In every office, there are many tasks to accomplish in one day. If your desk is anything like mine, there are piles of paper with a mental label 'urgent', 'a little less urgent', and 'for when I've got a spare moment'. This is a standard, everyday thing. Then there are the demands that arise throughout the day, threatening to assign all your current piles to the 'put off for yet another day' heap with a resigned sigh.
Life is full of demands, and our working life seems to abound with them. We each have our own duties to tend to – the regular work – even allowing for interruptions we know these are bound to crop up. How does one cope with endless tasks that choose to make our desk their home? Some simple workload management steps can make all the difference in how you feel at the end of the day.
Firstly, prioritize the workload. Isolating what is urgent and which tasks can wait is an essential step. Take whatever time it needs to sort tasks into an order of treatment. This brings an overall feel for the actual quantity of work and will help focus attention on those areas where it's needed.
Next, compile a list of tasks for the day, in order of urgency. This is commonly referred to as a "to-do list". In this way, each day begins with a clean slate and a series of achievable goals. While it is good to be aware of the total workload if our focus is solely on the broad picture we begin to feel like we're not achieving anything. By breaking it down into daily bites we accomplish more and maintain a healthier mindset.