When your desk is filled with tasks and urgent requests take attention away from more important matters, it's time to stop and find solutions. Prioritization is a skill that everyone can learn. Organizational psychologist Jaakko Sahimaa shares a practical tool to help you start managing your workday and focus on the essentials.
Is your desk overflowing with to-do lists, urgent requests burdening you, and it feels like you can't tackle anything? Prioritization is a skill that can be learned. Organizational psychologist, entrepreneur, and influencer Jaakko Sahimaa reveals a useful tool that will immediately boost your prioritization skills.
Each of us has struggled with prioritizing work. What to do when days are filled with responding to urgent requests, while piles of other, more important tasks stand on your desk?
– Prioritization is about focusing on the essentials. If identifying the essentials feels challenging on your own, it's worth relying on tools focused on work prioritization, says organizational psychologist, entrepreneur, and influencer Jaakko Sahimaa.
Eisenhower Matrix as a tool
According to Sahimaa, one of the best tools for prioritizing your work is the Eisenhower Matrix, named after U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
– Eisenhower is said to have stated that rarely is what is urgent important, and rarely is what is important urgent. Based on this saying, a useful matrix has been created, Sahimaa explains.
The Eisenhower Matrix is based on a simple axis model. On one axis is the urgency of tasks, and on the other, the importance of tasks.
Based on these, the matrix is easy to visualize.
– You can categorize your tasks into four clear categories in the matrix: important and urgent, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and not urgent and not important, Sahimaa explains.
Clarity through task assignments
Once your tasks are categorized into different parts of the matrix, each of the four categories is given its own task assignment: delete, delegate, schedule, or do immediately.
– For example, tasks categorized as not urgent and not important can be directly deleted. Urgent but not important tasks can be delegated. Important but not urgent tasks can be scheduled for later, and important and urgent tasks are handled immediately, Sahimaa outlines.
It's essential to learn to prioritize tasks independently, but also, for example, with your supervisor and colleagues.