No matter who you are, you’re going to feel more motivated and clear if you know how to prioritize effectively and trust that you’re focusing on the right things.
These are a few of my favourite practices for staying clear.
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What’s important?
A lot of us gravitate toward tasks that are quick or urgent rather than getting clear on what would make the biggest impact and move us toward our vision. Identify the big boulders that you need to push up the hill rather than focusing on the little rocks.
The Eisenhower Box (or matrix) is a great tool for this—the important, non-urgent tasks are the ones we often kick down the road but they’re also the ones that bring the most value. Focus on what’s urgent and important first, and schedule in the important non-urgent work.
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Be ruthless
You can only have 1-2 TOP priorities at most in a day. Ask yourself: if I could only do one thing today, what would that be?
If you find you have resistance because it feels too big or important, try giving yourself about 30 minutes to knock the simple tasks off your to-do list. You’ll get a dopamine hit and some momentum that you can then direct toward the bigger, more impactful project.
You can also break your top priority down into little bite-sized chunks so you focus on one at a time and avoid feeling overwhelmed. And if it’s a creative or strategic project, giving yourself blocks of time for work rather than focusing on specific milestones will generally feel more motivating.
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Track your energy
Some people get energy from meetings, some feel drained by them. Some of us love writing, others would rather poke an eye out. If you can get clear on which tasks energize you, which are energy neutral, and which drain you, you can then choose how to organize your time.
This simplest way to do this is using a calendar audit. Look at the past two weeks and take note of which activities are energy positive, energy neutral or energy draining and then decide how you will more forward.
I’ve done my best to delegate all of the tasks that drain me, so I can focus on the things that energize me—which are also the things I’m best at.
In the context of a team, this involves getting clear on your and your colleagues’ strengths and divvying up the work accordingly. You can also put the energizing tasks before and/or after the draining activities, so you don’t fall into a rut and get stuck there.
