What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.
– Eisenhower
Prioritizing tasks is important to achieving our goals and targets, which is vital to our success. By prioritizing tasks we ensure that we focus our attention to the most important tasks first.
Normally we tend to focus our attention on urgent activities and this uses up most of our time, leaving us with less or absolutely no time to focus on what is really important or what matters to us the most. Focusing our attention on what is really important will help us grow and will accelerate our efforts towards reaching our set goals in life.
How can I accomplish prioritizing tasks?
The Urgent/Important Matrix is a useful tool to help us in prioritizing our tasks.
Stephen Covey the Author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” explained this concept in his book and coined it as the Urgent/Important Matrix.
So first let us try to understand what Important and Urgent Activities/Tasks really are.
- Important activities are those activities which have end results and which lead to the achievement of our goals.
- Urgent activities are activities which require our immediate attention.
How it Works
a. The first step is to list all the Tasks that you have to do.
Try to include everything that takes up your time at work, however unimportant.
This could be the items on your To-Do List
b. Next step, on a scale of 1 to 10, assign importance to each of the activities.
This is a measure of how important the activity is in helping you meet your goals and objectives.
c. Once you’ve assigned an importance value to each Task, determine its urgency.
Now, plot each item on the matrix according to the values that you have given it.
The Quadrants of the Matrix Explained.
A. Not Urgent, but Important (Important Goals)
These are the tasks that matter the most, and help you reach your goals. So you must give most of your time and attention to such Tasks in order to reach your goals.
Examples
Relationship Building, Planning, Research, Learning.
How can you maximize this?
Make sure that you have plenty of time to do these tasks properly.
Leave enough time in your schedule to deal with problems you did not anticipate.
B. Urgent and Important (The Critical Tasks)
Urgent and important activities consists of tasks which one did not anticipate and Tasks that were left pending till the last minute, due to procrastination.
Examples
Crisis, Deadlines, Pressing Problems.
How to deal with it?
If you have proper planning and follow a To Do list, you can avoid last minute tasks. Also avoid procrastination; this happens to be the major culprit for tasks landing in this quadrant of the matrix.
Issues and crises, on the other hand, are sometimes unavoidable.
The best way to deal with these types of problems is to schedule some time to handle crisis situations.
C. Urgent and Not Important (Interruptions)
Urgent but not important activities are Tasks that stop you achieving your goals, and prevent you from completing Tasks that move you towards attaining your main goal.
Examples
Interruptions, Meetings without a clear agenda, Phone calls
How to deal with it?
You could list your important tasks that you are currently doing, to the person who interrupts you and you could suggest to delegate the new task to another person.
See if it possible to set that new task to another time.
Another way to avoid Interruptions is to schedule time when you are available and meet people only during this time.
This helps you to focus on your most important tasks without being disturbed.
D. Not Urgent and Not Important (Distractions)
These tasks should be avoided if possible. Some can plainly be ignored.
Others are activities that other people may want you to do, but they do not help you to reach your goals.
Examples
Games, Social Media, Video Sites, Frequently Checking Mails.
How to deal with it?
Say No to such tasks and give a reason for saying No, without appearing to be rude or offensive.
Conclusion
Thus prioritizing tasks is paramount to achieve success in your goals. The Urgent Important Matrix is a useful tool which helps you to prioritize the tasks on hand and reach your goals.