The HACCP model presents an unexpectedly effective way to manage the priorities on your to-do list.

Overwhelmed by all the things you need to get done? Or should get done? Or want to get done? Too busy to even think about where you should start? How do you pick which task to do first? Does the combination of overwhelm and indecision paralyze you from doing anything?

When I have a “deer in the headlights” moment in confronting my to-do list, I look for a safe, easy task to overcome inertia and get me moving in a forward motion. At home, I start a load of laundry (Hey, there’s something you can always count on…) and at work, I write up a list of all those things chattering loudly in my head. (Get out of my head and onto this list!)

My approach to dealing with any type of difficult situation is to first look for the familiar and then look for best practices. For those working in school nutrition teams, there is a “best of the best” practices standard that you have in place at work. It is your HACCP plan. If you are like me, you have a love/hate relationship with that darn HACCP binder, but I am going to ask that you forget the hate part, and look at what you love. It is a plan; it is based on a theory. We know it works for managing food safety—can it help us prioritize our tasks at work?! ...