Ways to prioritise
Know what you have to do and when
Some people like to use a diary to note down important dates, appointments and deadlines, but other people prefer to put these on a calendar or to enter them on the organiser on their phone.  Some use a calendar or wall planner they can check every day.  The kind of tools we find useful depends on our personal preferences.  Some people like to use online apps while other people find simple pen and paper tools much more useful.  The important thing is to find a system that suits you and works for you.  
If you are finding that you forget appointments or miss important deadlines, then you probably need to try something different so that you put yourself in charge.  You may need to set aside time on a regular basis to plan ahead.  
To do or not to do?
Some people like to make ‘to do’ lists and get satisfaction from crossing off tasks as they do them.  Some end up with a list that’s too long and becomes intimidating.
•	Try and keep ‘to do’ lists short term – to be done today or during one week.
•	List only the things that are urgent or important.
•	Make a have done list – you may be achieving more than you realise.
Prioritising
The way you choose to prioritise will depend on how much you have to do and by when.  If you have a lot to do, then you will need to actively take a look at what you need to do and when.  Some things will be more important than others and some may be less important but more urgent. 
It can be helpful to sit down once a week and decide what are the most important things you need to do and what are the most urgent.  
•	You need to find a method to suit yourself and your preferences.
You can simply make a note of what you need to do and put it in order.  This might be in a small notebook, as a task list on your mobile phone or on a whiteboard at home.  You can make audio memos if this is what you prefer.  Some people write each task on cards or sticky notes and rearrange these to get a list.
Another way is to imagine you have four boxes.  You have to decide in which box each of the things you need to do belongs.  One is for important and urgent things that you need to do right away.  The second is for important things which are not yet urgent, but which you should try to start before they become urgent.  The third is for urgent things which are less important which you can do if you have sufficient time.  
If you have things which you would like to do, but are neither important nor urgent, then you have to consider whether you really have the time to do these at all.  Can they be left for holiday periods? Be prepared to bin some things. Sometimes we can’t do everything.
You can take a sheet of paper and fold it twice so you have four sections (or quarters) to represent your boxes.  Write important at the top and urgent on the left-hand side.  Anything that is both important and urgent will be in the top left section. Anything that is less important will be further down the page.  Anything which is not urgent will be on the right-hand side.
Allocating tasks to boxes can help you to see that some of the things we think are urgent are actually not all that important and it might be better to start working on something more important which is not yet urgent.
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