Priority vs. Urgency vs. Impact
I usually order and structure my task with a simple to-do lists. I always try to keep it simple and just use a list like in Microsoft OneNote. By the way, OneNote is a really good tool for capturing all your thoughts, meeting minutes etc.
When it comes to working on my tasks, I usually check how urgent a task is and if it has a high priority. I guess you all know the Eisenhower matrix:
You can also check out a video, explaining the matrix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT89OZ7TNwc
But as Eisenhower says:
“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
― Dwight Eisenhower
In general I would say, that this kind of prioritization works quite well. But still I have very often the feeling, that this is not the right approach for me. A lot of tasks are important and a lot of tasks are urgent. What I realized is, that some tasks, or their outcomes, have a big impact in my life, if I accomplish them. And more than often, those tasks are not urgent and not very important.
I’ll give you an example.
You work in your daily job but have the ambition to make your side hustle your full time job. I know quite a lot of people in this situation. But obviously they are somehow in their comfort zone. So they have no real urgency to chase their side hustle more intensively. Same for the priority. So you see, although it would have a major impact in their lives, and they actually somehow want to do that (otherwise they wouldn’t have started their side hustle), they are not pursuing it if they simply use the Eisenhower matrix.
That’s why I added another dimension into my to-do list: Impact!
