Time Track Thursday: 6 Powerful Prioritization Tips

We know we should be working in Quadrant 2 and that list making can help us prioritize. Here are 6 more tips to help you prioritize with power.

1. Actually use your planner. Write down your priorities and plans in your organizer so you can always have them with you.
2. Have some flexibility. Plan your day around tasks that must be done at a certain time (meetings, your favorite workout time). Delegate and simplify if possible.
3. Eat your ugliest frog. Mark Twain came up with this phrase, and he recommends tackling the things you hate to do first thing in the morning. It feels great to get it out of the way, and you can spend the rest of the day doin what you love.
4. Rule with an iron fist. Schedule the important things and stick to your plan. Dinner with friends, craft time, and a child's school play are just as important as big meetings. It's ok to say "I'm busy."
5. Use your prime time wisely. You know that time when you have the most energy and tend to do your best work? Well that's a great time to do your most important work as well.
6. Give yourself a time out. This can be used in conjunction with your prime time. Minimize interruptions for an hour by turning off the phone, closing your email, TweetDeck, Facebook, and even the door. Take a few moments to reflect as well.

Next week I'll have a list of questions that time management experts constantly ask themselves. Maybe you can apply one or think of your own to help you spend you time wisely. Until then, eat ugly frogs and go to time out!