As small business owners, there are a million and one things we could be doing at any given time. If it’s not client work, it’s admin, and if it’s not admin, it’s marketing. After all, sooner or later, we’re going to have to get that new website up and running that we’ve been promising ourselves for months, right?

In the end, it’s only normal if sometimes all these tasks that seem to pile up start to get on top of us. If there are days when you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list, know that you’re not alone. At one time or another, we all find ourselves wondering how we’re going to get through everything and where we should even start. As always, the answer is: one thing at a time. But that’s easier said than done. How do you decide which of those essential tasks takes priority and how do you go about organising your heavy workload?

When I find myself feeling overwhelmed and under-focused, I use what I call a task prioritisation grid. I posted about it on Instagram a little while back and received an incredible response. So, in this blog post, I thought I’d go into a bit more depth to show you how it works and share the thinking behind the system.

How do you manage your time and prioritise tasks?

On days when I feel burdened by my never-ending to-do list, or whenever I have less energy than I’d expected and need to let some things go, I make it easier for myself to prioritise my tasks by using this grid.

I start by drawing this grid on a piece of paper or whiteboard and dividing everything on my to-do list for the day into one of the four boxes. Each task can only fit into one of the categories, so this way, you avoid giving yourself too many choices!

1) Income-generating and has to be done today

These are, of course, the most important tasks on your to-do list. Prime examples include client work and invoicing. For example, do you have a client project that you have to work on today if you’re going to meet that non-negotiable deadline? Or perhaps you need to send a specific invoice to a customer if you want to meet their payment cut-off date.

These tasks generate income and need to be done to keep your business running in a profitable and sustainable way. They aren’t things that can be left until tomorrow, so these are your essential tasks for the day that take priority over any others.

2) Not income-generating but has to be done today

Tasks that don’t directly generate income but that have a deadline attached to them are next on your list. These could involve anything from writing and scheduling that social media post for tomorrow to enrolling on a course that’s closing tonight. Whatever it might be, it’s important that you get it done today because it will be too late tomorrow.

All the tasks you put into this box come a close second when it comes to prioritising your to-do list and managing your workload. If you don’t get to them, your business is unlikely to suffer in the short term. You won’t risk losing a current client or missing out on a payment as a result. But if you don’t get to these tasks today, your business could be affected in the long term. If you always put off that social media post or miss out on course enrolment, you’re unlikely to make inroads in your marketing or continuous professional development.

3) Income-generating but could be left until tomorrow or another day

Once again, these income-generating tasks are essential, but if they don’t need to be done today, you definitely shouldn’t beat yourself up if you don’t get around to them. There are some tasks that are fine to be left for tomorrow or even further down the line. These might include a client project with a longer deadline or creating other invoices that don’t necessarily have to be sent today to meet your client’s payment cut-off date. Basically, we’re talking about anything that will lead to income but isn’t urgent.

Of course, you can’t put these tasks off for an eternity. But if you’re just having one of those days, it’s OK to cut yourself some slack and leave some things for a future point in time. You’re not going to be letting anyone down (not even yourself!) if you don’t get to them.

4) Not income-generating and could be left until tomorrow or another day

This box is for everything else that doesn’t fit into one of the first three categories. Whether it’s analysing your marketing statistics or updating your company letterhead, these are tasks that can easily be left for another day.

Unfortunately, these tasks are the ones that often end up at the bottom of our to-do lists, and we need to be mindful to avoid putting them off for an unlimited period of time. But if we’re struggling one day, there’s absolutely no harm done in assigning them our lowest priority status and getting to them some other time instead.

Once I’ve added all my tasks for the day to the grid, I work through them one by one, starting with the first box and moving on to the next in order of priority. When I’ve completed boxes one and two containing the tasks that have to be done today, I give myself permission to stop there. Of course, if I’ve got the energy and am feeling productive, I’ll carry on with boxes three and four. But if I am finding a particular day a bit of a struggle, I don’t feel any shame or guilt in leaving those tasks for some other time instead. Quite the opposite, in fact! If I’ve successfully completed all those must-dos, I feel quite proud of myself!

If you decide to give my task prioritisation system a go, here’s a word to the wise when assigning your tasks to the different categories: make sure you’re honest with yourself! If something doesn’t really need to be done today, put it into one of the boxes on the bottom row. In my experience, you’ll thank yourself later! As human beings, we tend to overestimate how much we can get done in the time we have available, so if you make an honest assessment of where each task goes, you’ll be more likely to manage to complete your non-negotiables.

By using this grid to categorise your tasks and work through them one step at a time, you’ll be surprised by how much more organised you feel. I find that putting my tasks into a grid like this helps me prioritise my to-do list and free up some headspace. This way, I can properly focus on the task in hand without worrying about how much I still have to do and what I’m going to do next.

If you try this system, I’d love to hear how you get on and whether you find it helpful. If you already have a system in place for prioritising your tasks, please feel free to share your go-to method with me as I’m always on the lookout for new ideas! Alternatively, if you’d like some help getting organised, especially when it comes to those income-generating tasks related to your finances, I’m currently offering some 1:1 mentoring that may be of interest. Click on the link below to find out how I can customise 1:1 calls to help you with any of the financial challenges you might be facing.