How to prioritize tasks at work: 4 steps that work

If you're like most people, you usually start your workday with the intention of being as productive as possible. Yet, as the day rolls on, you find yourself fielding multiple urgent requests and watching your task list grow. What you initially set out to accomplish seems to get pushed to the side.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Task prioritization, the process of ranking your to-do list by urgency, importance, and impact, helps you stop playing catch-up. With the right approach, you can reduce stress, meet deadlines, and focus on work that truly moves the needle.

There are four steps you can take to increase your productivity, meet your deadlines, and better manage your time:

• Create a task list

• Choose a prioritization method to organize your tasks

• Schedule your tasks in a calendar

• Communicate your progress to your teammates

Take a look at our tips below and use these steps to help you prioritize your daily tasks at work.

1. Create a task list

To create a task list, write down everything you need to accomplish across all your projects in one place. Break down bigger tasks into subtasks so they feel more manageable. Once you have a single view of your work, you can start making informed decisions about what to prioritize.

Once your tasks are listed, add key details to each one:

• Time estimate: How long will this task take to complete?

• Priority level: Is this task urgent, important, or both?

• Due date: When does this need to be finished?

With all of your tasks in one place, you'll be able to see an overall view of what needs to be done, get a sense of how much work you're dealing with for time management purposes, and what most likely needs your attention now.

Don't worry about organizing your tasks quite yet; just get them all in the same spot to start. Creating a master list of tasks is a crucial first step because if you can organize yourself at the beginning of a project or quarter, it is much easier to stay organized for a longer period of time.

Asana tip: My Tasks is a feature of Asana that automatically aggregates all the tasks assigned to you in a single view. Pairing that with a structured to-do list template can make it even easier to capture, organize, and prioritize tasks from the start. Teams managing multiple outputs may find an assignment tracker template in Asana even more useful, since it combines task lists with deadlines and ownership in one place.

2. Adopt a task prioritization method

How you prioritize your tasks depends on your job and personal work style. Here are six proven methods to help you decide what to tackle first.

Eat the frog

The eat the frog method is not a literal suggestion, but rather a system based on a quote from the ever-wise Mark Twain. He said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning." In the world of project management, that translates to tackling big or complex tasks first before moving on to less important or time-sensitive tasks.

Important tasks that serve the highest purpose and are tied to top-level objectives or OKRs should be first on the priority list when you start your day. Once you've eaten your frog for the day, you can slot in other tasks based on factors such as deadlines and feel less stress, since your most important work is already done.

Eat the frog example: Finish up that big presentation you'll be making to the management team at the end of the week before you reply to emails, work on your review form, call clients, or iron out contract revisions. By diving into a big project before doing anything else, you won't lose focus or get distracted by random tasks or questions, and you'll be able to knock a big piece of work out more easily.

Eisenhower Matrix

Another prioritization technique, the Eisenhower Decision Matrix or Urgent-Important Matrix, starts by organizing tasks into four quadrants, based on whether they are:

• Important

• Urgent

• Important and urgent

• Neither

As a five-star general during World War II and then President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower was adept at making important decisions quickly and came up with this method to help him.

This approach helps you decide:

• What to do now (important and urgent)

• What you need to plan for (important but not urgent)

• What you may be able to delegate (not important but urgent)

• What you can possibly delete (not important and not urgent)

It is a great tool for prioritizing tasks, making decisions quickly, and staying organized.

Eisenhower Matrix example: A colleague has just sent you an email asking for help with a sales presentation. This request is urgent because it has to be done today, but is it important enough (to you) to postpone other work?

Measure each of the tasks on your own daily list for importance and urgency to decide whether you can shift tasks to help your colleague, or if it needs to be deferred to later. Knowing your commitments also helps you say "no" when you need to.

ABCDE method

The ABCDE method is comparable to giving grades to your tasks, from A (very important) down to E (eliminate whenever possible).

To use the ABCDE method:

• Take that task list you've created

• Assign each task a letter value according to its level of importance, with A tasks being top priority and E tasks being low priority

• Tackle tasks accordingly

This method offers a way to quickly weigh task importance to help you identify your highest-priority tasks. Make sure you're always working on your A and B tasks first, because those are the ones that will make or break your success at work.

The ABCDE method also works well when combined with Eat the Frog. If you start your day off with your A and B tasks, then you can spend the rest of your day on tasks of lower importance, like C, D, and E.

ABCDE example: You have eight working hours available today, but fifteen hours'worth of tasks on your list. When you give each task a letter, only two qualify as A tasks, and most are D tasks that you can delegate or reschedule. Now you know to focus only on those A tasks, and leave the D tasks until later or pass off to another team member. You've just gone from being overwhelmed to having a prioritized task list that focuses on the must-do items of the day.

Most Important Task method

The Most Important Task (MIT) method focuses your day on one to three tasks that matter most. These aren't random to-do items; they're chosen specifically because they move you closer to your long-term goals. Complete your MITs first, and you'll make meaningful progress every day.

By including at least one MIT tied to your larger objectives, you guarantee daily progress toward what matters most. You'll likely complete other tasks too, but starting with your MITs ensures critical work never gets pushed aside.

Most Important Task example: Consider an architectural firm where the day's MIT is to finalize blueprint modifications for a client's project. Amid numerous important tasks, this particular MIT is chosen because it directly influences the project's timeline and client satisfaction. By setting this as the priority, the team ensures that, despite the whirlwind of daily activities and potential for procrastination, the most important task of refining the blueprints is completed by the end of the day.

Chunking

For the chunking method, a chunk is defined as a focused work activity. It can be self-contained (emptying your inbox), a slice of a larger project (completing the first draft of a document), or a collection of small, unrelated tasks. Your key here is to make these chunks focused, uninterrupted blocks of time.

Turn off outside distractions and signal to others that you are unavailable by:

• Taking advantage of features on collaboration tools like Do Not Disturb

• Using time blocking to reserve spots on your calendar for deep focus

• Implementing a No-Meeting Wednesday policy for yourself and your team if you're able to

Don't forget to take breaks in between chunks to relax and refresh.

Chunking in action: You might start your day with one hour of design work followed by a coffee break. Then, two hours of scheduled meetings, lunch, and 30 minutes of email response time. Next, you move on to one hour of research for a new project.

You note all of your activities in your calendar to hold yourself accountable and ensure no one schedules over your plan. You end your day by taking a short social media break, heading to the team update meeting, and then finishing with a final hour of design work.

Asana tip: If you're using Asana to manage your tasks, you can create custom fields to add additional information, such as a letter grade (if you're using the ABCDE method), urgency and importance (if you're using the Eisenhower Decision Matrix), priority level (if you're going to eat the frog), or estimates on how long it will take to complete.

Agile prioritization

Agile prioritization, also known as Scrum prioritization, is a flexible method that helps teams respond swiftly to changing demands. You categorize tasks by value, urgency, and project goals. It's particularly effective for managing dependencies, tasks that are interconnected and need to be completed in sequence.

Agile prioritization evaluates each item on your to-do list based on three criteria:

• How critical is this task?

• What is its relative importance to the other tasks on this list?

• Is any other task dependent on this one?

Then, using the answers to those questions, you assign each task a number from one to n (where n represents the total number of tasks on your list).

Agile prioritization example: A software team designing an app decides that the user authentication system is critical because it affects various other systems, such as profile customization and encrypted transactions. Prioritizing this system enables them to develop these interdependent features simultaneously. This strategic focus not only speeds up development but also ensures seamless integration of product-critical features.

3. Use project management software to schedule your tasks

When you're overburdened with tasks, project management software can streamline your day. These tools help you track urgent work, mark key milestones, and delegate tasks to others. The result: a workload that's easier to handle and deadlines you can actually meet.

Project management software with calendar integration is particularly helpful. You get a quick overview of all your projects, making it easy to spot busy periods and find open time for additional work. Tools like Asana display this clearly so high-value tasks don't slip through the cracks.

Using a project management tool enables you to:

• Balance high-value and high-priority tasks

• Make sure you meet deadlines

• Prevent scheduling conflicts

• Manage your workload

• Preserve work-life balance

If you're adopting one of the prioritization methods above, or a combination of your favorites, use that approach to help fill your schedule and manage time.

Asana tip: Using the Calendar View in Asana, you'll be able to spot days when you might be overloaded and also see open blocks of time. Take advantage of this view to shift tasks and spread your work out more evenly. When you plan your calendar ahead of time, you make certain important tasks receive immediate attention.

4. Communicate task progress with your teammates

Finally, don't forget to loop in teammates who may be waiting on you to complete a task or vying for some of your time.

Cut down on the number of requests you receive by giving teammates status updates on:

• Task progress

• When you plan to complete a project

• Any delays or blockers that come up

Instead of constantly responding to requests, you can keep doing your work productively and efficiently.

Asana tip: Asana's task comments feature lets you share updates and ask follow-up questions directly on a task to keep communication connected with the actual work you're doing. Or, you can use status updates within a project to notify every stakeholder of your progress on a specific project, not just a task.

Prioritized work is productive work

When you clearly prioritize your work, you can increase productivity, better manage your time, and feel confident that you'll hit your deadlines every time. By creating a comprehensive task list, choosing a prioritization method that fits your work style, scheduling tasks strategically, and keeping your team informed, you set yourself up for success.

Ready to put these strategies into action? Get started with Asana to organize your tasks, track priorities, and collaborate with your team in one place.

Frequently asked questions about task prioritization