In our last post on “Wondering how to make more time in your life?” we talked about how planning ahead and being realistic are two essential elements of tackling the answer to that question. Today, we’ll share one more.
Set priorities
Knowing what is important and needs to get done and what not is essential to start with. We recommend you to use a chart below to identify in which category anything that you are about to put on your to list is. Those who prioritize well, put anything that is Important & Urgent on their to-do a list for immediate action; that’s why you need to be realistic when planning ahead your to-do list. Then you have to judge what comes first based on your task. Is it important but not urgent? Then do it, soonish, make sure you do it. And lastly, anything that is in the lower boxes so either both NOT important and NOT urgent or NOT important but urgent, you may want to consider giving them the lowest priority and not working on them at all until they change their position.
How do you know in the first place what is important though? Well, that depends on how well you know where you are going. If your gaols and your actions are aligned then it is an easy answer. Let’s say you have decided to pursue a degree online so that you can get a promotion. Anything task that you will have in alignment with your goal for getting a degree is likely to be important since this is what you need for your promotion. You need to check your sub-tasks towards their importance of achieving the gaol itself, namely getting a degree. Here, we mean for example if the reading of that article is essential or recommended. You see where this is going?
Have fun with your new way of handling you to do list and gaining more time. We’d love to hear how our approach works for you in reality.