One feeling that is universal to most people on a daily basis is stress. Whether it is job-related stress, home-life worries, or financial anxieties, having a cluttered mind is the easiest way to exacerbate the feelings of stress.
And, since stress is an unproductive emotion, the effects of it can cripple one’s ability to improve the current situation. The best way to relieve stress, improve productivity, and feel achievement and success is to better prioritize your day.
Society lives in an on-the-go world, and for most people, there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish all of the awaiting tasks: projects at work, children’s appointments and events, home cleaning and improvements, and quality time with the family, just to name a few. That’s exactly why busy lives need structure.
Establish Priorities
To create structure, you need to know exactly what is most important to you in life. If your highest priority is career advancement, the way you manage your time will be significantly different than someone who views family or recreation as the priority.
First and foremost, find the priority that will help you achieve your ultimate goal, then base your daily priorities on that.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t advance your career and experience a healthy and harmonious family life; however, it may influence your larger decisions – like taking a promotion that requires more time in the office or moving to a new location for a job opportunity. Finding your deepest priorities will show you which tasks get more precedence in your daily life.
Create Daily To-do Lists Based on Your Priorities
Once you’ve thought your priorities through, it’s time to focus on how those integrate into your daily routine and make a realistic to-do list. If you have a board meeting at 2 p.m. and a parent-teacher conference at 2:30 p.m., putting both on your to-do list will make it rather unlikely that you’ll successfully complete your list.
Execute Your List in Order
Start your list with the item that is the most important for that day. This could be a work project you must complete, an errand you have to run, or an event you need to attend. Doing this will help you make sure you accomplish that item during the day.
Your other tasks and events should follow in the order of most important to least important. Take note not to fill up your to-do list with “wishes.” If it is highly unlikely you’ll accomplish the task, place it on another list, a running supplementary list for when you accomplish your priority tasks.
Think One Project at a Time
While it may be unlikely in your field of work or your home life, it can help to work on one task at a time. Multitasking can help clutter up your mind, so following through on one project at a time will help you retain focus on your day’s priorities.
Prioritizing the day is an essential task, and an effective to-do list can make this easier to do. Using the aforementioned tips, you may reduce your stress and find yourself freeing up more of your most precious commodity – time.
PS: Here’s a smart technique called “The Pomodoro Technique” to boost your internet productivity.
Jess is a business blogger for Mobile Phone Finder, the free Australian mobile phone comparison tool which is available for everyone with no registration required.
About Jane
Jane, I found your blog post through Blog Interact and really like the topics you’ve been writing on. In fact, without knowing, the last 3 posts that I read all came from your blog. Great minds think alike, I guess.
Anyway, enjoyed this (and the last 3 articles). Keep up the good work. Hopefully, I’ll be back again soon.
Damond
Damond Nollan recently posted..Be More Proactive Using These Four Tips
Thanks so much for stopping by Damond! I’m so glad you liked the post
Stick with me 