Struggling with what to do next? Rank your priorities!

Hello All, for this week of problem solving I used the Ranking Priorities strategy. This is a strategy I have been using myself for quite some time, and it just so happens to be a problem solving strategy from the book! Personally I believe this strategy can be used in multiple ways. You can rank your priorities for one day or one week, or you could rank your priorities for one class or all classes! I personally like to know what I have to do for the whole week so I set up my priorities list for 2 separate classes that included my whole weeks work. I used this strategy on my economics class as well as my sociology class. The reason I used the great strategy on these classes is so I could see my whole weeks work. In my economics class I have a homework due as well as reading and a quiz. In my sociology class I had multiple readings to do and also a homework to hand in. When ranking my priorities for my economics class, because my homework is due on monday I ranked that as my highest priority because it counts for points due soonest. Reading the chapter for lecture Monday was my next priority because my quiz is not until Wednesday, so studying for my Wednesday quiz was third on the list. As you can see, it was helpful for me to use ranking priorities strategy so I could see what made sense to do first.

In sociology, I have readings for Monday and Wednesday, as well as a homework assignment due Wednesday. In my ranking priorities list I ranked the reading for monday first, so I could be prepared for class. I then put the homework assignment second because it is worth points, and the reading for Wednesday followed up the rear. Once again I ranked my priorities in an orderly fashion.

When ranking my priorities you can see that I took due dates and point totals into my consideration. I find this the best way to rank your priorities because it ranks them in a way that is best for your grade. By due dates and points! I highly recommend this strategy for anyone. Your thoughts are clear and organized, and you know exactly what you need to do for your class to succeed. Ranking Priorities is a great strategy that should be used by all!

Jill's Ranking Priorities

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Rank Your Priorities!

Having 15 credits this semester is a lot of work thats usually all due in the same week. Ranking my priorities was the best problem solving strategy I found. I am a visual learner so being able to write out what I have to do is always key for me. With ranking priorities I am able to write it out and then organize it so I know when I have to do each thing because having a long list of things to do gets stressful.

All that one needs to do in order to rank your priorities is list out what you need to do that day and then rank it A-Essential, B-Important, C-Optional and then number them in the order you want to do them within each letter group. Its that simple! It makes a long list of to do more manageable. You can apply this to any school work for any class. For me, I like to break each class up and list what I have to do for that class next to it. If I have more than one task in a class I will separate them so that I can still rank which I should do first. This strategy is good for people who never know where to start. When you have a lot to do it can be stressful and make you not want to start since you do not know where to.

Whenever I get an assignment I will write it into my assignment book. Everything is just listed as to when I have to do it and when it is due. I find it helpful to go home and use the "Stickies" app on my computer to write out the tasks for the day and rank them on there just to make it neater.

This week, I had a paper due in WGS 201 on Wednesday, and ECN 203 quiz Thursday, and some CLS homework throughout the week. On Monday I made my A1 printing my economics notes because that was quick to due and I needed them for the next day. A2 was working on my WGS paper because that was due Wednesday and was a big paper so I needed to get some of it done and I made my CLS homework B1 because it was not due until wednesday so I put it under B because if I did not get to it I could always move it to Tuesday. I followed basically this same strategy for the whole week and used my Fritter Finder to determine when I was going to do each task.

This was a light work week for me so breaking everything up was pretty easy to determine since my paper was the big task and then my other small work came after that. My big tasks like papers and studying for tests will always come first for me because it takes the most amount of time and these assignments are worth the most points.

As soon as I saw the ranking priorities page in the textbook I knew it would work perfect for me and my lists. Since I am a Kinesthetic learner, I like to visualize and do things. Writing everything out and being able to see what I have to do in an order fulfills my learning needs.