Don't always prioritize urgent tasks - use this framework instead
Image by Rod Long via UnsplashIf you want to advance in your Finance career, that's a mistake.
Instead, consider this framework:
Effective prioritization allows you to work smart instead of hard and achieve more in less time.
Poor prioritization can lead to burnout and low motivation from being busy without tangible results.
Start by grouping your tasks in four buckets:
1️⃣ Urgent & Important —> Prioritize it.
2️⃣ Not Urgent & Important —> Schedule it.
3️⃣ Urgent & Not Important —> Question it.
4️⃣ Not Urgent & Not Important —> Eliminate, simplify, automate, or delegate (in this order).
➣ Important and Urgent tasks get done first, but pay attention to important but not urgent tasks; these often get neglected. To make sure you get to them, schedule a block of time in your calendar to do them (google "timeboxing")
➣ Be careful with urgent but (seemingly) not important tasks. Question the task giver to determine if you lack information, or someone else misclassified it as urgent. Always ask for a deadline. Someone else's definition of "urgent" may not be the same as yours.
But what should you do if you have too many tasks that are urgent and important?
Categorize high priority tasks according to Impact & Effort:
1️⃣ High Impact & High Effort —> Big Bets
2️⃣ High Impact & Low Effort —> Quick Wins
3️⃣ Low Impact & Low Effort —> Fillers
4️⃣ Low Impact & High Effort —> Thankless Tasks
➣ Do one or two Quick Wins first, then move on to a Big Bet. Fillers and Thankless tasks come last (if you can't avoid them).
➣ Watch out: Don't only do Quick Wins at the expense of Big Bets. Keep in mind that you learn the most during high effort tasks. As a result, similar tasks will become low-effort ones in the future. That's how you turn Big Bets into Quick Wins.
➣ Lastly - don't forget to celebrate the wins with your team!
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