To get a handle on an overflowing To-Do list, divide a sheet of paper into two columns and label them “Urgent” on the left and “Important” on the right. If you like, also draw a horizontal line and label the top half “Business” and the bottom half “Personal.”

List your tasks in the appropriate quadrant. Ignore anything that isn’t at least urgent or important. Note that urgent tasks aren’t always important. They are urgent simply because you have some kind of commitment or deadline pressing you to act.

Identify Strategic Priorities

Now take a look at your whole list and “star” the tasks that are critical to your strategic priorities. You’ll probably find most of them on the right. And because they are on the right – not urgent – the danger is that they remain on the right as other tasks keep filling up the urgent quadrants. So stop right there. For each starred task, schedule time on your calendar right now and plan a specific accomplishment so you create the necessary urgency to ensure progress. Treat that calendar appointment with at least the same level of respect to give to wasteful meetings!

Identify Missing Priorities

Look again at the whole list. Which strategic priorities aren’t represented at all? It isn’t uncommon for long-term, but super important initiatives to constantly skip onto the back burner, if not out of sight completely. Rectify the situation immediately by scheduling time on your calendar. If nothing else, you need to work backward from successful completion to create a rudimentary plan so you know when the first work must begin.

Identify Tasks to Remove

Look at those quadrants again. Reconsider anything that isn’t critical to customer commitments or strategic priorities. What can you delete altogether? What can you delegate or outsource? What can you dispense with really quickly?

Wondering how all those tasks really got there? Find the answers in one of my latest posts, 5 Techniques Top-Notch Leaders Use To Avoid Strategic Distractions.