Prioritization and Time Management

No matter how one approaches time management, a few limitations will always be in place. There will only be twenty four given hours in any one day. One will need to sleep, eat, tend to hygiene and conduct other "prerequisite" activities. There will always be more things that one might like to do than there is time to do them. When one looks at that collection of limitations, it becomes very clear that proper prioritization is essential to effective time management.

Absent quality prioritization of tasks, one would simply hop from one task to another without a great deal of rhyme or reason. Not only would that be glaringly inefficient, it would also result in some important tasks being left incomplete. Every time management expert will argue vociferously that one must learn to differentiate between the important and the optional and learn how to rank the importance of various tasks to help in their scheduling.

There are a few factors to keep in mind when prioritizing the laundry list of items on one's "to do" list. Let us examine three basic principles of prioritization.

First, one must set aside an adequate amount of time to tend to critical aspects of their life that are unrelated to work. Time with a spouse and/or children, for instance would fall into this category. When prioritizing, one must remember to place a sufficient value on some of the things that give life a greater meaning. Some will include worship or meditation as a critical element. These true priorities are often inadvertently given a short shrift by those who are preoccupied with maintaining their business or professional lives--often with a great negative consequence.

Second, one must differentiate the essential from the important. Every day, one must handle truly critical tasks (in terms of one's work). These are the kind of projects that are the difference between a successful operation and absolute failure or significant decline. Meeting hard deadlines, working to grow a business, handling customer service and other tasks may fall into this category.

Third, one must be willing push the fast items toward the top. Fast items are those with an immediate or soon-to-arrive deadline. Sometimes these tasks will not measure up in importance to some of the critical jobs, but their immediacy imbues them with a higher level of priority. Missed deadlines and other similar errors can have a remarkably deleterious impact on a business even when the matter in question is relatively small.

As you approach your priorities list, keep these three observations in mind. Setting aside time for pursuits other than business is a great idea. Understanding the difference between a critical situation and a somewhat important one can also help a lot. Finally, recognizing your need to push through time-sensitive projects as quickly as possibly can reduce headaches, as well.

Deciding which "to-do's" should come first is often the most important part of managing one's time. The decisions can be difficult and frustrating. However, they must be made in order to experience time management success.