Prioritization Skills: How to Manage Tasks for Better Productivity

Knowing how to prioritize tasks is an essential skill for students of any age. Students who know how to prioritize tasks 和 responsibilities have an advantage over classmates who approach homework 和 研究ing haphazardly. Prioritization keeps students organized 和 productive while ensuring they have plenty of time to finish assignments, 研究, 完成家务, 和 enjoy social 和 extracurricular activities.

Knowing how to prioritize work 和 responsibilities is a lifelong skill. Like any skill, prioritization improves with practice 和 can be taught at any age.

什么是优先排序技能?

Prioritization skills help students determine which tasks are the most important 和 urgent 和 how much time to allocate to each task. Knowing how to prioritize tasks helps students be more productive by making the best use of their time.

Prioritization is an executive functioning skill. Executive functioning describes the skills needed to plan, organize, focus, 和 follow instructions. 执行功能技能包括 时间管理 和 组织.

如何安排任务的优先级

只要计划得当, students can list tasks 和 prioritize them by urgency 和 importance, allowing order to emerge from chaos 和 preventing “analysis paralysis,” which increases stress 和 decreases productivity.

Students should spend some time each day listing their school assignments 和 other activities 和 then identify the tasks requiring their immediate attention. 适合低年级学生, this can be as simple as making a to-do list 和 assigning each item on the list a priority number using the 艾薇·李优先级模板. Students then work on the highest priority task first, 然后是下一个最重要的, 以此类推.

Older students can use more complex prioritization tools, such as a prioritization matrix. 也被称为艾森豪威尔矩阵, a prioritization index uses a simple table to prioritize tasks by importance 和 urgency, 如下:

 

Tasks that are urgent 和 important should be finished first. 一旦这些任务完成, students can move on to tasks that are urgent but not important 和 then important but not urgent. Tasks that are neither urgent nor important can be completed when the student has less pressing responsibilities.

例如, let’s say a student has to prioritize the following six tasks:

• Study for an exam at the end of the week
• 完成代数作业 for tomorrow
• Research a major science project due in two months
• 完成家务
• 和朋友一起游泳
• Attend a family gathering over the weekend

Using a prioritization index, your child might organize their priorities like this:

 

A prioritization matrix helps students identify their most pressing tasks 和 responsibilities. Different students will prioritize tasks in slightly different ways. 例如, some might consider household chores urgent 和 important or move swimming with friends into the important but not urgent square.

帮助确定工作优先级的建议

• When prioritizing tasks, keep the Pareto Principle in mind. 帕累托原则, 或者80/20法则, states that you get 80% of your results out of 20% of your efforts. Students should prioritize tasks that bring real, lasting results or move them toward a long-term goal.
• Make sure that each task has a clear deadline.
• Use a student planner to budget time each morning for prioritization.
• 当有疑问时, 从最不刺激的任务开始, as getting that out of the way will provide motivation for later assignments.
• Regularly reevaluate priorities as circumstances change. 学会避免“沉没成本谬论” of continuing tasks or activities that have decreased in urgency or importance due to changing conditions.
• Consider how spending time wisely today frees up time for other activities.

How Do Students Learn How to Prioritize?

A child’s prioritization 和 executive functioning skills begin to develop between ages three 和 five. 根据 以发展中的儿童为中心 在哈佛大学, executive functioning skills strengthen once again during adolescence 和 early adult years. While these periods are prime opportunities to teach executive development skills, students can learn how to prioritize tasks at any age.

Some 学校 和 individual teachers incorporate executive functioning skills into their curriculums, 但这并不总是普遍的. Many 学校 lack the 资源 to teach prioritization or expect students to have already mastered executive functioning skills. bat365 tutors pride themselves on the teaching 和 application of prioritization skills — skills that provide both immediate 和 long-term academic benefits.

Need more information on prioritization 和 executive functioning skills? 查看我们的 执行功能指南. It’s a great starting resource for students to develop their prioritization skills. And consider working with a bat365 私人教师 for students who want to develop 和 hone their executive functioning skills.