If you’re finding yourself juggling ten different tasks, trying to attending to family commitments and fire fighting, all at the same time then you really need to learn how to pace yourself.  This article will teach you how to prioritize for better time management.

When you have a long list of things to do it might be a bit difficult to know which one to do first.  It’s not always the last thing to get put on the list that can wait for a few more days.  The last thing coming on may be the most important task to get done, whilst the first thing on the top of the list could possibly wait for another week or two.  So how would you know how to tackle the list?

Learning to prioritize is the key issue when you have a lot of things to get through and lots of jobs to get done.  First of all, you need to decide on how important that task is.  It will either be a) very important, b) important or c) not very important.  If something is very important it means that the success of your business/relationship will depend on it being done.  If you don’t get it done there will be repercussions.  E.g. there will be repercussions if you forget your spouse’s birthday because you’re too busy at the office.

If the task is important then it has to be done at some point because it is a necessary task or function that will help maintain and enhance your business in some way.  E.g. it’s important to ensure that you have a good supply of printing paper because you need to use the printer every day.  Running out of paper will be a big inconvenience but it won’t stop the business from going forward.

If something is not very important then you shouldn’t worry yourself about it first.  E.g. you may need to let the decorator know what color you want the walls at home.   If you’re trying to clinch a business deal the color of the wall might be the last thing on your mind.  Therefore, it’s not that important.

Always deal with the ‘very important’ things first.  You can’t afford to mess up on these ones.  Neglecting to do these things or not doing them properly will either cause a relationship to suffer (This relationship can be personal or business) or it will lose you business and therefore you will be losing money.

Once you’ve got the very important things out the way, you can then turn your attention to the ‘important ones’.  You may have it on your list to get some new business cards done.  It is important to you and your image to have an attractive and informative business card to give to a prospective client as you’re wrapping up a meeting.  The old one probably doesn’t have the correct address on it.  This certainly needs to be done but you wouldn’t have lost business over it so you wouldn’t want to choose taking a trip to the printers over getting the birthday gift for the spouse.

So what about the not very important things?  It may seem as though those can be left, but no. Even the ‘not very important’ things need to get a look in.  These things are not likely to require a great deal of effort from you.  It might mean returning a phone call or attending a function that you’re not really keen on going to because you can’t see the benefit of it to you.  These are the things you should do to give yourself a break.  If you’ve been focusing on a particular task all morning then take a break and return that ‘not very important’ phone call. You never know what can come out of those seemingly un-important tasks.

So now you know how to prioritize you shouldn’t be running yourself ragged again.