Prioritise your workload

After completing your brain dump, the next step is to create order from the chaos by prioritising what you’ve captured. This chapter focuses on establishing a clear hierarchy for your work, helping you identify what matters most and where to focus your energy.

Most organisations and teams have goals, but very few take the time to rank these goals and their associated key results. Without a clear hierarchy, everything can feel equally important, leading to inefficiency and stress.

By following the steps in this chapter, you’ll prioritise your objectives, projects, and roles, ensuring your time is allocated effectively. This process forces tough but necessary decisions that bring clarity and allow you to work on the right things, not just the urgent ones.

Step 1: Prioritise your objectives and key results

Start by ranking your objectives and key results (OKRs). Objectives define your highest-level goals, and key results measure progress toward achieving them. Ranking these creates a foundation for prioritising everything else.

Most companies fail to prioritise their OKRs clearly, leaving teams confused about where to focus. By using the Brain dump template from the previous chapter, you can rank your objectives in column C and your key results in column E. This ranking will guide your decision-making for all subsequent steps.

Action steps

• Review your objectives and key results from the brain dump.
• Rank your objectives in column C of the template based on importance, #1 being the most important and work your way down.
• Rank your key results for each objective in column E, focusing on impact.

Prompts

• Which objectives have the most significant impact on your long-term goals?
• If you could only achieve one objective this quarter, which would it be?
• Which key results will drive measurable progress?

Example

Objective #1: Build an engaged audience

1. Build the Working Smarter newsletter.
2. Build the B2B newsletter.
3. Build the E-commerce newsletter.
4. Achieve exceptional email engagement (open rate 50% and CTR 5%).
5. Grow email subscribers to 2,000.
6. Reach 20,000 organic sessions.

Objective #2: Scale outstanding courses

1. Launch the Master Your Workweek course.
2. Launch the B2B Growth Blueprint course.
3. Launch the B2B Growth Engine course.
4. Launch the E-commerce Blueprint course.
5. Launch the E-commerce Growth Engine course.
6. Achieve an average course rating of 8/10 or higher.
7. Convert 10% of pre-module users to paid users.
8. Get 1,000 free course subscribers.

Step 2: Rank your projects based on priority

Once your objectives and key results are ranked, move on to your projects. For each key result, identify and rank the associated projects in order of importance. Focus on impact rather than urgency—prioritise projects that directly contribute to achieving your key results.

Action steps

• Review the projects linked to each key result in your Brain dump template.
• Rank projects within each key result, starting with the most impactful as #1 and work your way down.
• Use the priority rankings in your template to organise the list further.

Prompts

• Which projects are critical to achieving your key results?
• Are there projects that create disproportionate results compared to their effort?
• Which projects can be paused or delegated?

Step 3: Prioritise your roles

Your roles represent the various hats you wear in your professional and personal life. Prioritising these roles ensures that your energy is allocated to areas where you provide the most value.

Action steps

• List all the roles you currently fulfil (e.g., SEO specialist, content marketer).
• Rank these roles based on their importance and impact on your objectives, #1 being the most important and work your way down.
• Identify any roles that could be reduced, delegated, or eliminated.

Prompts

• Which roles align most closely with your OKRs?
• Where do you provide the greatest impact or value?
• Are there roles you’ve outgrown or can delegate?

Step 4: Rank responsibilities within each role

Once your roles are prioritised, take a closer look at the responsibilities associated with each role. Ranking these responsibilities will help you focus on the most important tasks within each role.

Action steps

• For each role, list all associated responsibilities.
• Rank these responsibilities in order of importance, starting with those directly contributing to your objectives or key results. #1 being the most important and work your way down.
• Note any responsibilities that can be streamlined, delegated, or removed.

Prompts

• Which responsibilities directly impact your OKRs or projects?
• Are there recurring tasks that provide little value or can be automated?
• Which responsibilities would have the most negative impact if neglected?

Step 5: Identify standalone projects and tasks

Standalone projects and tasks are actions that don’t link directly to your OKRs or roles but still require attention. Prioritising these ensures nothing critical falls through the cracks while allowing you to address quick wins efficiently.

Action steps

• Review the list of standalone projects and tasks from your brain dump.
• Rank these based on importance and alignment with your overall goals, #1 being the most important and work your way down.
• Identify any low-priority items that can be deferred, delegated, or eliminated.

Prompts

• Are there quick tasks or projects that can create significant results?
• Are there standalone items that don’t contribute to your OKRs or roles?
• Which tasks could be tackled in a focused time block to reduce clutter

Prioritisation is not just about organising your workload—it’s about creating clarity and intentionality in how you approach your work and life. By systematically ranking your objectives, key results, projects, roles, and standalone tasks, you gain a clear roadmap for where to direct your time and energy.

This process isn’t always easy; it requires making tough decisions and letting go of tasks that don’t align with your core goals. But the payoff is transformative: you’ll work smarter, reduce stress, and achieve meaningful progress on the things that truly matter.

Now that you’ve established a hierarchy for your priorities, the foundation is set for the next step: crafting a task management system that keeps you focused and on track. With your priorities as a compass, you’re ready to build systems that turn clarity into consistent, impactful action.

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Understanding prioritisation is crucial to achieving clarity and focus in your work. While tasks can often feel equally pressing, not all contribute equally to your goals. Prioritisation methods help you distinguish what truly matters and guide your attention to what will create the most significant impact. Different frameworks cater to varying needs, from urgency and importance to measurable outcomes. Below, we explore several effective prioritisation methods and approaches, linking to in-depth articles for a deeper dive.

Prioritisation methods

The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple yet powerful tool for organising tasks by urgency and importance. It divides tasks into four quadrants: do immediately, schedule for later, delegate, or eliminate. This method forces you to evaluate the true necessity of each task, ensuring you focus on high-impact work while avoiding time-wasters.

The MoSCoW Method is a prioritisation framework widely used in project management. It categorises tasks or features into Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, and Won’t-haves. This approach helps teams or individuals allocate resources efficiently, focusing on what is non-negotiable while still accounting for flexibility.

RICE Scoring is a quantitative method for ranking tasks or projects based on Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. This data-driven approach is particularly effective for decision-making in environments where measurable outcomes are critical. By assigning scores to each criterion, RICE Scoring enables you to prioritise tasks that yield the highest return on investment.

Different ways to prioritise your tasks

Prioritise based on energy

Prioritising by energy involves aligning your workload with your natural energy patterns. For instance, reserve tasks requiring deep focus, such as strategic planning or creative work, for periods when your energy is highest. Less demanding activities, such as responding to emails, can be tackled during lower-energy times. This approach ensures you maximise your productivity while avoiding burnout.

Prioritise based on importance

Prioritising by importance focuses on tasks that align with long-term objectives. Instead of getting caught up in day-to-day demands, evaluate which tasks contribute most directly to your overarching goals. This approach often involves reviewing your OKRs or key priorities and ensuring the bulk of your effort is spent on what truly moves the needle.

Prioritise based on urgency

Prioritising by urgency addresses immediate deadlines and pressing issues. While not all urgent tasks are important, addressing them prevents delays or crises. This approach is particularly useful for managing reactive work but should be balanced with strategies that focus on long-term goals to avoid becoming overwhelmed by constant firefighting.

These prioritisation strategies provide a framework for evaluating tasks effectively. Each method has its strengths and is suited to specific scenarios. By adopting the right approach for your context, you can ensure your time and energy are directed towards what truly matters.

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