The art of prioritizing. How to create more impact, in less time.

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The days pass by in a glimpse of an eye. On Mongabay you see yet another devastating story of an oil spill, massive deforestation in Indonesia or poaching numbers rising.

At the same time, you have the feeling your days are not long enough to tackle all the biodiversity issues or those tasks that are on your desk.

Sometimes you might even get the feeling that we are losing this battle.

Trust me, I have been there and still often get this feeling.

However, prioritizing better, helped me massively to increase my output and gave me the feeling that we are still having a chance.

Why prioritizing correctly is key

Learning the art of prioritizing is key for you as a biodiversity hero. It guarantees that you don't get side-tracked and tackle those issues that have the biggest impact on your business/NGO.

You probably heard of the 80/20 rule. 80% of the value gets created with 20% of your work. However, when it comes to our prioritization, we rarely reflect this and end up working on the 80%. We get sidetracked.

When you are starting alone, this is less of a problem. After all, it is quite clear what your first actions, should be.

Creating a logo, building a website, getting the first customer, etc.

With time and more team members, it, however, becomes blurrier to decide what the best actions are to work on.

Sooner or later your speed decreases and even though you have more team members, you start to get the feeling that you are slower than when you were alone.

I use the Kanban method to double my output. I used this technique in big companies and now where I am on my own. It is a game changer and I am sure it will be the same for you.

The Kanban Method

After testing numerous approaches, the Kanban Method became my favorite task management tool. It is based on the Japanese term "Kanban," which means "visual signal" or "card."

The concept focuses on visualizing tasks and their progress. The concept can help your team quickly identify bottlenecks, prioritize tasks, and balance workloads more effectively.

The method is very straightforward.

1. You create a board (Either physical or digital. I use Notion for this)

2. You create 3 columns: To-Do, In Progress, Done (you can obviously create more nuanced versions, but I would start with this)

3. Put all your tasks into the To-Do column

4. Step by step you move those cards that you are working on in the next columns

This visualizing process allows your team members to quickly identify key areas that need to be tackled. As well as potential issues that could slow down your progress in the future. This method will let your teams do twice as much work without quality or time being compromised.

My personal twist to boost your prioritization skills to the next level

Now after some time, you will realize that there will be plenty of tasks for you to do. So your team will start to struggle even with the Kanban method.

To fix this I came up with a system that guarantees to tackle the right tasks.

I judge every task by 2 criteria.

1. How big is the impact? Let's tackle those tasks with the biggest impact on our business or NGO first.

2. How much time do we need to finish the task? Some tasks might take months, so ideally we should prioritize those tasks that present quick wins.

Ideally, you want to prioritize the following:

1. Lion tasks. High impact, low time investment

2. Leopard tasks. High impact, high time investment.

3. Cat tasks. Low impact, low time investment.

4. Nope tasks. Low impact, high time investment.

After cross-checking each task, I label it. In my Notion database, it is then automatically sorted with Lion tasks at the top. Making sure that I always work on the tasks that increase my impact, in the limited time I have.

Your turn

Block yourself a timeslot for next week to improve your prioritization. What about Tuesday? Usually not as busy as Mondays.

1. Create a Kanban board, either offline or online (on Notion they have templates, that make it much easier)

2. Put all the tasks that you currently have in there

3. Use my tip to label each task or come up with your own prioritization rule

4. Mental breakdown. You will probably realize how many mediocre tasks you and your team have worked on in the past months. Doesn't matter, you know better now. So time to change it.

5. Make sure that the team is on board (understand the why, understand the concept, have the technical skills, etc.)

6. See the magic happening

Cheat Sheet

In a nutshell: Prioritization is key to getting more impact done in less time

Recommended book: Scrum

Recommended Tool: Notion

Set up time: Depending on how many tasks & team members you currently have, from 1 hour to couple of days with big teams

Maintaining time: 1h per week

So start doubling your impact by becoming a master of prioritization.

See you next week. Have a wild one!

Oliver

Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways we can help you:

1. 1-to-1 business consulting. Detailed and personalized consulting to double the impact of your biodiversity venture in the shortest possible time. Happy to set up your Kanban system.

2. Wild Business Mates in Action. Wild Business Mates help you to execute in areas you are struggling with. Tech, Marketing, Sales, Communication, etc.