TOW#521 — Prioritising your priorities
Tip of the Week is a collection of texts written by various authors, dealing with everyday topics, that can help you to make improvements in both your personal and professional life. New tips are sent out every single Thursday, and you can comment on them at: www.facebook.com/tipoftheweekPriracnik. A selection of the first 100 tips was published as a handbook on personal and professional development.
The other day I was talking about my priorities with someone, and when I told her that I didn’t know where to begin she simply said: start with the most banal. To be honest, I started looking at them one by one, for a good five to 10 minutes, and I wasn’t able to say which was the most banal, so again I didn’t know where to start. Every single priority was somehow the most important.
The meeting ended, and I was still thinking about which priority was the most banal, which one was the top priority and which ones were somewhere in the middle. I was going round in circles. Well, so that you don’t end up doing the same as I did, here are some tips that can help you prioritise when everything’s a priority:
1. To do list
Make a list of all the things you need to do. Divide them into things you need to do during the day, during the week, and during the month.
2. Urgent as opposed to important
Once you’ve divided things as above, it’s now time to divide once more into urgent and important. Urgent is when the thing that has to be done will have serious negative consequences unless it’s completed by the end of the day or within the next few hours (a client deadline, missed notification, deadline announcement, etc.).
3. Gravity / value of the thing
Next, look at the urgent matters and select the ones that will bring the most value to your business and organisation. Furthermore, at this stage, it’s very important to assess whether you should do the things of great value on your own or whether they depend on other people as well.
4. Ranking according to difficulty
Think about which particular things will require the most effort to complete. I’m telling you this because the latest studies say that you should start with the things that take the most time. But if you feel like you can’t focus on the longer things unless you finish a shorter task, then do it that way round. It can be motivating to do a minor task, even if it’s not on the list, before diving into deeper waters.
5. Flexible and adaptable
Keep in mind that priorities, urgency and importance can change. What was urgent yesterday may no longer be today, so be adaptable and flexible enough to change your priorities. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the thing shouldn’t be done, but rather that it can sometimes be delayed slightly. However, if there’s not much time left to get the thing done, then get it done!!!
6. Review your list
In theory as well as in practice (and speaking from experience) the most a person can hope for during the day (not including the sleeping part) is to (properly) complete a maximum of seven tasks; of which five are work related and only two private. So, revise the list — maybe something will be taken out, something else may be added, but it mustn’t be forgotten! But, as far as today’s concerned, focus on the things you know you must do and just DO THEM!!
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
@kalinbabusku
Member of the Team
MACEDONIA-EXPORT Consulting
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