If You Don't Understand the Principle of Priority, You're Sunk
One thing I have learned about operating in better time management is the power of setting proper priorities. What do I mean by “proper” priorities? I mean those things that best align with your personal values, rather than something imposed on you from the outside. It’s easy for a whole bunch of other people to tell you what they think should be priority in your life, but there has to come a point where you take the time to do a “personal inventory” and find out for yourself what YOU deem to be the most valuable aspects of your life, and then set your schedule around those things. I have found that if you don’t take time off the top for the important things in life, there will be no time left at the bottom.I call this phenomenon “The Principle of Priority”.
Not only does this principle apply in the arena of time management, but also in many other arenas of life…it’s true for money too. If you don’t begin to save money off the top (i.e., when you first get paid), before you even consider the bills, you will not have any money left over at the bottom. I’ve seen this happen over & over again, even in my own life many times. If you don’t take the time to identify and then set your own priorities, circumstances and people will set them for you. And I mean every time. It’s amazing how other people feel like they know what’s best for you…and let me tell you, if you don’t do some serious soul-searching and take the initiative to find out for yourself what you should be focusing on and prioritizing, you will find yourself constantly at the mercy of other people’s wishes for you.
I remember reading this quote which I definitely agree with: “Your failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on my part.” It has definite applications in the workplace, but the same is true in life in general; people will always want you to be pulled in this direction or that direction to take care of what THEY consider to be urgent, but in your mind, it may not be all that important. I have seen it over and over again; it’s hard for people (many times) to distinguish the difference between the urgent and the important. What’s urgent is always based on the needs of the hour, so to speak, but what’s important is what will make a lasting impact over the course of your lifetime. Your weekly report to your boss may be the urgent thing, but spending time with your family is what will introduce a greater quality of life over time—not that you should neglect doing your work, but just using that as an example. You never want to be in the place where the job is your mistress (or “mister”, I guess, for the ladies). You always want to make sure that you’re keeping first things first.
A good exercise to help implement better time management is something that I read in Stephen Covey’s book “First Things First”; the basic premise goes like this: Think about your life as a whole, and think about what the absolute most important thing would be that you could do to consistently improve the quality of your life. Think about the thing (or things) you could do every day that would make the most positive long-term impact on the quality of your life. Now ask yourself, Why aren’t you doing them? This is a huge red flag; an indicator that our priorities are out of line. If you really take the time to be honest with yourself and examine yourself in light of that question, you will automatically be on the right road to better time management.
Not only does this principle apply in the arena of time management, but also in many other arenas of life…it’s true for money too. If you don’t begin to save money off the top (i.e., when you first get paid), before you even consider the bills, you will not have any money left over at the bottom. I’ve seen this happen over & over again, even in my own life many times. If you don’t take the time to identify and then set your own priorities, circumstances and people will set them for you. And I mean every time. It’s amazing how other people feel like they know what’s best for you…and let me tell you, if you don’t do some serious soul-searching and take the initiative to find out for yourself what you should be focusing on and prioritizing, you will find yourself constantly at the mercy of other people’s wishes for you.
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| Image credit: SomeECards |
I remember reading this quote which I definitely agree with: “Your failure to plan does not constitute an emergency on my part.” It has definite applications in the workplace, but the same is true in life in general; people will always want you to be pulled in this direction or that direction to take care of what THEY consider to be urgent, but in your mind, it may not be all that important. I have seen it over and over again; it’s hard for people (many times) to distinguish the difference between the urgent and the important. What’s urgent is always based on the needs of the hour, so to speak, but what’s important is what will make a lasting impact over the course of your lifetime. Your weekly report to your boss may be the urgent thing, but spending time with your family is what will introduce a greater quality of life over time—not that you should neglect doing your work, but just using that as an example. You never want to be in the place where the job is your mistress (or “mister”, I guess, for the ladies). You always want to make sure that you’re keeping first things first.
A good exercise to help implement better time management is something that I read in Stephen Covey’s book “First Things First”; the basic premise goes like this: Think about your life as a whole, and think about what the absolute most important thing would be that you could do to consistently improve the quality of your life. Think about the thing (or things) you could do every day that would make the most positive long-term impact on the quality of your life. Now ask yourself, Why aren’t you doing them? This is a huge red flag; an indicator that our priorities are out of line. If you really take the time to be honest with yourself and examine yourself in light of that question, you will automatically be on the right road to better time management.
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