Why do some people get more done in a day than others do in a week or a month? We all have 24 hours per day, but it’s what we do with our time that counts. Tomorrow is a promissory note, and yesterday is a cancelled cheque. We must make the most of the time we have today. So, how can we be more productive with the time we have? Prioritising is the key.

Easy As A-B-C

One way to get yourself organised and get your daily tasks accomplished is to sit down in the evening and make a To-Do list for the next day. First, just write down everything that comes to mind. Then prioritise those tasks by importance. Put an A, B, or C in front of each task: 

A = Very important
B = Important
C = Not important (at this time)

Take a look at the lists of As and number them by importance: A1, A2, A3… Then do the same for the Bs and Cs.

The next day, begin working on A1. When you finish A1, move on to A2, etc. Just keep working your way down the list. If you get a phone call or there is some interruption (it happens to all of us) don’t let it get you off track. Just get right back to the project you were working on. It’s important to keep the main thing the main thing.

Reprioritise Daily

If you don’t finish everything, don’t worry. In fact, you probably won’t get it all done in one day. But that’s okay, you just add it to your list for the following day. Each evening, review your progress and reprioritise for the following day.

Remember that on a different day the same task might be rated higher or lower in terms of importance depending on the due date or other circumstances. For example: paying a bill that’s due in four weeks might be B3 today, but if three weeks have passed and you still haven’t paid it, it should probably move up to an A1. That’s why it’s important to prioritise your tasks every day.

If you have a large project, you can accomplish it by breaking it down into bite-size pieces and placing those smaller tasks on your daily, prioritised To-Do list. Impressive results can be achieved by regularly accomplishing your daily task list.

Focus

Have you ever heard the saying: If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it? It doesn’t seem to make sense at first, until you understand that the busy person gets more done because they are organised and focused. Sometimes a person who seems to have a lot of free time can’t get anything done because they don’t have a plan.

Time is precious. Every day, we all have a choice of what we will do with our allotted 24 hours. Will we waste our time, or will we stay focused and make progress on the things that are important to us? Time is one thing that we can never get back once it’s gone, and that’s why it’s one of the most important things to gain control of. Whether it’s time we spend with family and friends, or time we spend on our business, we should organise our time wisely and focus our energy in order to get the most out of life.

• See our time management worksheet here.