Dear Yogesh, 

I am a Business Development executive at an IT company and have a team of fifteen people working with me. As I progressed with my work, I realized I do more in a day than I can actually accomplish. Every day, I manage to complete the ten tasks that I’ve put on my to-do list, but when I check back, there are twenty more pending. Awaiting my attention. How do you think I should manage these never-ending lists of tasks? Any suggestion is welcome. 

Regards,

Namrata

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Dear Namrata,

You are not alone in this. With the breakneck speed of work, the commitments on our to-do lists tend to multiply in double digits. I can totally relate to this, and I’m pretty sure a lot of readers can also empathize with your situation. 

There are certain practices and activities you can perform that will help you manage your to-do list better. I would suggest that you start holding a meeting with yourself. This might sound a little unfamiliar and weird at first but stay with me as I tell you the whole procedure. It is a non-negotiable meeting you have with yourself in which you re-sync, walkthrough, and align yourself with daily work and projects with your higher-level priorities.

Block your calendar once every week and check whether the tasks that you have on your to-do and project lists are still relevant or not. Find out the things that take up most of your time and if they can be prioritized in a different way or not. This practice will help you align yourself with your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks. 

Another important thing I must mention is that you need to ‘Speak Up’. We are not always in charge of what we get to work on, but it is important to speak up and say no whenever required. You may think turning down a request for work will make you a bad person, but not delivering on the deadline will do more damage than being upfront ever could. 

If you write a task on your to-do list, it becomes an obligation for you to do it as it is more like a promise that you make to yourself and the other person. That impossible-to-compete task will keep nagging you till the time it is done. And, it will be like a mental and emotional burden to your shoulders. The person who asked you to do the task will be let down, and this will further escalate stress. 

Start making a mental journal. Note that whatever you say yes to has to compensate for a task you will not be doing. What is more honest is being upfront here and saying no to the tasks you think you’ll not be able to finish in time. 

Another important detail that I’d like to mention about prioritizing and managing is to involve others in prioritizing your to-do list. Review your projects and see if you can clear up some space to focus on other things. This practice is best done by involving others who are ready to delegate more work for you. The pressure of too much work and too little time is with everyone in the corporate sector. 

As you are the manager of your to-do list, you need to prioritize the things that you think should be delivered first and the things that you think can be delayed for later. Keeping it manageable and focused often comes down to speaking up. 

I hope this advice will help you manage your time and tasks better and keep you more focused. 

Regards,

Yogesh Sood

The above is an adaptation of a blog written by Brittney Maxfield on NOVEMBER 3, 2021:

https://cruciallearning.com/blog/speak-up-to-keep-up-one-trick-to-manage-to-dos/