⏱️ Setting Priorities: Choosing What Really Matters
With too many tasks and not enough time, it's easy to get caught reacting instead of planning. Setting the right priorities helps you stay focused on what truly moves you—and your team—forward. This article breaks down practical tools like the Eisenhower Matrix and Pareto Principle, offers real-world examples, and explores how to manage your time, your boss, and even your personal life more effectively.
🎯 Defining Your Job Purpose
Start by writing a one-sentence purpose for your job. What are you really there to do? A clear purpose helps you decide whether a task is helping you move toward your goals—or just keeping you busy.
📊 The Priority Grid (aka Eisenhower Matrix)
- Important + Urgent: Do now (e.g., board meeting prep)
- Important + Not Urgent: Plan for it (e.g., staff development)
- Not Important + Urgent: Delegate or do quickly (e.g., expense forms)
- Not Important + Not Urgent: Eliminate or delay (e.g., coffee break)
Inspired by Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and Dwight Eisenhower’s productivity method, this model helps visualize what to act on now and what to schedule—or skip.
🧠 Apply the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)
Roughly 80% of meaningful results come from 20% of your efforts. Identify the high-impact tasks and prioritize those first. Don’t let the rest of your to-do list eat your day. Originally observed by Vilfredo Pareto, this principle is widely applied in business, sales, and productivity strategies today.
📌 Daily Prioritization Checklist
- Does this task move me closer to my job purpose?
- Does it support my goals for the week/month/year?
- Does it need to happen now?
🤝 Managing Your Manager
If you're not sure what your priorities are, ask. Aligning with your manager ensures you’re on the right track. Sample questions to ask:
- What are my top 3 priorities right now?
- How will we measure progress?
- What support or resources can I count on?
Need more structure? Try our How Do You Value Other People’s Time? self-assessment to better understand time-conscious behavior at work.
🏡 Bringing Prioritization into Your Personal Life
Work isn’t the only place where priorities matter. List personal goals you’ve been putting off—learning a new skill, quality time with family, writing that book—and start treating them like the important (but not urgent) work they are.
✅ Tips to Stay Focused
- Write and share your job purpose with your manager.
- Make short, medium, and long-term to-do lists.
- Use deadlines to push forward important but non-urgent tasks.
- Cut or batch the low-value work that clogs your day.
Explore our Time Management training material package to get editable content, smart frameworks, and group exercises for better work-life balance.
👤 About the Author
This article was written by Frank Atkinson, a time management consultant with over 20 years of experience helping professionals prioritize more effectively. Reviewed and published by TrainingCourseMaterial.com, a trusted source of ready-to-use training resources for facilitators, team leads, and learning professionals.
Last reviewed: August 2025
