Prioritization and Time Management
No matter how one approaches time management, a few limitations will
always be in place. There will only be twenty four given hours in any
one day. One will need to sleep, eat, tend to hygiene and conduct other
“prerequisite” activities. There will always be more things
that one might like to do than there is time to do them. When one looks
at that collection of limitations, it becomes very clear that proper
prioritization is essential to effective time management.
Absent quality prioritization of tasks, one would simply hop from one
task to another without a great deal of rhyme or reason. Not only would
that be glaringly inefficient, it would also result in some important
tasks being left incomplete. Every time management expert will argue
vociferously that one must learn to differentiate between the important
and the optional and learn how to rank the importance of various tasks
to help in their scheduling.
There are a few factors to keep in mind when prioritizing the laundry
list of items on one’s “to do” list. Let us examine
three basic principles of prioritization.
First, one must set aside an adequate amount of time to tend to critical
aspects of their life that are unrelated to work. Time with a spouse
and/or children, for instance would fall into this category. When prioritizing,
one must remember to place a sufficient value on some of the things
that give life a greater meaning. Some will include worship or meditation
as a critical element. These true priorities are often inadvertently
given a short shrift by those who are preoccupied with maintaining their
business or professional lives--often with a great negative consequence.
Second, one must differentiate the essential from the important. Every
day, one must handle truly critical tasks (in terms of one’s work).
These are the kind of projects that are the difference between a successful
operation and absolute failure or significant decline. Meeting hard
deadlines, working to grow a business, handling customer service and
other tasks may fall into this category.
Third, one must be willing push the fast items toward the top. Fast
items are those with an immediate or soon-to-arrive deadline. Sometimes
these tasks will not measure up in importance to some of the critical
jobs, but their immediacy imbues them with a higher level of priority.
Missed deadlines and other similar errors can have a remarkably deleterious
impact on a business even when the matter in question is relatively
small.
As you approach your priorities list, keep these three observations
in mind. Setting aside time for pursuits other than business is a great
idea. Understanding the difference between a critical situation and
a somewhat important one can also help a lot. Finally, recognizing your
need to push through time-sensitive projects as quickly as possibly
can reduce headaches, as well.
Deciding which “to-do’s” should come first is often
the most important part of managing one’s time. The decisions can
be difficult and frustrating. However, they must be made in order to experience
time management success.
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