Too many things "to do..."
Docta said:
I have 273 tasks right now and with out prioritizing, how do I know which ones I should start doing first?
I feel like I should prioritize during my weekly review so I know which ones to concentrate on.
Hello,
This is a great prompt! In fact, a question we face in the work we do comes from people who, for the first time ever, see in one place EVERYTHING they’ve ever said yes to! My response would be one of an information seeking-nature…
Have you done a full inventory of all your levels of work? Even starting with the 20,000 foot level and working your way down to Next Actions could be very valuable.
At the 20,000 foot level, what are your areas of focus, interest and responsibility. Most clients I work with have 4-7 on the personal side, and 4-7 on the professional side: (Homeowner, Community Volunteer, Education; Information Technology, Marketing, Sales).
Then, identify all the 10,000 foot projects out of that: (Organize new roof for winter; Complete FY ’04 projections). Of course, your 50-150 projects “should” all line up to your areas of focus. This offers interesting feedback, especially if a lot of the projects and next actions are “off course” (meaning they don’t line up to your areas of focus, interest and responsibility.
I think defining ALL of your projects (big, little, personal, professional) is a great exercise. Then, what you actually DO decide to work on is top quality, and top priority. The Someday/Maybe list, though, is what I'd suggest you utilize more. (I have well over 100 items on it right now.) Might as well either dump the stuff or park it on S/M so you don't have to have anything actually to DO about it.
That way, you won't feel bad about your own agreements.
Sometimes, it's easy to avoid defining the project because it's too big ("amorphous, out of my control"), too small ("some dumb, dorky little thing") or too ambiguous ("I'm supposed to do WHAT?"). Interestingly, you would only avoid moving on it if the action step isn't clear enough or the project is not meaningful enough, given all your other projects. A great way to get around that is to completely define the successful outcome of the accumulation of action steps required to complete that "thing." For every active project on that list, ensure there is a "next action" defined and captured into your system. Finally, if you're still not getting it done, then slide it off the active list.
My teacher once told me, “Fulfill the agreements that you make with yourself and with other people around you. Fulfill your agreement to your family, your employers and employees, your friends, your landlord, your doctor, your dentist, your creditors, etc.”
Being the “not-wanting-to-work-real-hard” guy that I am, I’ve found that by identifying the “drivers” (also known as agreements) at the various levels, it makes it much easier for to identify projects and prioritize next actions.
