The Ultimate Guide to Prioritizing Your Work And Life
Do you ever find yourself telling a friend or colleague that
you’re “so busy” whenever they ask how you’re doing? Or, that you “have a lot
on your plate and hardly have any time for yourself”?
These are common answers to the question: “ how are you doing?”.
Perhaps you see it as an easy response that doesn’t need much explanation.
Or, it could be that you’re in disbelief at the end of the week,
wondering where all that time went.
The reality is that time is precious and waits for no man. Yet,
many of us unconsciously squander time away; but when that realization
kicks in, it’s often too late, or you have little time left to spare. And, the
end result of what you were going to accomplish either gets short changed or
fails altogether.
Think about the time when you had to be up early for an
important meeting at work; yet, the night before you were up late binge
watching a TV series. You ended up waking up late the next morning and had to
rush to work, leaving you flustered and not well prepared for the meeting. Did
you really have to watch those TV series late into the night? Or could you have
used that time for an early rest?
Or, what about that time you had a deadline to meet, and
you spent every night that week working late to complete the project. Did you
really have to spend every night working late at the office? Or could you have
prioritized your time better and gotten the project done during your typical
work hours?
I’m sure we’re all guilty of not spending our time wisely at
some point in our lives.
But let’s not focus on the time that has already been spent;
instead, let’s look at how we can leverage the time that we still have!
How to Leverage Your Time
Going back to the age-old battle of Quantity versus
Quality, which do you think matters more? What if I told you that you need
not worry about how much time you have left–instead, focus on how you’re making
use of the time that you do have so that it’s worth many more
valuable moments in the future?
That’s right. You can easily multiply or invest in
the time that you have now. This way, you’ll reap many more returns in the
future, instead of merely spending time at present. And, one
simple way of investing in time now–so that it becomes quality time– is
to Prioritize.
I’m sure you’ve heard this before. It isn’t new. Yet, how many
of us actually intentionally sit down to prioritize daily tasks and
responsibilities? Even less likely, how many of us know a method that can help
us effortlessly decide what is important enough to take up an hour of time, and
what can be skipped?
Here’s an important skill I want to introduce to you:
Determine Value in Any Task or Action
Before you can decide on what to prioritize, you need to know
just how important that action is.
Value is what you gain from an action that you
take. It’s the benefit you’re getting in return for spending your time.
Sometimes, the Value is immediate or short term; other times, it‘s only
realized in the long term.
So when you invest in time, you’re actually creating future
value for the time you put in now. Usually, the benefits are not
immediate and will take time to manifest. But once they are realized, they are
enjoyed over a long period of time.
Reduce Time Expenditures
Time expenditure on the other hand, creates
short term benefits at the cost of your current time. Usually, the benefits are
quickly enjoyed, but are one-off. So once it’s done, it’s gone.
Whether you’re aware of it or not, your tasks are automatically
prioritized by your brain. Some tasks can get you closer toward your goals,
while others don’t really get you anywhere at all. Outside of work, most people
seldom plan out their tasks deliberately, which allows them be driven
automatically.
This is where you end up feeling ‘busy’ all the time because
some of the actions that you’re doing don’t necessarily align with what you
want in the future. The consequence is that we spend a lot of our precious time
on wasteful time expenditures, and far too little on time investments.
This causes a lot of people to be stuck in the same loop, day
after day, month after month, year after year.
By simply determining the value of your daily actions or tasks,
you’ll already be intentionally prioritizing at a much more efficient rate.
This will not only reduce time expenditure, but increase time investments that
you’ll be able to use in the near future for much more important areas in your
life.
Let me paint you a scenario. Say you’re going on a week long
vacation to Australia. It’s your first time travelling to Australia and there
are so many activities you want to do, sights you want to see, and restaurants
and eateries you’d like to visit .
All this research can get pretty overwhelming and you may not
know where to even start! Do I book a hotel first? Or get my flights? But what
if I decide on a specific hotel and realize it’s far away from all the
major attractions? Should I then look up what attractions I want to visit
first? This list can go on!
In order to not get overwhelmed or over plan your trip
itinerary, here’s where Determining the Value of each action or task can help
you Prioritize effortlessly.
Start with Your Intention
What is the purpose of this vacation? Once you know the purpose
of this vacation, you’ll be able to list down a bunch of tasks or actions–such
as booking a hotel, booking flights and land transport, booking tickets to
certain attractions, making reservations for restaurants, etc.
Once you’ve compiled your list, the next step is simply to
categorize them into 3 criteria:
Must haves, Should haves, and Good
to haves.
Must haves are tasks that are absolutely critical to achieve
the objective, and should take top priority for resources and time.
The Should haves are important but not
critical; leaving them out may lessen the impact of your outcome.
And, the Good to haves are just optional. Not
having them won’t affect the outcome of your goal.
Once you’re able to sort out your list according to these 3
criteria, you’re already one step closer to prioritizing effectively and
spending quality time on those Must havetasks. And, this will be a
game changer. You’ll be able to easily communicate what you are spending
time on, and you’ll find that you have more time to spare because it’s
crystal clear what’s worth skipping out on!
This can be applied to any aspect of your life, whether you’re a
full-time working professional, stay at home parent, or working parent. If
you’ve ever used the expression “I’ve been so busy” when talking to someone,
then I’ll recommend you give this a shot.
Quantify Your Tasks
Now that you know how to determine the Value of your actions
spent, the next step up to effective Prioritizing would be to quantify
your tasks so that you can objectively decide which is more important.
This is especially useful when you have multiple items within each Must
have, Should have and Good to have criteria.
Quantifying your tasks by assigning a value will allow you to
objectively see the importance, making it easy for you to know which task to
work on first. This way, you can be assured that the time and effort that
you’ve put into is quality.
https://www.lifehack.org/810807/prioritizing-work-and-life
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