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How does NASA organize a party? They planet. – If you’re keeping track, and hopefully you aren’t, that’s something like the 3rd horrible joke I’ve told on this podcast, and I can’t promise that there won’t be more. Shenanigans aside, today we’ll be talking about planning and prioritization. What are these skills? How do you use them? Are they really that important? All very good questions that we’ll cover on today’s episode. Stay tuned.
[intro music]
Listen, before you say anything, I know that joke was corny, but I am who I am. And who couldn’t resist a good dad joke? Anyway, whether you’re a new listener or a returning one, welcome. As I mentioned earlier, today’s episode will focus on planning and prioritization. In the last episode we discussed organization. If you haven’t checked out that episode already, go back and give it a listen. These two skillsets go hand and hand and I want you to have a good foundation before you go trying to build a FUNCTIONING house. Hmm, maybe not the best analogy but, we’ll roll with it.
So where do we start? How about with a couple of definitions? Both planning and prioritization have many different meanings, but for this episode, we’ll use the definitions that make the most sense to the topic at hand: executive function.
Plan is a verb and according to Dictionary.com it means “to arrange a method or scheme beforehand.” And prioritization? Well Merriam-Webster says prioritize means “to list or rate in order of priority.” Both are similar definitions and have one thing in common, organization. See, told you that last episode was useful, but who asked me?
Ope, there I go getting derailed again, sorry about that. Alright, I’ll just pick that train up and put it back on its tracks…
Organization aside, why would I choose to pair these two skills together? Well, that easy, they are so closely intertwined, that you can’t have one without the other. If you are unable to prioritize properly, chances are your planning fails quite often. If planning isn’t your strong suit, then it’s probable that you’ve got trouble prioritizing. I hope that makes sense. For some, I am certain that the circular logic I just presented is baffling. If you’re one of those folks, don’t worry, I’m going to provide a couple of examples.
Example 1
It’s party time! Your best friend is celebrating a huge milestone and you’re in charge of the party arrangements. You’ve managed to create a whole to-do list of things that need to be done. It’s now the day of the party and there are only three things left on the list: pick up your friend from the airport, pick up the ice cream cake from the baker, and call the caterer to get the food delivered. You can’t do all three things at once and each task comes with its own problems. The flight is delayed, the cake can’t survive more than 20 minutes in the car, and the caterer needs at least two hours’ notice to deliver the food. What do you do first? How do you manage everything?
Example 2
It’s presentation day. You’ve spent months preparing for this presentation and today’s the big day. You’re ready and it shows. You stand in front of the audience, and you rock that presentation. You’re feeling amazing, buzzing almost. You walk away feeling like you can conquer anything, including lunch. You make your way to some random lunch spot and get ready to order your food…except you don’t have your wallet. You search your pockets frantically and then reach for your bag. But your bag’s not there either. Your mind flashes to the bag hanging on the hook beside the front door, and your wallet? The last time you saw that, it was on your desk. You spent so much time planning for this presentation that you rushed out the door this morning leaving your wallet and bag behind. You’ve gone from the conqueror to the conquered and to add insult to injury, you’re starving. How did this happen?
Are these examples relatable? Even if they aren’t, my guess is that you chose to listen to this episode because you want to get better at these skills. Or maybe you just wanted to see if you were doing them “right?” Well, regardless of why you’re listening, I’ve got some tips and techniques that will help you build your prioritization and planning skills.
But before we jump into it, let’s take a moment to practice mindfulness exercise in a segment so aptly called mindful minute.
[Bell chime]
For today’s mindful minute, we’re going to practice a grounding technique that will help you stay in the present and hopefully help you relieve any of your current anxieties or stressors.
First, I want you to find a place where you can be comfortable and still. Your position isn’t important, just as long as you’re comfortable. Next, as always, we’ll start the exercise with two, 3-count breaths. You’ll breathe in for 3 counts, hold for 3 counts, and then release for 3 counts.
[calming music fade in]
Let’s begin. In…, hold…, release… Again. In…, hold…, release…
For this exercise we’re going to focus on our senses and our surroundings. I’m going to guide you through 5 prompts. You won’t need to write anything down or remember anything, you’ll just need to answer the prompts. You can do this out loud or in your head.
While in your comfortable space I want you to acknowledge 5 things you can see. If you are blind or visually impaired, I want you to acknowledge 5 things you can sense.
Now I want you to acknowledge 4 things you can touch.
Next, I want you to acknowledge 3 things you can hear. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you can acknowledge 3 things you can sense.
I’m sure you’ve caught on by now, but now, I’d like you to acknowledge 2 things you can smell
Finally, acknowledge 1 thing you can taste
To end this exercise, we’ll do two more 3-count breaths. Let’s begin. In…, hold…, release… Again. In…, hold…, release…
[music fade out followed by bell chime]
I hope that the previous exercise has calmed your thoughts, relaxed your body, and grounded you. While the information that
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I’m going to share isn’t stressful, it has the potential to overwhelm folks who are struggling with planning and prioritization. I believe in setting folks up for success, so I of course had to let you know before we got too far. With that being said, let’s dive in.
Prioritizing can be used for all types of planning, from creating a daily routine to organizing a wedding or vacation planning. One of the ways to get good practice with prioritizing is to use the skill when creating your daily to-do list. I hope you’ve been practicing your list making skills over the last two weeks. If you haven’t well, that’s ok, we’ll use this as a learning opportunity. Let’s create a daily to do list. If you’re listening first thing in the morning, make the list for today. If you’re listening later in the day, make the list for tomorrow. Remember this is the beginning stages of the list, so write down all the things you want to get done, need to get done, or would like to get done. Today. Go head and pause this episode if you need to, I’ll be right here waiting for you to come back.
Done? Wonderful. In that case….
The first technique I can offer you is one you can use to pair down your to-do list and because I believe in adapting, I’ll share two ways to do it. This method can either be called the 4 Ds or the Eisenhower matrix method. We’ll start off with the 4 D method. The Ds stand for Do, Defer, Delegate, and Delete.
Do, is for the things you need to do now, since this is a daily to-do list, that means things you need to get done today. …or well the day the list is made for.
Defer is for the things that can be done another day (I want you to be careful with this one, it’s not for things that can be done weeks from now. This category is for things that need to be done, they just don’t necessarily need to be done today)
Delegate is for the things that need to be done today, but that can be given to someone else to do.
And delete, delete is for the things that don’t fall in any of the other categories. To be clear, this doesn’t mean you’re not going to do the task at all. It just means it didn’t make it on today's to do list.
On a piece of paper, you’ll make four columns. Each column will be titled with one of the Ds. Once you’ve done that, you’ll grab your master list and drop each task into ONE of the specific columns. If this method seems cluttered or hard to process, then you can try the Eisenhower method.
For this method you’ll make a 2x2 matrix. On the vertical axis you’ll label the bottom quadrant as less important and the top quadrant as important. On the horizontal axis you’ll label left quadrant as urgent and the right quadrant as less urgent. Just like before, you’ll take your master list and drop each one of the tasks into one of the four quadrants. You can also label the squares with the do, defer, delegate, and delete labels. If this doesn’t make sense, don’t’ worry. I’ll include a link that will discuss this method more and provide you with an image.
Hopefully listening to What the EF has become a task on your weekly to-do list. If it has, and you’d like to stay up to date on new episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple podcasts or your favorite listening platform. While you’re there, please be sure to leave us a review. I’ve even made it easy for you by leaving a link in the show notes. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Some words are harder to decipher than others and I know that the concept of prioritizing can be difficult, so the second technique is similar to the first but with slightly different labels. This technique is called the Moscow method. No, this has nothing to do with Russia. Instead, it’s another acronym. It stands for must have, should have, could have, and won’t have. This technique is most often used in businesses and project management when deliverables are involved, but it can translate into every day life as well. Let me explain. “Must haves” are the things that you must do today. This category is for things that are due today, that can’t be done any other time or that are required to complete other/bigger tasks. “Should haves” are the things that should be done today. This category is for things that aren’t vital but can’t be put off for long. “Could haves” are the things that you could do today. These are the things that would be nice to do but that aren’t important or urgent. “Won’t haves,” well I feel like that is self-explanatory, those are the things you won’t do today. This category is reserved for items that have no hard deadline, that can be done at any time and that don’t hold up other tasks.
The benefit to this technique is that it gently leads you into creating a plan for completing the tasks. If you start with the “must haves” and work your way down, it is likely that by the end of the day you’ll have completed your most important and urgent tasks. But if you still need help finding ways to organize your day so that you are most productive AND you’re completing the tasks, don’t worry, I gotchu.
One of the most important aspects of planning is time management. With that being said, the biggest tip I can give you is to utilize the Pareto Principle. What is that you ask? Well, it’s a theory that states that 20% of your effort produces 80% of your results. What does that have to do with planning? Well, the best way to use this principle is to spend 20% of your time completing the task or tasks that give the biggest return. For example, spend the first few hours of your day doing the biggest task on your to-do list. While the principle initially states an 80/20 balance, those numbers aren’t set in stone. The point is that the majority of your productiveness will happen during a small amount of your time, so make that time count. There will be a link in the show notes that talks more in depth about this principle and other ways you can use it, so be sure to check that out.
We’ve reached my favorite part of every episode. There’s an app for that! Each and every episode I’ll give you an app recommendation that aligns with the content in the episode. I’m not sponsored by the apps and I don’t get any sort of commission if you download them. I’m just passing along information that you might find useful.
Today’s app is 4.Do. Let’s start with the basics. This app is marketed as an urgency matrix app, but it could easily be used for any of the prioritizing methods I’ve mentioned today. But more about that later. It’s free to download on Google Play and the Amazon App Market with the option to pay to remove ads. Sorry iOS folks, it isn’t available in the Apple App Store.
The app has a couple of built-in accessibility options. You can choose the size of the font found in the app and you can customize just how dark, you’d like dark mode to be. The app also seems to be compatible with screen readers and adaptive display options. So I’m assuming is also compatible with native settings.
Once you open the app for the first time, you’ll be given a brief tutorial of how to use the app. When finished with that, you’re met with your matrix. This matrix is completely customizable. You can change the headings of each quadrant so that you can use it for the Eisenhower method or the Moscow method even. You can also change the colors of each quadrant so that it makes sense to you. If you get lost or have a question about how the app works, in the setting menu there is even a link to more tutorials.
Some other useful features include the ability to set the task due datex, to receive push notifications or reminders for you to complete a task, back up of data to a cloud service, and the ability to share your tasks with others. This app doesn’t include a place to create your initial master to-do list, but it’s a great place to start prioritizing your tasks.
I know that I’ve just thrown what feels like a lot of information at you. Between definitions, and methods and matrixes you’re probably overwhelmed and that’s ok. I have no expectation that you instantly pick up on any of these skills. This is a judgement free zone where we leave expectations at the door and everyone is allowed to be open, honest, and kind to themselves. Give yourself the time and room to grow, I promise, it’ll be worth it.
[Outro music fade in]
If you found the content in today’s episode useful, please be sure to leave a review on your favorite podcast app or click on the link in the show notes. Need one-on-one help with executive function? Visit my website rarebearconsulting, that’s rarebearconsulting.com, to set up a consultation. If you missed that, that link will also be in the show notes. And finally, do know someone that could benefit from this episode? Share it with them! We here at What the EF, absolutely love word of mouth. Till next week guys, gals, and non-binary pals, continue learning to keep those gears turning.