7 Tips for Translating Communications into Productive Tasks

As we navigate through our workdays, it’s common to receive an overwhelming amount of emails, memos, and project descriptions. It can be challenging to determine what tasks we need to accomplish among the sea of information we receive. However, this skill is essential to maintain productivity. Whether we choose to accept or decline the requests sent our way, we need to identify and prioritize them. Here are some tips for translating communications into productive tasks:

Scan for Requests

Many people bury their requests in lengthy messages. However, by scanning through them and looking for phrases like “I need you to,” “Could you,” or “Please take care of,” we can quickly identify the specific tasks we need to complete.

Look for Action Verbs

Some people state specific tasks rather than using the phrases mentioned above. If we scan for action verbs like “execute,” “develop,” or “research,” we can identify the specific tasks we need to accomplish. However, some action verbs can translate into significant or difficult projects that can be a challenge to act on.

Take the Sender into Account

Context is crucial when it comes to understanding someone’s request. We need to read each message to know who sent it and what they want. A request from a supervisor will have a different level of urgency compared to a request from a colleague or friend.

Find the First Step

When dealing with significant projects, it can be overwhelming to plan out the entire timeline immediately. Instead, we need to identify the first step and make a note of planning out the rest of it later. If we are dealing with similar projects, we can typically guess what the first step should be.

Process First

There is some debate about whether we should handle small tasks or process everything first. However, it’s better to process all but the smallest tasks first. For example, we can make a note of what we need to do as we read our emails and handle small tasks later.

Get Everything in One Inbox

It’s easier to sort through emails, documents, and other information we receive when we have everything in one inbox. It also helps avoid duplicating work when we receive the same request through different channels. Even if we have to move messages ourselves, having everything in one place can speed up the process.

Ask for Clarification

If we have any questions about what’s being asked of us, we should immediately send an email requesting any necessary details or clarifications. If we’re not sure, we can send an email asking for confirmation to ensure we’re adding the right task to our list.

Bonus Tip: Streamline Your Communications

The way we communicate with colleagues can also impact how they respond to our requests. By streamlining our emails and memos, we make it easier for them to understand what we need to accomplish. By being clear and concise, we minimize back-and-forth communication, which saves us time and effort.

Summary

Translating communications into productive tasks is an essential skill for maintaining productivity in the workplace. By scanning for requests, looking for action verbs, taking the sender into account, finding the first step, processing everything first, getting everything in one inbox, and asking for clarification, we can prioritize our tasks more efficiently. Lastly, we should streamline our communications to make things easier for our colleagues and ourselves.