When you’re running a business, you need to prioritize certain things. After all, some aspects of your business just need to be dealt with faster while others can wait. Some business owners find this task more difficult than it should be. There are several reasons by you might be failing at prioritizing your tasks, but it’s an important part of your business. Here are some mistakes that you should avoid. Become organized and increase your productivity through prioritizing.
1. Not Dedicating Enough Time to Planning
The first thing you need to do is plan. Unfortunately, very few people realize this and just can’t prioritize easily. You need to figure out just what you have to deal with before you can decide what’s more important. You should take some time away from your busy schedule to sit down, take a deep, thorough look at your schedule and upcoming tasks.
Once you’ve done that, you should make a list of the tasks that need to be handled as soon as possible. Then create a list of tasks that can wait. With the right planning, you’ll know just what’s ahead of you.
2. Not Considering the Entire Picture
It’s very easy to lose sight of what’s really important if you’re focused on the small details. For example, you move a project to the following week when you see that the deadline of a project is far off, only to realize that the deadline clashes with projects already scheduled for the following week. Such problems can damage your productivity. You should always take the time to pull back and consider the larger picture. Sometimes, instead of prioritizing, you might end up messing things up.
3. Getting Distracted
If you have 5 to 10 things on your list that are urgent, you need to focus on them. Getting distracted by emails, phone calls, and other such problems can only harm your productivity. There’s no use planning or prioritizing if you can’t really stick to the schedule and get things done. Try to keep all distractions at bay and you’ll be able to avoid problems with productivity.
4. Failing to Distribute Responsibilities
This is a bane of most small business owners. Most are possessive of work and think only they can do it properly. You need to trust your staff to handle problems and projects without your help and contributions. There’s a reason why you hired them. If you delegate tasks to your team, you’ll be able to focus on tasks that you need to get done. You won’t spend time trying to do everyone’s job for them. As a business owner, you shouldn’t shoulder all the responsibilities. That would only hamper the productivity of your company.
5. Giving Up
Unfortunately, some business owners find prioritizing too troublesome and just give up. They decide that they’ll simply go with the flow and that can lead to disorganization. Don’t give up on prioritizing, even if you fail to stick to the schedule. Eventually, you’ll learn and you business would benefit from it.
