If you struggle to use planners and calendars, try keeping track of your tasks by when and where you’ll complete them.  In this article, Dr. Davenport outlines a simplified way to prioritize by context.

Download and Print the Prioritizing by Context Worksheet 

This worksheet is designed for adults who have different types of tasks to complete. For example, an adult might have three context worksheets:

• Home – tasks you need to do at home or for your family.

• Work – reports, projects, and other tasks you need to complete during the time you have set aside at the office.

• Errands – things you need to remember to do when running errands.

You can have as many lists as you wish. The key is to schedule specific times during the week to complete these tasks.

Schedule Enough Time to Complete Tasks

When you prioritize by context, you need to schedule enough time to complete the tasks on your lists.

You will want to schedule specific blocks of time to complete the tasks on your context sheets.  It is important to have both a beginning and an ending time for completing these tasks. For example, I have scheduled time early each morning to work on the reports and other tasks on my “Work” list. 

It is important to set aside enough time in your schedule to complete the tasks on each of your lists.   If necessary, you are encouraged to use a block schedule to establish when you will complete the tasks on your lists.

Just Do It!

After you have set up your context priority lists, you have to use them! Here’s how:

• When you are assigned a new task or when you think of a task you need to do, you add it to the priority list for the type of task.

• Write today’s date and the due date for the task.  The latter date helps you to prioritize items on each action list.

• When it is time to complete the tasks on a specific list, prioritize based on the date actions are due.

• Once you have completed a task, you can cross it off the list and move on to the next item!

Add Time as Needed

If you don’t have enough time to get the items on one of your lists completed by their due dates, you need to add more time for that type of task to your schedule.

Celebrate!

If this method of prioritizing works for you, celebrate.  If not, figure out why it’s not working and make adjustments to make it work for you.

Consider an Electronic Tool

If this method works for you, and you want to be able to access your lists electronically, consider using Nozbe, an application that allows you to prioritize by context and can be synced across devices (phone, tablet, computer) and platforms (iOS, Android, and windows).

Need Help Applying This Concept?

If you need help keeping track of and prioritizing your tasks, contact us to make an appointment. 

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© 2010-2019, Monte W. Davenport, Ph.D.