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Set Priorities and Get it done 

There are three basic approaches to setting priorities, each of which probably suits different kinds of personalities.The first is for procrastinators, people who put off unpleasant tasks. When you don’t set priorities, you tend to follow the path of least resistance. You’ll pick and sort through the things you need to do and work on the easiest ones, leaving the more difficult and less fun tasks for a “later” that, in many cases, never comes. Or, worse, the “later” may come just before the action needs to be finished, throwing you into a whirlwind of activity, stress, and regret.

Procrastinator

If you wake up in the morning, you can go through the day knowing that the worst thing that can possibly happen to you that day has already passed. The day can only get better! the idea here is that you tackle the biggest, hardest, and least appealing task first thing every day. Just knuckle down and do it, and the rest of the day will be a breeze. People who thrive on accomplishment, who need a stream of small victories to get through the day.

Move the Rocks

You’re busy all the time, but somehow, nothing important ever seems to get done. You need the wisdom of the cookie jar. Take a cookie jar and fill it up with sand. Now try to put a handful of rocks in there. You can’t, because there’s no room. If it’s important to put the rocks in the jar, you’ve got to put the rocks in first. The pickle jar is all the time you have in a day. You can fill it up with meaningless little busy-work tasks, leaving no room for the big stuff, or you can do the big stuff first, then the smaller stuff, and finally fill in the spare moments with the useless stuff.To put it into practice, sit down tonight before you go to bed and write down the three most important tasks you have to get done tomorrow. In the morning, take out your list and attack the first “The Rock”. Work on it until it’s done or you can’t make any further progress. Then move on to the second, and then the third. Once you’ve finished them all, you can start in with the little stuff.The third approach is for the more analytic types, who need to know that they’re working on the objectively most important thing possible at this moment.

Analytically You

 If you just can’t relax unless you absolutely know you’re working on the most important thing you could be working on at every instant- four tips, you put your tasks according to whether they are:

• Important and Urgent
• Important Not Urgent
• Not Important but Urgent
• Not Important and Not Urgent.

Spend some time trying each of these approaches on for size. It’s hard to say what might work best for any given person. In the end, setting priorities is an exercise in self-knowledge. The bridge that leads from analysis to action is effective decision-making -- knowing what to do based on the information available. Being able to take in the scene and respond quickly and effectively is what separates the doers from the wannabes. If success depends on effective action, effective action depends on the ability to focus your attention where it is needed most, when it is needed most. Strong organizational skills, effective productivity habits, and a strong sense of discipline are needed to keep yourself on track.

 

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