How to Prioritize Your To-Do List

[@TanyaDalton]

How will you work towards your goals today? Comment and share with me just one (or more!) ways you'll prioritize your dreams.

[@dixeyjohn]

Awesome video. I am always overwhelmed with my long todo list and never work toward my dreams. This will help me accomplish them. Thank you so much!!

[@angieschouest3414]

The idea you provided about dedicating 10 minutes of the morning to planning the day has been instrumental in finding time to work on my new business. Creating this business is a new goal of mine and your guidance of taking it one small intentional and organized step at a time has made this large dream become a reality. I have used this method in other areas of my life and just yesterday I accomplished my goal of hitting a certain distance in my running. Thank you Tonya for helping guide so many of us to small and large successes!

[@TanyaDalton]

I am happy to hear that! To me, that 10 minutes really centers me and helps me feel more ownership over my day, so I'm glad you feel the same. It sounds like you are doing a great job with your goals Angie!!

[@hillaryfarley4186]

One of my goals for this year is to rediscover my joy but as this is a little obscure, I've recently realized that I'm not prioritizing things that bring me joy. Things like reading from authors who compel me or taking my kids hiking or even journaling gratitude become after thoughts. I put those things on the "if I have time" list, which is funny because not only do I get more annoyed because I'm too busy to do things I love but also because I'm not actively working towards my goal. I'm getting better, but I appreciate you re-explaining your priority lists!

[@TanyaDalton]

I think it's so important to prioritize those things that bring us joy. Too often, we undervalue those little pieces of happiness... I love that you are really working to incorporate those into your day. Happiness is so important - it's not something we should work to squeeze into our day but we should make time for it (and not feel guilty doing it). I'm happy this video has helped you Hillary!

[@deborahmeyers7839]

Awsome video I do a to do list a small list and then I put them in my planner and it does get done for me I just do it on the day I'm assigned it to my planner diary thank you so much for sharing.

[@darealiyu5712]

Thanks for putting out this video, very helpful

[@tmw7550]

LOVED this description the best on the difference between importance and urgency you described it so well! Thankyou!

[@TanyaDalton]

I'm so glad that you found that so helpful! I find that understanding the difference between urgent and important makes it so much easier when trying to prioritize!

[@tmw7550]

Thankyou!!! Yes it really does make it easier to apologise, and it has helped so much! x

[@emlymom]

I love to knit and work with wool, my goal is to become accomplished as a spinner. It is so easy to say I want to do X amount of work on this each day, but it keeps getting shoved aside. I've found that if I break things down into even smaller bites (get the supplies I need one day, plan the project the next, wash the wool, prepare the wool, spin 1 ounce...) I am so much more likely to accomplish them. I have heard you explain priority lists before, but something about this time made it very clear to me. I can see that my wool work is definitely an immediate task, and it will be the first thing I do (once I'm home from work), plus by making it happen in very small baby steps, I'm not worried about losing a large chunk of time for other things. I figure if I get my hands in the wool process one way or another every day it's a win :)

[@TanyaDalton]

I'm so happy this video helped clarify that idea... sometimes it's a bit easier to explain things in video form, so I'm thrilled this helped! And yes, I love that you are going to make your wool work a priority! I totally agree... if you get your hands in the wool process in some way every day, that's a BIG win!!

[@Galmatic]

Great video Tonya. As a working Mamma it's so easy to fill up that insignificant section! I use that section as a list of things to do in my 10 min break from tasks in my immediate section. 😊

[@TanyaDalton]

That's a great idea! I love how you are using those sections! Those 10 minutes breaks are a great time to tackle those other items!

[@thatwendygirl68]

I listened to your podcast on this topic a while back. I cannot figure out how to make it work in my every day life because I am a child welfare social worker. I am constantly overwhelmed with deadlines and urgent situations, yet still need to find a way to prioritize. I also have your daily planner but find that it is not practical for me because I am constantly in and out of the car and needing to utilize it in weird places and situations that make a spiral much more reasonable. I love your small spiral journals!!!

[@hillaryfarley4186]

I pulled apart my bound daily planner, took it to Staples and arc punched the whole thing. Now i slip it in and out between the weeks of my weekly planner (which I did the same thing to). You can buy the Inkwell Press discs to put it on or you can buy some from Staples for under $5. The whole thing took me about an hour and it was the best decision I've made.

[@TanyaDalton]

Being a child welfare worker means you do have a lot of fires to put out (very important fires though!). I would recommend sitting down and deciding the 3 things you really want to accomplish that day - just 3. Because of your job, you need to allow bigger blocks of time for those crisis situations that crop up. That way you can make some forward movement towards the important work while still allowing time for the emergencies. I love what Hillary mentioned in her comment about taking apart her planner... we actually just released the daily as a disc planner on our site so you can flip it over on itself and the pages are removable. I've moved myself into the Daily Disc planner recently and am loving how flexible it is (and I only carry a few weeks worth of pages with me at a time and fill the rest with notes pages so it's much lighter to tote around).

[@DrNanuli]

Great video, Tanya! I am in the process of making a video about prioritization and your work has been very inspiring 😊

[@bookishsignaturesaga7889]

You are amazing

[@moisesrocha9250]

That's useful and worthwhile because on these days I don't feel have enough time out. Thanks Mrs Dalton.

[@TanyaDalton]

I'm so happy this helps! I think a lot of people feel they don't have enough time, but when we prioritize it can really help us use our time the best way we can because it allows us to get our important work done. (And that's the key to feeling successful about our days!)

[@ashichmi435]

Amazing video. I’m listening to her podcast now. That has already helped me a lot. But I do have one question... do u write your tasks directly as per priority? What I do is I have a to do list which I keep on adding the entire day and in the night I schedule them. (Now I will start adding them priorities)

[@fleurmp3820]

Amazing video! I can't wait to try it out. I always find it difficult prioritizing my tasks as a SAHM. So many insignificant tasks. I'm looking forward to thinking about my tasks more thoroughly, using your framework. TFS x

[@TanyaDalton]

I'm so glad you found this helpful! As a former SAHM myself I understand how that's challenging! It feels like there are a lot of insignificant tasks... but many of those tasks are what helps keep the family up and running. I would love to challenge you to think about the different tasks that you feel are "insignificant" and see how they rank against each other or how they play into the bigger goals for the family. For example: sometimes tasks like grocery shopping feel insignificant but if you are working to start eating healthier as a family, that grocery shopping trip is key to helping keep the pantry stocked so you aren't eating out. I hope that helps a bit - so happy you enjoyed the video!

[@fleurmp3820]

@@TanyaDalton Great tips....perhaps you could do a SAHM prioritizing video x

[@cindyborcherding8927]

Interesting video. I have to reframe my thinking. LOL!

[@TanyaDalton]

You aren't alone in that Cindy! I think reframing our thinking is a challenge for many of us!! :) Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@fafaasad4895]

How can I join your book club

[@emlymom]

Question: How do habits and automations fit in with items on the Priorities List? They are obviously important or they wouldn't be made into habits and automations. Where do they rank on the priorities list? Or do they remain solid in the schedule and prioritized tasks work around them?

[@TanyaDalton]

This is a great question Alison! For habits, because they are habits you don't usually need to write them down... now, when I'm working to establish a habit, I will write it under "Important" because I'm using that as a backup to my cue (to help trigger me to do that habit each day). For automations, it depends... I usually put them under "Important" BUT for my weekly automations (like laundry, cleaning the bathroom and so on) I use one of my 3 daily boxes to denote that task... because it happens every week, I don't list it out in my priority list. I hope that helps!

[@emlymom]

Thanks, Tonya. So, it must be up to me to not set up too many automations and habits so I have time for the other items on my priorities list...? I guess it goes back to planning within the restraints of not putting too much on your plate. Right? I often have a hard time finding time to do anything off my priorities list because my automations and habits take up most of my time...and then I don't even get them (A & H) all done. I'm almost thinking I need to add them to my priority list because there may be other priorities at times that will rank, and I need to know where to start.Or maybe I need to think more deeply about my goals and priorities... Thinking out loud here. I would love to hear any comments you have toward this. I love that, at the beginning of your podcast, you started off with basics about organization and planning, but in time you revisit many of the topics more than once, delving ever deeper (like a spiral). This is really helpful because as I work with that piece I discover more and more questions that you often address in later episodes. You are offering so much more than just the "internet answer" to planning. Thanks so much!

[@JagdishSharma-st6rc]

Finding a job should it be my no. One priority?

[@IgEfim]

The problem is that every business wants you to work 8 hours for them, not for your goals.