Many Administrative Assistants and people that are trying to organize their tasks, clutter, etc. have been stumped and astonished at how much they really do each day. There are simple ways to get organized and prioritize your tasks or whatever you are trying to accomplish.
Remember the first day of work, when you would sit down in front of your computer, the smell of fresh cubicle all around you and nothing to do? Well, those days are long gone for some of us (you also might be a newbie, starting out at your work place - enjoy while you can!)
Your boss comes up to you and asks you to do several projects all at once and needs it by 5:00 p.m. that same day. You scratch your head and think to yourself, "How will I ever get all of this done?"
Remember, one thing that you can always bargain is time. This is a very important point:
Tell your manager up front that all of these tasks cannot be completed by the stated time, but you would like to negotiate a reasonable completion date/time for each project.
Once you both come to an agreement, here are some simple rules to figure out where to start and how to finish all of your projects/tasks in a timely manner (and meet deadlines):
Take about 5 - 10 minutes to write up a plan of what tasks you have to complete (you can also do this on your Microsoft Outlook Task bar).
Place a number beside each task, in the order from 1 being most important to the last number, being least important.
Take the most important task and (this is the important part), only focus on that task (with the exception of someone coming to you, phone calls, etc.)
If you do get distracted, finish up what you are doing and then focus on the last task that was on your sheet.
Make sure to put a check mark beside each task as you complete it - this will help you realize how much you have accomplished (in a shorter period of time than you thought).
Once you have completed all of your tasks, lavish in the fact that you are done!
You will have all of your projects/tasks completed in less time (and this is a guarantee, because you will not be focusing on worrying about them) than you thought. You might even have some extra time to chat by the water cooler about the latest gossip that you heard through the "grapevine" (at your own risk).
