TODAY'S RANDOM PROMPT: What is a top priority for you right now?
Prioritizing is not my strength. Lists are meant to be made and then either ignored or lost. Priorities require focus and discipline to complete. I possess neither of those. This is why it took me six years to finish writing my first novel. I’m five years into working on the second. I found a website (out of hundreds, maybe thousands) that provided some helpful tips on how to prioritize.
Write down all of your tasks (big, small, intermediate, long-term)
See the above comment about lists and how they should be handled
2. Determine which tasks are truly important (and which can wait)
Who am I to judge these things? That’s simply too much power for one man.
3. Stick to a schedule that reflects your priority tasks
My schedule mostly revolves around television and food. Everything else gets arranged around that.
4. Tackle your most intense, high-effort tasks first
Ew, no.
5. Focus on one task at a time (try not to multitask)
Multitasking is how shit gets done, my friend. I can fold laundry while watching Better Call Saul and googling some random reference that popped into my head that I need to research all while revising a scene in my novel that has been giving me fits for weeks? Why focus on one task when I can get four done at the same time? Riddle me that.
6. Make sure you’re giving yourself ample time for any given task
It took me six years to graduate from my undergraduate program because I always put off to the last minute what should’ve been done long before. That is not something they teach in school, my friend. It is a power that comes from within.
7. Acknowledge what you realistically can (and can’t get done)
And then stare at both lists until nothing gets accomplished. That’s how I roll, baby.
8. If possible, make prioritizing a team-wide effort
TEAM?!!? I can’t get my own shit together, let alone help someone else!
What was the question again?
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