Perfect Selfmanagement in 52 Weeks - Priorities

Priorities

It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about? ~Henry David Thoreau

If you are like many other folks, you are juggling lots of things: your career (and/or helping others with theirs), school, relationships, friends, health, finances, personal development, creative projects, etc. When you have a lot to do, it is often hard to know what to do first.

Here is where the rule “first things first” comes in. It simply means 1) find out what you have to do and 2) do the most important projects first.

You've figured out what to do. Now the hard part: what's first -- or seventh? Knowing which tasks are most important is essential. Grab a pen and paper, then list each "to do" item, sorting by high, medium and low priority.

A top priority could have an impending deadline (maybe it's a report for work or dry-cleaning pickup before a weekend wedding). It could also be something that's important to you personally, like attending your child's recital or keeping an appointment with your trainer at the gym. An IMPORTANT task or activity helps you - doing it avoids a danger to you or brings a benefit to you.

Day 1: Write down the six most important things/projects you have to do today. Actually seeing your priorities in writing can make it easier to set aside time for them.

Rate each area in terms of how important it is to you. Use a scale of 1-10 with 1 being "not important" and 10 being "vitally important”. 

Work on the most important task until it is finished or you can’t do anything more on it for the moment.

Day 2: Being able to set priorities is the key to getting organized and making the most out of your time. Make sure your day-to-day life doesn’t take precedence over your most important goals. It is so easy to get caught up in „busy work“.

Take your list of things/projects you need/want to get done and separate them into the following categories:

Priority 1: Must Do – these goals or activities must be achieved if you are to consider yourself victorious. These are your highest priority goals or activities.

Priority 2: Should Do – these goals or activities should be achieved (but it is not essential) to consider yourself successful.

Priority 3: Nice to Do – these are more „feel good“ activities.

Day 3: Today you number all tasks still left on your general list in the order that you need to do them, from 1 being most important (do this one first) to however many action items there are on your list.  

Be careful with „urgent“ items – they yell the loudest but are often not as important as the „quieter“ tasks. Human nature means that we automatically act on tasks that are ‘urgent’, whether these tasks are crucial or not. That’s okay for the tasks that are also important, but low-priority tasks  are not the best use of your time and effort.

Day 4:

Today we follow only two rules:

A – Tasks which are important AND urgent, we do NOW! Spend at least half of your workday on these.

B – Tasks which are important yet not urgent, we do NEXT.

·      Try to keep work on tasks that are not important but urgent down to a minimum.

·      Learn to say no to additional commitments. Of course, it feels great to be in demand, but consider what it will cost you to take on yet another activity you don't have time for.

·      Cut unimportant tasks short. For these tasks, you can generally get by with 80% instead of 100%.

Day 5: If you can put off a task without unpleasant consequence, do it. Tackle fewer but higher priority tasks--you'll meet your goals faster. Don't be seduced by how easy a task appears--your time will be eaten up regardless of how important the job is, so spend that time wisely. Put activities and tasks in your schedule that match your highest priorities.

With projects, work on small portions every workday that will be due by the end of the week, starting with the most important tasks first.

Assign realistic priorities to each task:

• Priority 1: due today by 6pm
• Priority 2: due tomorrow by 6pm
• Priority 3: due by the end of the week
• Priority 4: due during next week

You can further prioritize tasks within this grouping by adding a decimal place. For example, a Priority 1.0 task needs to be done immediately, whereas a Priority 1.5 task simply needs to be done by the end of day.

Your goal today: think about next week, set your high priorities, mark them in your calendar and put it to bed until Monday.

SO, ONE MORE TIME, SETTING PRIORITIES MEANS:

Be clear about what you want to achieve - in life and work.

Don't confuse urgency and importance.

Keep focused on the fact that important things help you achieve your goals.

Use urgency and importance to be clear of your priorities - importance is your top priority, not urgency.

Now pat yourself on the back and go have a lovely weekend!