Prioritizing your Tasks with Smart Lists & Keywords

Task management is not just a list of tasks that you check off when done. You need to organize your task list so you can stay focused and deliver on your promises.

One way to manage your task list is in Daylite is to prioritize them with Smart Lists. While you can do this in various ways, this article will outline the process from How to Accomplish More by Doing Less, which uses Stephen Covey's Task Time Management Matrix made famous in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".

First, you want to add the keywords in the Task Time Management Matrix "Urgent","Not Urgent", "Important", and "Not Important" as Task keywords. To do that, follow the steps below:

1. Choose Daylite > Preferences and select Keywords.
2. Click the "+" in the bottom left corner to create the keyword and type in Urgent.
3. Repeat for "Not Urgent", "Important", and "Not Important"

4. Check off the Tasks box, so this keyword applies to tasks.

   
   

   You could also use one keyword to classify the task like Urgent/Important, or Quadrant II, or anything else that makes the most sense to you.

As you are working in Daylite and create a task, add the appropriate keywords to the task.

Now that you have the keywords made, it is time to create your Smart Lists.

1. Click All Tasks in your sidebar.
2. Click the funnel icon in the top left corner of your Task window.
3. Set the filtering criteria so the "status" "is not" "done" to see all outstanding tasks.
4. Add a second filtering criteria for "keywords" that includes Urgent & Important. Now you have a list of tasks that have not been completed yet and are Urgent and Important.
5. Click the "Save as Smart List" button in the top right corner of the filter bar.
6. Name this list Quadrant I or whatever stands out as the most important tasks to complete, e.g., Do Now! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 etc.
7. Repeat these steps for the other four possible outcomes.

To add this list to your Favorites bar, click the Smart List and drag it to the top bar of Daylite.

Now you can click them even when the sidebar is hidden.