Prioritizing involves figuring out what tasks are most important to complete.  Because some of us tend to pay attention to everything, we struggle to figure out what to pay attention to and we have trouble prioritizing. It often seems that everything is important all at once (and, sometimes it seems nothing is important).  As a result, students struggle to figure out what to study for tests and adults have trouble recognizing which tasks need to be completed first.

Identifying priorities is important because there are not enough hours in the day to do everything we want to do.  Without setting our priorities, many of us respond to whatever comes up at any moment.  We shift our attention to whatever is most pressing or exciting at the moment.  To actively suppress that urge, you need to identify and commit yourself to certain priority items.

I have found two ways to help students and adults who hate to schedule their time but need to prioritize their most important tasks daily.

Priority Planner

Based on the system originally developed by President Dwight Eisenhower and made famous by Stephen Covey, Ph.D., my “Priority Planner” is a simplified version of their Priority Matrix that works well for adults and students of all ages.

Prioritize by Context

The priority matrix does not work for everyone!  If you are one of those people, that’s OK…there are other options. When you prioritize by context, you figure out where you will complete specific tasks and then you prioritize based on the due date.  On your block schedule, you should include time to complete your priority items on your action lists.

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(c) 2010-2019, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.