Prioritisation

Email celebrates its 50th birthday this year and has been ubiquitous in the office for a couple of decades. Yet it is hard to think of a workplace practice that causes more aggravation.

In the quest to be more productive, we’re continually flooded with advice and techniques for how to do more in less time. But perhaps we’re looking at productivity all wrong.

These days, almost all of us feel pressed for time. Leadership expert Dorie Clark shares three hidden reasons people fall into an endless loop of feeling constantly busy, and invites you to question what really motivates how you spend your time.

You may need to hear this (if you haven't already): your job is not your family. While you can develop meaningful relationships with your colleagues, calling work your family can actually breed burnout and be detrimental to your mental and emotional health.

The Eisenhower Matrix, also referred to as Urgent-Important Matrix, helps you decide on and prioritise tasks by urgency and importance, sorting out less urgent and important tasks which you should either delegate or not do at all.

This article argues the case that not only does multi-tasking decrease your productivity but it also has a negative impact on your mental health, and can even affect your IQ.

Watch Oliver Burkeman suggest a solution for those who feel there's no longer a ceiling on how much you can theoretically get done and so constantly feel overwhelmed.

Read article from Tim Harford's who says 'There have never been so many ways to get things done – or so many distractions. This is the ultimate guide to mastering the technology that rules our lives'

Practice saying no by real-playing with your peer group or mentor. Use specific examples to practice what language, tone, body language and strategies you will use to say 'no' in the way you want to.

Define your Framework Questions that will help you when you are asked to do something you'd like to say 'no' to, but feel pressured to say 'yes' (Handout 6). Use them next time you're asked.