Getting Shit Done - Task Management for Growth

The Point:

This article is about learning how to manage competing

priorities at work by using a 4 box. 4 boxing is a useful tool for your weekly Task Management.

The Flash Card:

Q: How does learning to manage competing priorities

help me advance my career and salary?

A: Learning to delegate your time and execute critical

tasks will always be necessary. It will show that you understand

business needs, how to manage your time, and will always

set you ahead of your peers.

Method I Use:

I use a 4 box method. In this method, you create two columns

and two rows.

You then label the first column as "Important" and the second

column as "Not Important."

Then label the rows as "Urgent" and "Not Urgent."

Here is how this would look.

4 Box for Task Management

All the tasks you deem Urgent and Important are in the top left corner. You need to take care of these tasks first.

Items like final deliverables, presentations, and critical meetings would be in the top left.

The second box is Urgent but not Important tasks. This box is located at the top right. Usually, these are tasks that you want to try and delegate if you can.

Examples of these tasks are setting up meetings,

communications, and menial tasks. If you aren't

a manager that can delegate always look to automate tasks

with technology.

The third box, located at the bottom left, is for Important but not

Urgent tasks. These are best suited for tasks that you can

schedule ahead of time.

For instance, training courses are tasks that are extremely

important to your growth but aren't urgent for you to

complete at that moment.

Finally, the bottom right box is for tasks that are not urgent or

important. These tend to be requests made of you but don't

have anything to do with your day-to-day work.

I dub this box the "Other People's Problem" box. Unless the

the request helps you somehow say "No" to these tasks.

They will only eat up your time.

Here is an example of a completed 4 box.

Complete 4 Box for Task Management

How To Put It In Use:

I do 4 box planning at the start of each week. I run through the week's goals and objectives and put them into my 4 boxes.

I then run through the previous week's tasks that I couldn't complete and put them into the appropriate boxes.

If you are like me, you're usually swamped with tasks. I rarely get through everything in a week. Or even a month.

Moving incomplete tasks from week to week allows me to

keep visibility on tasks that might become bigger fires if

left unfinished for too long.

The Final Word:

4 boxing is one of those skill sets that will give you better

clarity on the tasks that you need to work on while saying

no to time-wasting tasks.

Don't forget that career growth isn't about getting more

done in a finite time. It's about prioritizing the important stuff

and letting go of the irrelevant stuff. The better you get at

doing that, the faster your career and earning potential

will grow.