Organize & Prioritize: Returning Panic

So you are just coming back from being gone from your desk for a few days (even a day!) and all you see are stack of work to be done... panicsville hits.  Here's one of the simplest processes to prioritize those stacks:

1. Take a deep breath and smile (set the mood).  :)
2. Gather all of it into one stack and start at the top item, using this sort sequence:
• Sort by deadline date (obviously, soonest date on the top of the stack)
• Sort by your own priority system (some things only YOU will know how important it is), including those items with no specified deadline.
• On the bottom, everything else that can wait.
3. Take another deep breath.

Your next step is to kick it up a notch or two.  Everyone has a "work pace".  There are times when you have to kick start and run at high gear for an extended period.  This may be one of those times.