Tips for Planning and Prioritizing Tasks Under Pressure

As a founder or executive, it is easy to get lost among multiple fires, meetings, and competing priorities. One of the most impactful things you can do for yourself (and your team) is to set boundaries, guidelines and processes to make sure you are focused on the most impactful items throughout the day. This is easier said than done but below are few things that have helped me become more effective and may help you as well. 🙅🏽♀️ No meeting days: At Cocora.io we have no meetings on Monday and Wednesday as well as Friday afternoon. I learned this working with Alexander Torrenegra at Bunny Studio. In practice, this means we block our calendars and will only take meetings unless it is absolutely urgent and important. This gives us uninterrupted time for deep work. 💡 Know your focus patterns and plan accordingly: I do my best deep work in the mornings. That is why my calendar has no open slots in the morning. This allows me to work on things that require high concentration and finish them faster (and better) than if I had worked on them in the afternoon/evening. ✅ Write your priorities: The first thing I do in the morning is write down the 2-4 most important items I need to complete that day. I avoid working on other items unless they are more urgent and important than the items I wrote down ⚡️ Manage your energy: There are days when you can work for 16 hours straight and be highly productive. There are days when you are exhausted and will not be productive if you work for more than 8 hours straight. During those low energy days, you want to find ways to recharge or work on tasks that require less mental energy so you can recharge. It is better to work 8 hours at 90% effectiveness than 12 hours at 40% effectiveness. 🕰 Time audit: Monitor what you are spending your time on. This will not only let you see where you are spending more time than you should, it also serves to keep you accountable. #timemanagement #leadership #effectiveness #effectiveleadership

4 Leadership Practices To Prioritize Your Time & Energy: The most important decision a leader makes is how to invest their most valuable resources: Time and Energy. Too often, leaders feel overwhelmed by having to respond to the constant barrage of urgent issues that consume most of their time and energy, leaving them scrambling to find "extra" time to try to achieve the most important responsibilities of their role. 1) Focus On The Important, Not The Urgent President Eisenhower said, "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent." Too often, leaders spend the most time working on the least important things and the least time on the most important things. Understanding the distinction between urgent and strategic is important for a leader to be successful. The challenge is that urgent activities demand time because they are more visible, immediate, and louder than their strategic tasks.   2) Learn To Say "No" In our busy and complex world, leaders often believe that everything is critical and merits the highest priority. The unfortunate truth with this mindset is that if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. A leader must learn to say NO or push back against the inevitable onslaught of urgent activities that constantly derail them from focusing on the most important leadership activities. Setting healthy boundaries does not mean a leader is not responsive to urgent requests; it just means they do not do it at the expense of accomplishing their most important goals.   3) Delegate To Elevate Effective managers understand that they must continually assess how they spend their time and delegate tasks and activities that others can and should do. The best managers don't delegate because they believe they are "too good" or "too important" to do these tasks; they understand that it is no longer their role. They know that if they focus on activities that others can do, they will neglect the important tasks their employees depend on them to complete.   4) Lead Through Coaching Almost all leaders rise to leadership positions because of their ability to problem-solve and get things done. Too often, when employees come to leaders with their routine challenges, the leader will immediately jump into solving the problem for them. The strategic mindset shift for leaders is understanding that success in their role is no longer to be the chief problem-solver. A leader's primary tool for helping others feel connected, valued, and empowered to do great work is coaching. What other practices do you use to prioritize your time and energy?   To learn more about this post read my LinkedIn newsletter article, 4 Leadership Practices To Prioritize Your Time And Energy: https://lnkd.in/e-ytTq-w Hit the 🔔 on my profile to be notified when I post | Tony Gambill

Feeling overwhelmed due to conflicting priorities at work? How would you shift from stressing about time to making the right choices! These strategies aren't exclusive to leaders—they're indispensable for teams and individuals alike: 1. Eisenhower Matrix: Imagine you're a software team lead. You receive urgent requests for feature enhancements from clients while also needing to allocate resources for long-term product improvements. By using the Eisenhower Matrix, you can prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance, ensuring that urgent customer requests are addressed promptly without neglecting essential long-term product development. 2. Burkeman’s 3-3-3 Model: As a project manager, you have a backlog of tasks for your team to complete. Instead of overwhelming them with numerous tasks, you prioritize three critical tasks for the week using Burkeman’s model. 3. Time Blocking: As a software engineer, you block off specific time slots during your day for uninterrupted coding sessions. By dedicating focused time to your coding tasks, you can minimize distractions and maximize productivity, leading to more efficient code development and higher-quality output. 4. ABCDE Method: As part of a product development team, you identify critical bugs (A) that directly impact user experience or functionality and prioritize addressing them before polishing minor features (C). This ensures that your product remains stable and user-friendly, focusing efforts on resolving issues. 5. MoSCoW Method: You're a product manager tasked with defining the scope of a new software release. By using the MoSCoW method, you classify features as "Must-Have," "Should-Have," "Could-Have," and "Won't-Have" to prioritize development efforts. This helps streamline the project scope and ensures that essential features are delivered first to meet customer requirements. 7. Warren Buffett’s 25/5 Rule: As a product owner, you apply Warren Buffett’s rule to identify the top five priorities for your product roadmap. By focusing on these key initiatives, you ensure that resources are allocated effectively to drive strategic objectives and achieve long-term success. 8. Pareto Principle: You're a project manager overseeing a software development project. By applying the Pareto Principle, you focus on the vital 20% of tasks that contribute to 80% of the project's success. This allows you to prioritize efforts on the most impactful activities, delivering maximum value with minimal resources. 9. Theory of Constraints: As a software development team lead, you use the Theory of Constraints to identify bottlenecks in the code review process. By pinpointing delays and inefficiencies, you can implement process improvements to streamline code reviews and accelerate the delivery of high-quality software. automated code analysis tools to expedite the review process. #productivity #prioritization #leadershipdevelopment

➤ Are You Drowning in Leadership Stress? ➤ Don't Just Lead – Excel! Conquer Stress with These Tips. ➤ From Stressed to Success: The New Leader's Journey! In my experience as a leader, one of the most significant challenges was managing stress, especially when new to leadership. Here are strategies that helped me and can assist other new leaders: - Set Realistic Goals: Define achievable objectives to avoid setting yourself up for unnecessary stress. - Develop Emotional Intelligence: Understanding and managing your emotions can significantly reduce stress levels. - Seek Feedback Regularly: Constructive feedback can help you improve and feel more confident in your decisions. - Embrace Flexibility: Be open to change and adaptable to new situations, which is key in reducing stress. - Prioritize Tasks: Learn to identify which tasks are urgent and important to manage your workload effectively. - Take Breaks: Regular short breaks throughout the day can help clear your mind and reduce stress. - Learn to Say No: Understand your limits and don’t be afraid to turn down requests that are beyond your capacity. - Create a Positive Work Environment: A positive and supportive work environment can significantly reduce stress. - Use Stress-Reduction Tools: Explore tools like stress balls, apps for relaxation or even aromatherapy to help manage stress levels. - Prioritize Self-Care: Taking care of your mental and physical health is crucial. Regular exercise, a balanced diet and adequate sleep form the foundation of stress management. - Effective Time Management: Organize your tasks and delegate when possible. Effective time management reduces the feeling of being overwhelmed. - Build a Support Network: Lean on mentors, peers or a professional coach. Having someone to share challenges with can provide new perspectives and solutions. - Maintain Work-Life Balance: Set boundaries to ensure personal time. This balance is essential for long-term success and well-being. - Practice Mindfulness and Reflection: Techniques like meditation or journaling can help maintain clarity and focus. - Continuous Learning: Embrace every challenge as a learning opportunity. This mindset reduces the pressure of perfection and fosters growth. As leadership expert John C. Maxwell once said, "Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them." The essence of leadership in stress management lies in bridging gaps and inspiring collective action towards a common goal. Also remember, effective leadership isn't about having all the answers… it's about navigating through uncertainty and learning along the way. Embrace leadership with confidence and resilience. #leadership #stressmanagement #leadershipdevelopment #teambuilding Are you a new leader feeling the weight of responsibility? Let’s share strategies, in the comments below, to manage stress effectively, ensuring a healthy and successful leadership journey.

Want to know the biggest benefit of hiring a coach or a consultant? It's not always about the new insights or breakthrough strategies they bring. I think that the magic lies in the space they help you create for important conversations. I'm knee-deep in a consulting project for my favorite non-profit, and as we are review insights from donor interviews, I keep hearing, "This information isn't surprising" and "These are things we already know." And at the same time, they are saying, "But we need to do something about this," and "It's good that we're having this conversation." These comments remind me that, often, the answers aren't hidden. They're just buried beneath our daily to-dos. One thing innovators do really well to avoid this pickle is structure their time to address the biggest things first. So while most people work on their todo list and take time for strategic planning when they can, innovators flip the script and schedule their strategic planning first, and then fit in their todos where they can. How can we implement this practice in our daily lives? ✅ Calendar Blocking: Carve out dedicated time blocks in your week to discuss the bigger questions. Protect this time fiercely. ✅ Top-Down Approach: Start your day or week with the big questions. Let the daily tasks fill in the gaps, not the other way around. ✅ Question Everything: Foster a culture where questioning the status quo is encouraged. Sometimes, the daily grind prevents us from seeing the bigger picture. By prioritizing the 'big things' first, not only do you give space to the conversations that truly matter, but you also pave the way for innovative solutions. After all, innovation isn't just about having great ideas; it's about creating the space for those ideas to emerge. 🌟 Here's to putting the big questions at the forefront and letting innovation thrive! #innovation #timemanagement #businessstrategy #priorities #leadership

Busyness doesn't equal productivity. Master the Eisenhower Matrix to achieve more and stress less. 🎯 By categorizing tasks into 4 quadrants: ➟ Important-Urgent (Do), ➟ Important-Not Urgent (Schedule), ➟ Not Important-Urgent (Delegate), ➟ and Not Important-Not Urgent (Delete) —it empowers you to focus on what truly matters. Let me break it down. — 1. Do: Urgent and Important Tasks with deadlines or consequences. Examples: • Responding to a client crisis. • Meeting a crucial project deadline. • Fixing a critical system error. Tips: • Do these first thing (eat the frog). • Prevent distractions (put your phone on Airplane Mode or Do Not Disturb). — 2. Schedule: Important but Not Urgent Tasks with unclear deadlines that contribute to long-term success. Examples: • Planning your business strategy. • Investing in personal development. • Building key relationships. Tips: • Time-block these in your calendar. • Only schedule it if it's truly important to you. Otherwise, say no. — 3. Delegate: Urgent but Not Important Tasks that must get done but don't require your specific skill set. Examples: • Answering most emails. • Handling routine administrative tasks. • Plowing the snow from your driveway. Tips: • Identify tasks others can do 80% as well as you. • Give clear instructions when delegating. • Follow up, but don't micromanage. — 4. Delete: Neither Urgent Nor Important Distractions and unnecessary tasks. Examples: • Attending meetings with no clear agenda. • Watching TV indiscriminately. • Engaging in office gossip. Tips: • Identify time-wasters in your day. Set limits. • Ask yourself if it adds value to your life. If not, cut it out. — The Eisenhower Matrix is a powerful tool for getting valuable stuff done. You'll separate the trivial many from the vital few. 📌 Want to receive a high-res PDF of this one-pager?    1. Follow Ben Meer  2. ♻️ Repost to help your network  3. Subscribe to my free newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ewnjDzas   Follow the steps above, and I'll send you this and 10+ of my best infographics for free.