Prioritize

Lately, I've been thinking more about time and the power of shifting my perspective on time. It begins because when I sit down to plan out my tasks for the day, I quickly get overwhelmed with too many things that need to get done - many that feel urgent. But are they all urgent? Absolutely not!

Own your time (don't let time own you)

Discovering the value of calendaring priorities offers a chance to create a more intentional and meaningful schedule. Instead of merely reorganizing existing tasks, this approach allows you to make room for significant opportunities that truly matter.

If you want to feel good at the end of the day, pick 3 HVAs.

I’ve learned that it’s better to calendar my priorities than to prioritize my calendar. Do you feel the difference? When I prioritize my calendar, I may just be reorganizing all the stuff that has happened to land there, for whatever reason and from whatever source. When I calendar my priorities, I make time and space for the important and valuable opportunities that might not end up on my calendar otherwise. Too many of my priorities don’t end up in my schedule if I am not intentional about them well in advance.

Big Picture

When you prioritize your calendar, you may find yourself simply shuffling around tasks that have landed there from various sources. However, by calendaring your priorities, you actively allocate time and space for essential and valuable activities that might otherwise be overlooked. This proactive strategy ensures that your most important goals are given the attention they deserve.

Tactics

  1. Identify Key Priorities: List your top priorities and ensure they are reflected in your schedule.
  2. Use Planning Tools: Utilize digital calendars or planners to block out time for these priorities well in advance.
  3. Review Regularly: Periodically review and adjust your schedule to keep it aligned with your evolving priorities.
  4. Resource Recommendations: Consider reading books or articles on time management and prioritization techniques.
  5. Create Checklists: Develop checklists to track progress on key priorities and ensure they remain front and center in your planning process.

Prioritize: The key word is prior.

It's about taking action on that which you've previously determined to be important.

My daily goal is to define one major HVA and then 2 additional important HVAs.

A successful day (+10) is when I make progress on HVAs before 3pm. By 3pm, my energy is usually spent, so it's how I spend the first half of my day that matters.

Conflicting Priorities

If you don't have any priorities (or if everything his a high priority), how can you have conflicting priorities?

Until you see the distinction between what's important, unimportant, and tyranny of urgency - you will never get a handle on priorities.

It's not that everything is important

Re-evaluate often

Both our and our customers' needs change fast. If something was marked as high priority two months ago it might not be that important anymore. Before starting to work on a task like this ask yourself: Is this still a high priority?

The Easy Priorities Worksheet

  1. What needs to be done in your life and work for things to run smoothly?
  2. How good are you at each activity? Not great, okay, really good, or amazing? This isn't about if you like it or need to do it yourself.
  3. From the list of tasks, which ones make you feel strong and full of energy when you do them?
  4. From that same list, which activities don't excite you or even bother you?
  5. Look at your list with an open heart and mind. You might not be great at a task but still find it inspiring when doing it. Or maybe something seems beneath you yet makes you feel stronger when finished. How can these strengths grow? Take classes, read books, meet people who share interests - what else can help?
  6. Choose three actions this week that will nurture your true strengths.
  7. Pick three actions this week that reduce time spent on tasks dragging down your energy and happiness levels.

Three questions to prioritize your day

  1. What are the three things you want to accomplish today?
  2. What are the three things you could do that would have the biggest impact on your goals?
  3. What are the three things you should do today that you've been avoiding?

By asking yourself these questions, you can focus your energy and time on the most important tasks and avoid getting bogged down in less important tasks.

When prioritizing your day, it is important to consider your goals and objectives. What are you trying to achieve? What are the most important things that you need to do to reach your goals?

It is also important to consider your time constraints when prioritizing your day. How much time do you have available? What are the deadlines for your tasks?

Once you have considered your goals and time constraints, you can start to prioritize your tasks. The three questions listed above can help you to identify the most important tasks that you need to focus on. By focusing on the most important tasks, you can be more productive and achieve your goals faster.

Priority Management vs. Time Management

Opportunity

Imagine transforming your overwhelming mountain of incomplete tasks into a streamlined and manageable workflow. The challenge isn't a lack of time, but rather an opportunity to refine how you prioritize and manage your projects.

Zoom Out

The broader concept here is the shift from feeling 'time poor' to mastering time management. Many people, like hoarders, misdiagnose their problem. They think they need more storage when they actually need to declutter. Similarly, we often believe we don't have enough time when the real issue is our approach to task management. By embracing better prioritization and decisiveness, we can significantly improve our productivity and reduce stress.

Tactics

By integrating these tactics, you can turn the chaos of an ever-growing task list into a clear, manageable set of priorities that drive meaningful progress.

  1. Daily Prioritization: Use a 'TODAY' notepad to list the three most important tasks you need to accomplish each day. This helps focus your efforts on what truly matters.

  2. Task Evaluation: Regularly assess the value of your tasks. Not all tasks are created equal; some contribute more significantly to your goals than others.

  3. Simplify Your List: Avoid managing low-value tasks that don't contribute much to your overall success. Focus on high-impact activities instead.

  4. Learn to Say No: Develop the skill of saying 'no' to less important demands, whether they come from others or from yourself.

  5. Use Effective Tools: Implement organization tools that help you keep track of high-priority tasks without getting bogged down by less important ones.

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