Pay attention to the priority of the tasks: If tasks absolutely have to be completed immediately, you should avoid leaving them to complete tasks with a lower priority.There are no strict rules that have to be followed, but Allen gives a few tips: This step is about working through the tasks you have written down. This is especially important for projects where your next task depends on the completion of the delegated work. This way you can keep an eye on them and check on the progress of the work with the relevant people. Waiting list: All tasks that you have delegated go on this list.You can also sort the tasks according to priority so that you can tell at a glance which tasks you should start with. These can be, for example, the categories “Private” or “Office”, but also “Telephone calls”, “Meeting with XY”, “Project ABC”. If this list is very extensive, you should divide it into meaningful categories, the so-called context lists. Next steps: All tasks that need to be completed go into this list.

From there, they are divided into individual steps in a project plan and the next step to be carried out in each case is noted in the “Next steps” list. Projects: Tasks that need to be completed in several steps go into the project list.Calendar: In the calendar you enter all upcoming appointments.This step overlaps with step 2 because it is about sorting all tasks into four different lists for further processing: In addition, you can set priorities and note deadlines for the tasks in this step. Contextual information, such as documents, participants, status reports, budget information or even the associated project initiative should also be filed with the task, ready to hand.

According to Allen, it is important to give each task a title that makes immediately clear what needs to be done without you having to think about it. Our tip: In order to make your work easier in the following, you can already make sure in this step that you name the task correctly and store all the information necessary for processing it.

For further processing, these projects are divided into individual steps. According to Allen, anything that requires multiple steps is a project and projects are subsequently transferred to a separate project list. In addition, it is important to decide whether the task requires only one step or whether several steps are necessary to complete it. Note, however, that tasks that take less than two minutes of your time should be handled immediately by you, because it would take more time to manage or delegate them than to handle them yourself right away. If a task has been brought to you that does not fall within your area of responsibility, you should pass it on to a person who is responsible for it and transfer this task to an additional waiting list with all delegated tasks. If there is currently a task to be done, you should ask yourself what exactly the next step is. If things are only brought to you for information or are currently not relevant, you can decide whether to dispose of the associated note, whether you might still need it at some point and therefore archive it as reference material in a folder, for example, or whether to put it on the “Someday / Maybe” list. Is there anything I can do at the moment?.This is where you decide which category the task should be placed in later. To do this, first ask yourself three important questions: In this step you check all your inboxes and sort the tasks. Project management software, for example, is suitable for this.Īfter entering the tasks, the next step is to process them. In addition, you can share tasks with colleagues, delegate them and store important information that is needed to complete them. Our tip: Ticking off tasks in a notebook feels good, but digital notes have the advantage that deleting them is easier and you can easily move or copy the tasks. This procedure immediately makes your work easier because you have future tasks out of your head and it helps you not to forget anything. The only important thing is that you have access to it at all times and that you can effortlessly record the tasks so that you can immediately note down any tasks that arise. in an email inbox or in project management software, is entirely up to your personal preference. on a piece of paper or in a notebook, or in digital form, e.g. Whether you create these to-do lists in analogue form, i.e. This gives you a list of all pending to-dos. The first step is to collect all tasks, appointments or ideas in one or only a few central places, if possible.

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