Setting Priorities: Clearing Your Plate
for a Stress-Free Weekend
Once again it’s Thursday, and those “To Do” items – Priorities, Critical Tasks, lists you created on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday – have all accumulated on Thursday, and your “Plate is Full.” Just like when we were children, and our parents said we could not leave the table without “Clearing Your Plate,” you feel the same way at work.
If you want to clear your plate, three tasks must occur: Visualize, Categorize, and Strategize. We can do anything, but we can’t do everything.
Visualize. Think of your plate as a meal, literally. What is on your plate, what do you want to eat now, and what is it that can be moved off? This is where categorization comes in.
Categorize. Categorize the tasks on your plate just like the courses of a meal when you attend an exclusive gathering or sophisticated restaurant.
- Appetizers: Tasks that will only take you 1-2 hours at best to complete, but must be completed today. Remember, appetizers fill you up so do not pick too many.
- 1st and 2nd Courses: Divide these projects into short term and long term. None are critical to complete this week, but must be completed eventually.
- Main Course: These are the critical tasks that must be completed this week in preparation for next week, possibly to revisit something from the 1st or 2nd courses.
- Dessert: This is almost Busy Work: Fun things to do, provide little value for you, and hard to work-off. There is a time and place, but not Thursday.
Now that you have categorized your meal, what can you do with all that food (those tasks) you have allowed to pile up? Here is where the strategy comes in.
Strategize. Now look at your plate in three more categories to share, store, and save.
- Share. Delegate tasks that are better suited for others to accomplish.
- Store. These are the leftovers or short term tasks you need to prioritize for next week.
- Save. These are freezer or long term tasks you need others to help consume.
I experienced the meal ‘courses’ protocol in a diplomatic assignment when attending an event. It seems like a great deal of food, and it is if you allow it to pile up. Clearing your plate is a daily task to avoid the Thursday indigestion, and helps create a less stressful work week and weekend. Enjoy!
What methods do you typically use to avoid a pile-up of work at the end of the week? Let us know below!
Full Course: Aligning Expectations: Effective Project Planning and Estimating (1 day)
Forward Momentum Seminar: Project Recovery: Digging Yourself Out (2 hours)
for a Stress-Free Weekend
