subject: Learning To Prioritize Is One Of Your Essential Keys To Success [print this page] You already know this: there simply aren't enough hours in the day to do everything. And you also know that you can't be in two places at once.So, you have to learn a few skills to help you keep on top of things. You need to learn about effective time management.You can free up more time by sleeping less - but I don't recommend it. Any more than a few days without a reasonable amount of sleep and your concentration really suffers. No, you really can't make more time for yourself by sleeping too little. Find out by trial and error just how much sleep you need to feel well and plan to get just that amount (and no more) each night.You can learn to delegate, and that's very important (and dealt with elsewhere). But you can't delegate everything. What you really need to do is to become more efficient. This, I really do recommend. It's what this article is all about. Orison Swett Marden has devoted entire books to the subject. But just for now, let's take the term efficiency to mean: Making a habit of deciding what's most important to you, and working to achieve it in a timely manner.Here is a simple method which you might like to try.Find a few quiet minutes at the end of the day and look at what you need to get done over the next week.Put those time-sensitive things into your schedule in the appropriate space. Then look at all the things you know you absolutely need to do, but which are not so time-critical. Work those in around the items you've already entered. Finally, think about everything you would like to do, including your own recreation and leisure time. Take a good look at the list you now have in front of you. Is it really possible to fit all these in to your planner? If so - terrific! Fill everything in to your timetable and you're done.More likely, some of the things on this list will simply have to go. So this is where you have to prioritize. Decide how important each item is by thinking ahead to the end of the week. Trying to imagine how you would feel if you had not got around to completing that particular item. Would you feel bad because you'd let somebody down? Or would you be happy to leave it undone for another few weeks? Based on these feelings, number everything in order of importance.Starting with the most important, fill these items in to tomorrow's schedule. When you've filled all the slots for tomorrow - you're done. Don't carry these lesser jobs in to the next day's plan. Because you may reach the end of tomorrow without finishing all of what you were hoping to do - and then you'll need to take your highest remaining priority item and add that into the next day's schedule when you repeat this process tomorrow.This is a very simple system which you'll soon get used to. It takes just five to ten minutes per night. And it will save you far more time than it takes. One beauty of planning this way is that although you'll be adding in new items all the time, your least important things will take care of themselves. They will either pass the point at which they had to be done, and remove themselves from your list that way, or you'll get so fed up of seeing them on your list you'll make a decision to either cross them off, or promote them to a point at which they actually do get prioritized - and then, they will get done.Deciding not to do something, because it's just not that important to you right now, is the fastest way to whittle down your to-do list. Provided you have thought it through and are happy with the consequences, you've freed up some valuable time - now make sure you put it to good use!Just a parting shot - when you're working through your day - stick with the matter at hand until it gets done. Don't attempt to multitask. To quote Orsion Swett Marden - "do it to a finish!"
Learning To Prioritize Is One Of Your Essential Keys To Success
