Q&A for How to Prioritize

You can prioritize your schoolwork by using a calendar and noting all your assignments and tests. Then you can make a list with the most imminent assignments and studying from 1-10. For example, you want to first complete an assignment that is due tomorrow before starting on a paper that is due in 10 days. But you also want to build in working gradually on a larger assignment.

We need to prioritize so we can finish the most important tasks and responsibilities in our daily life, job or school. And also, to make sure we eventually get to all the fairly important things--even if they are not crucial. Sometimes, we have to tweak the list if we are overly ambitious.

Prioritization is rank-ordering the important of tasks in your life. For example, it is more important to feed your child dinner than it is to start painting the den.

You can look at the initial list, and select the items that you think are the most important or that have an earlier deadline. You can also re-do your list into several priority categories. Or you can use colors to indicate which items on your list are most important. It is always helpful to put dates next to the task.

A priority might be a school paper or assignment that has a due date of the following day vs. one which is due the following week. Or, a larger project--school or work--might be a priority because you might have to do a little on it on a regular basis so it does not become a crisis. Hope this helps!