Focus on smart practice

Life today is hectic. So much to do and so less time. You may have so many goals in life. But in spite of putting in a lot of effort, you are unable to achieve them. Do you wonder why?

Achieving your goals can be possible only when you put First-things-First! To know why and how to read on…

Work done Priority-wise

Every goal you aim for can be achieved by performing a set of tasks. Each task in this set has a different priority based on its connection to your goal.

Doing First-things-First means focusing on tasks that have more value in achieving your goals. These tasks may be called Priority Tasks. Making priorities and acting on them is an important job whether you are a student, an executive, or even a member of the top management.

Why you should do First-things-First

Every moment in life is valuable. Most people are careless with priorities and waste their precious time on unimportant things in their daily lives.

The result - work is delayed. Focus and attention on important things are completely lost. Consequently, it becomes too late to complete your Priority jobs.

The reasons are many... The biggest reason is that we do not know which job is important and which is not. Sometimes, external things and the environment influence or exert undue pressure. They demand your attention even though they have no bearing on your goals.

Doing First-things-First will help you focus on the most important tasks. Every moment is covered appropriately when doing so.

Different methods to set priorities

How to decide what a priority job is and what is not? There are many time-tested methods to understand and categorize your tasks based on priorities. Here are a few methods that you can adopt.

Each method has different advantages and disadvantages.

1. Setting Reminders

This method is the basic one and is commonly used, even at the domestic level. The procedure has just two steps:

Preparing to-do lists

● Setting reminders for the same

These reminders call your attention to a task when it reaches its deadline. This method is easy to implement. But long-term planning cannot be completed with this method.

2. Planning

This method helps in setting deadlines for tasks while anticipating future events. Some tools that you can use here are the calendar and appointment books. This method has been effective for executives who have a lot of daily tasks and need to organize them based on priorities.

However, deadlines and appointments bring your focus and attention only to official activities. Personal relations, etc., may be pushed to the background. A provision should be made for these tasks as well, which is ignored in this method. For example, an emergency call from home may not be encouraged during a meeting… So there arises a need to find better methods by including these factors also.

3. Priority Setting and Planning

This method involves:

First, setting priorities based on goals and values and scheduling daily tasks. The tools used for this method are Personal Organizer and e-Planner.

This method helps you focus on your set goals. However, situations may arise when goals are reached, but health issues and personal values like honesty, etc., may be bypassed.

4. Time Management Matrix

This is one of the most popular Time Management concepts of modern times, developed by President Dwight Eisenhower and made popular by Stephen Covey.

The Time Management matrix can be applied for priority setting solutions at all levels - beginning from very minor tasks such as household jobs to high profile Management tasks such as Decision Making.

Based on the ideology of this method, our daily activities can be classified into four quadrants. Each quadrant has tasks that seek your attention.

But the focus should be more on the one box that can lead us closer to our goals.

The four quadrants and explanation for each quadrant are as follows:

Quadrant 1

Urgent – Important Tasks

Examples: Deadlines, emergencies, important meetings

All pressing issues (jobs that have arrived at their deadline) that have a linkage to your achieving goals are here. They need your immediate attention. These jobs have to be completed quickly so as to go to the next and the most important quadrant.

Some people spending a lot of time in this quadrant are at the lower levels of the organization, accountants, etc.

Quadrant 2

Important but Not Urgent Tasks

Examples: Planning, relationships, decision making, etc.

This quadrant is one place where the most important people in the organization should focus on.

The importance accorded to this area will improve the quality of tasks leading to the achievement of goals in a phased manner.

The tasks in this area are not urgent but have a great bearing on the achievement of your goals. It is the area where one should focus on to achieve the most important goals, such as life goals.

The importance of the tasks in this quadrant is realized only when these tasks gain urgency as they enter Quadrant 1.

Take the example of your health. There is no sense of urgency when you are in the pink of health. But you should maintain health by eating right and exercising on a daily basis. Else you will enter Quadrant 1 – rushing to a hospital for surgery due to negligence.

There are many reasons that this area is often ignored. One, it needs more time and attention from you. Two, the results of those efforts and time are not visible in the short run.

This example can help you understand how imperative this quadrant is.

A coconut tree planted today will grow only after 10 – 15 years. But, when it reaches maturity, it will give you coconuts for the rest of your life and even beyond!

Quadrant 3

Urgent but Not Necessary

Examples: Regular phone calls/emails, less important meetings, etc.

Do not confuse tasks in this quadrant with Quadrant 1 because, though the tasks here look important, they will not help you achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

For example, doing a report for a friend may have no influence on your salary slip or promotion at all.

Quadrant 4

Time Waster – Not Urgent

Example: Social media

This quadrant creates no value at all and does not have any potential to lead you to goal achievement. Excessive time on social media can be slotted under this category.

Synopsis of Time Management Matrix

Experts have shown that most people waste their time in Quadrant 1, 3, and 4.

Urgent things (Quadrant 1) keep coming up daily. We lose energy in fire-fighting and doing jobs for others while wasting time in Q4 tasks like watching useless TV shows that are not connected to our goals. To focus on your actual goals and achieve results:

● Tasks of Quadrant 4 should be avoided completely

● Delegate Quadrant 3 to someone else

● Finish Quadrant 1 quickly and spend more time/focus on Quadrant 2, which is the most important area.

Conclusion

Time is not limitless. Using it judiciously will help you achieve your goals ultimately. Doing everything is impossible. But it is okay to say no to a few things and concentrate on a few important things first using some priority-setting methods. Emphasizing on First-things-First is the only solution here.

Planning is an essential aspect of life, whether you are a student, an employee, an executive, a manager, an investor, an entrepreneur, or even a homemaker. It is a method to show how to focus on the goal you have set for yourself. Planning can help you to achieve that goal even while making provisions for unforeseen occurrences in the process.

One can break the long-term plans into daily and weekly plans to assess if our tasks are on schedule. But planning is done only after analyzing priorities.

There is always an option of going with the flow. But life is very long and may cause severe distress if it is not lived according to some plans. The only time when prioritization can be given the least importance is when you are on vacation.

Successful people arrest initiative and try to achieve goals within a period through an organization. The organization is possible only on prioritization.

Prioritizing your tasks

Weekly planning involves setting up action plans throughout the week. All tasks do not carry equal importance. Some need your immediate attention. Some tasks are important but can be done later.

Some are not even important, and you need not waste your time on such tasks at all. To establish these plans prioritizing is very important.

How to prioritize

So how do you decide which task is important and which is not? Here are a few basic points to understand prioritizing better.

1. Find what you value in life most

Priority can be based on the values you hold dear. The ones you value most can come at the top of the order, and others can follow based on the values you place on them.

Some values that you hold dear may be one or many of these — freedom, joy, adventure, family, relationships, faith, learning, teaching, charity, and many more.

2. What are your goals?

You can prioritize based on the goals you have set for yourself.

The goals could be concerning business setups, management issues, marketing strategies, teaching, domestic jobs, and more. The biggest goal which you have set for yourself will be given the first preference. Smaller goals can be given priority in the order of your preference for those goals.

Once you have decided on your priorities, you can apply the priorities to your weekly planning diary.

Here are a few steps to follow:

Step 1: Check bigger goals and understand the goals for the week

Priorities for your week will ultimately depend on the goals you have set to achieve. So you need first to assess the following before you start prioritizing for the week.

1. Check out yearly goals and determine what part of it should be done this week.
2. Check the monthly priorities to mark the task for the week clearly

For example, if you wish to launch a new product - a new soap. And you want to do this within one year.

1. Yearly goal (January – December): would be launching the soap
2. The monthly goal for August would be marketing the product
3. Your weekly goal could be promoting the product and the action plan for the same

Step 2: List all the tasks you need to do this week

1. Continuing the above example, you can list the tasks needed to promote the product in a particular area during the week.

A sample product promotion plan could involve tasks surrounding promotion on social media through posts, product contests, launching the product during events, promoting the product by placing banners, etc., at some prominent stores in a locality or across the country.

2. If you are a student, then plan for the week based on upcoming tests, assignment deadlines, or schedules provided by the teacher.

3. Homemakers may require groceries, and they can list and source them for one week. For example, vegetables can be purchased for the week ahead and stored in the fridge.

Step 3: Classification

Prioritizing for the week’s tasks should focus on these factors, as well.

● Determining the day of the week and time you are going to work on the job.
Similar tasks can be classified under a specific group

●One big job per day in the week can be planned so you can be focused to complete the job

Once the tasks are listed out, classify them under the following heads:

● First urgent tasks

● Next important ones

● Things that have not reached their deadline

● Things that need not be done

Prioritization at Work, School, Home

Work

As a leader, you will find it difficult to plan with constant change in orders and different market situations.

However, well planned, you are there is an unknown factor that may have a diverse effect on your project. But planning needs to be done with known factors to manage time and team.

● All projects, complex or simple – need to be done by prioritizing

● Prioritizing can help you plan how to achieve your small-term and long term goals

● Start making a list, and you are on:

1. Make weekly plans on the weekend and implement them in the coming week
2. Make a list of priorities
3. Rank them on the basis of how urgent they are
4. Keep your list flexible for any changes or exigencies
5. In case you come across new urgent ones, just add them on how important or less important it is
6. Write down how you will achieve each priority – Action Plan
7. Activities that can help you get there

Continuing the example of product launch

On the first day, priority can be given for posting on social media. The next day can be allocated to announcing and conducting a social media contest to grab attention.

The following days can be used for promoting the product through direct interaction with customers.

1. Monday – Post on Google, Facebook, and Twitter
2. Tuesday – Social Media Contest
3. Wednesday – Preview of the product on media
4. Thursday and Friday promotions in various stores through the banner, handouts, etc., mentioning what the product is about and when it will be released in the market.
5. Saturday – Event with info session at popular locations – either supermarket, retail stores, or even event locations

Student

Students have their work cut out throughout the year. Once the yearly plan of obtaining a diploma/certificate is made, the student can break it into weekly tasks and follow them based on these priorities:

● Give the priority to the assignments whose due dates are fast approaching.

● In case the assignment is a long one to be completed over a period of time, a weekly schedule can be prepared.

● If an exam is coming up, put it at the top of the list

Home

Domestic work involves cooking, washing, cleaning, meeting near and dear ones

1. Food planning could be the first priority

2. Planning household tasks like washing clothes, cleaning, dusting, etc., could be prioritized according to the time you can give to these tasks

For example, you cannot allot a whole Sunday for cleaning the house, do it in bits like a room per day.

3. Priorities can be set to visit friends/relatives or entertain them at home

There are so many tasks to be completed to achieve our goals. But the time at our disposal is short. The best way to achieve our goals is to prioritize these tasks in a manner of importance. Each person, student, employee, entrepreneur, or homemaker has a different priority. Learning and understanding this will help any person to reach his goal faster and without failure.