Goals – the most important part of task management

How to handle multiple tasks? Set your goals clearly and say no to every task that doesn’t move you forward to your aim. You should only start working with your task lists when you can see where it will bring you. To do it efficiently, you surely need to first know where you want to go. After your goals are set, you can think of how better organize your tasks. Yet when putting every of the tips below into life, keep your goals in mind in the first place.

1. Get rid of what you don’t need

Make room for the activity that will move you forward towards your goals. Clear your table, your drawer, your inbox and your desktop. Leave only things that you need now and archive all the rest. This will help you focus on today, not living in the future (someday I will probably read this leaflet, so let it stay on my table) or in the past (if you keep folders upon completed projects near, find a better place to them or just get rid of them).

2. Set priorities and deadlines

If your goals are too big and you can’t achieve them for a long period of time, this can harm your belief in yourself. So set time for each of the task and part of your project to be accomplished at. Each time you finish some amount of work, you will be able to see that your efforts have brought result – and this is the purpose: to give you more self-confidence.

3. Have a plan

Poor or non-existing planning is a sure recipe for delays and missed deadlines. “Much noise about nothing” occurs when your planning is not strong enough. After your goals are clear, plan the steps you need to do to achieve them. Be true to yourself and don’t add fairies and ponies to your plan: be direct, keep to the subject, use simple math. And then – stick to your plan and don’t find any excuse. If you planned to finish this task on Tuesday, 14 pm – do it. Be yourself your own boss in this matter.

4. Plan to have rest

Seeing your goals achieved is fun. It brings you to the state when you always know what to do next. You start working more but feel less tired somehow because your work brings you positive emotions. Now stop. Plan your rest the same way you plan your work, and then execute the plan. If you’re only working, this will sooner or later exhaust your emotional and creative flow. Don’t let this happen if you want to stay productive.

5. Use task management software

Even some time ago I knew nothing better to put my tasks on than a sheet of paper. Yet you can leave your notes somewhere, forget to take them on you and become unable to understand what to start with without your notes. There are plenty of cloud solutions for task management that give you access to your task list wherever you are. And what’s also good about this software is that you can share your task lists and your progress with others – your team and your supervisors, which helps to set priorities and track your performance.

6. Delegate

If you want to be even more productive and achieve bigger goals, one day you’re going to need a team to delegate a huge part of the tasks. It’s not because you can not do it all yourself – of course you can, you’re qualified enough. But there is a limit to a personal effort. If you want to make more, invite others to work with you. When doing this, make sure, that even if you’re doing the same, you’re getting more results.