Setting Priorities
I came across an interesting article today: Too many balls in the air limit the time to follow through. Although the article was written especially for financial executives, the principles really apply to anyone with a tendency to take on too many activities, whether they be business, family, personal, volunteer, or a combination of these.
If you find yourself in this situation, I suggest that you sit down and figure out what is really important to you. You may be engaging in certain activities because you’ve always done them, or because you feel they’re expected of you, but you are gaining little or no satisfaction from them. We often have such a high sense of our own importance that we think the world will come to a crashing halt if we stop doing something, but this is seldom true. In many cases, these activities can be eliminated from your schedule altogether. Sometimes you will need to find someone to whom you can delegate certain tasks that are within your realm of responsibility, such as on the job, but in other cases, such as extracurricular activities, you can just stop participating.
The article makes an excellent suggestion about taking advantage of the task management function of Outlook (or whatever e-mail program you use). With Outlook 2007, this process is even easier. When you receive an email that requires you take some action, simply flag it with a due date, and it automatically appears in your to-do list, whether you leave it in your Inbox or move it to a folder. (Just don’t delete it or you will also lose the to-do item!)
Speaking of priorities, blogging is probably not #1 on my list for today, so I should probably get back to business!
