The end of the year used to be a rather slack time at work. That changed about a dozen years ago, and ever since, December has been one of the most frantic times of the year. Add to that the holiday rush, and it all adds up to a lot of to-do’s that need prioritization.
Here’s an alternative that’s helpful when you have many other people depending directly on the completion of your to-do’s so that they can take action.
Instead of using the typical importance vs. urgency prioritization, create a grid that pairs urgency (how soon the to-do needs to get done) with the degree to which someone else is depending on the to-do as a next step for them (great dependency to little dependency). Now place each of your to-do items on this grid, thinking about near-term items that others are really depending on as a first priority.
Using this approach will give you a little different picture of your priorities, as you orient your to-do list to the importance of helping others first. And that’s what the holidays are all about!
