Our work lives have become increasingly demanding, presenting us with ever more complex challenges at a near-relentless pace. Add in personal or family needs, and it’s easy to feel constantly overwhelmed.
Therefore setting right priorities and boundaries are of great importance to keep us focused on important things in life.
But how do we set the right priorities?
Step 1. Set your perspectives and goals.
You can’t know your priorities if you don’t know your goals.
The first step is all about finding out what’s truly important for your (and your team’s) success.
It’s hard to really know what you want to accomplish until you’ve really examined what you’re trying to accomplish in the bigger picture.
Understanding what you’re really working toward helps you identify the tasks most pertinent to those future outcomes.
Step 2. Identify what is important.
Don’t forget busyness” doesn’t always equate with progress.
Prioritizing tasks effectively—with intention and according to future goals—ensures that every task you tackle drives value and keeps unimportant tasks from cluttering your to-do list.
As the authors Covey, McChesney, and Huling explain in their book The Four Disciplines of Execution, when it comes to priorities, less is more.
• With 2-3 priorities, you’ll likely achieve them all with excellence.
• With 4-10 priorities, you will likely achieve only 1-2 with excellence.
• With 10 or more priorities, you will be unlikely to achieve any with excellence.
How should we act when it comes to urgent vs important tasks?
Instead of focusing on urgent but irrelevant tasks, take the time to evaluate which activities return the highest reward.
Dwight D. Eisenhower put it: “What Is Important Is Seldom Urgent and What Is Urgent Is Seldom Important.”
Step 3. Review constantly and realistically
Don’t forget reviewing frequently your task list and priorities since this is the key the in “regaining control and focus”
Remember, the purpose of prioritization is to spend time working on the important tasks, those things that will make a difference in the long run and move you in the right direction.
The aim is to complete work that signifies true progress and let all the rest fall to the wayside.
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