Most of us have finished their day with a feeling that we have worked a lot, but when we take account of the things at the end of the day, we realize that we missed out on essential things to complete things which were not that critical. In today’s fast-paced world, most of us have the hustle mentality to get maximum things done at a given point of time. However, in doing so many, we tend to skip those things which require our utmost attention. The problem that many of us face is that we fail to prioritize our task. Prioritizing the tasks is half the battle won in being productive.

‘What’s in short supply is human attention… Understanding and managing attention is now the single most important determinant of business success – Thomas Davenport and John C. Beck’

In today’s environment, the key to actual productivity is not to get more things done, but to get the right and important things done with the highest quality, you can achieve. It is not about doing more with less, but doing more about less. Along with Time management, Attention management has come to place to have maximum productivity. Attention Management is the practice wherein one is aware of the distractions around and work towards keeping our attention focused and intentional to ensure we feel accomplished at the end of the day. Prioritization plays a crucial role in attention management.

The first step in prioritization is that one has to realize that you can never get ahead by just finishing the frivolous things. On the contrary, one should give ample amount of time on the tasks that have to be accomplished and decide amongst all the task ahead what is the most important one to achieve. Once the chronology is determined, one should schedule their days in such a way that the tasks have your undivided attention and energy.

To prioritize the tasks, one should maintain a Master Task List. Master Task List is a tracking system which will help you to know the essential things you need to thinks about are there in the list. The basic rule for using the Master Task list is that when something comes up that you need to do, you bifurcate them between relevant and non-relevant task. This exercise filters out the unimportant things leaving only those tasks which need to be prioritized. However, at the same time keep revisiting the Task list as there may be tasks which seemed to be important when the list was made but at present the task is irrelevant.

When you have all your tasks documented, plan the way to execute it. Devote at least ten minutes daily and thirty minutes weekly to plan how to accomplish the tasks in hand. Planning helps in achieving a favorable result while executing it as the success rate goes up considerably if the planning is done rightly.

Prioritizing gives a structure to the work you are doing, both in professional and personal life. Focussing your attention on the right things channelize your energy and helps you become more productive than concentrating your energy on things deemed to be right.