post from Vartika will help you understand better how small changes can make a big difference in your life — https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/small-changes-life-can-bring-big-results-vartika-kashyap?
Being able to adapt to a situation makes you less prone to work stress. When it becomes your habit you take less time in getting acquainted with the new changes at work. Be flexible and adaptable, and things will fall into place.
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You don’t have to worry if your manager doesn’t take the responsibility of work prioritization or is too busy doing some other work. With these simple tips, you can prioritize your work in minutes and save even more time while working.
So, are you ready to take charge and get your work-life on track?
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