So you have to account sales, meet potential business partners, hire employees, pitch investors and what not? I know it can feel as if a lot of work is piling up, but there is a smart way to prioritise your task list. Following two principles are the only tools you need to prioritise the tasks at hand:
The 80/20 Principle
Popularly known as the Pareto principle, this rule can change your entire life. It is named after an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. In 1906, he found that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. What this rule means for your business is that a small minority of items (say 20% of your products) contribute to a majority of business (80%). Not just business, the concept holds good in every area of your life. You make phone calls to less than 20% folks in your contact list. You hangout with less than 20% of your friends. Similarly, even in business, only 20% of your input tasks will actually contribute to 80% of output. Use this as a thumb rule to prioritise tasks. Make a list of all your tasks and decide which of these actually impact your business and which don’t. The ones which do can be your top priorities and the ones that don’t can either be delegated to someone in your team or delayed or even deleted.
The Super 3 Rule
Now that you have a priority task list, this rule will come handy. This rule that I call ‘The Super 3 Rule’ says – pick the top three tasks and write them somewhere, preferably a small notebook that remains with you in your back pocket. As you finish a task, strike it off. Add a new third task at the bottom and keep repeating. At any time, you will have three super tasks to focus. The activity of ‘striking off completed tasks’ will also leave a sense of accomplishment, which will be an important motivation for your next task. If required, you can also keep a master list of all tasks from which you can keep selecting the super three tasks for your notebook.
With these two techniques, most of your tasks can get prioritised. The more you start prioritising, the better you will start understanding when and how to use the principles.
All the best!