What is your priority?
photo by: Lazurite.
Sometimes life, business, work, and everything in between can become a big jumbled mess of over-activity. It is during these times that your productivity drops, and the overall quality of your life can start slipping. When you just simply have too many things trying to take up your time, it is extremely critical to begin prioritizing and putting things in their proper place.
I always suggest writing things down. It is easier to gain clarity this way. So take a few minutes and write down every activity in the last week that took up your time. After you have a through list, read through it, and find the 5 most important activities. A few I personally would put at the top are: Spending quality time with friends and family, generating income, and exercise. Add these to a new list under “top priority”.
Next, look back at the first list again. Find five items that are not important, or that you could live without doing. Be honest with yourself. If you are unsure of something, put it to the test. Ask these questions: If I stop doing this, will something bad happen that I can’t fix another easier way? How much value is this adding to my life? Is it taking away time from my top 5 priorities? As you find the bottom 5, just go ahead and cross them out. They are out of your life. Feel the relief?
The rest of the items from the first list are the low priority items, but you have determined they are activities that need to be done. Ideally, see if any of these can be combined, or even outsourced. Also, think about batching activities together. For example, only get groceries once every two weeks. On the same trip, drop off or pick up dry cleaning (choose a dry cleaners that is on your way to the grocery store). A simple example, but you get the idea. Planning and scheduling things together this way will save you a lot of time that can be used on higher priority items.
Keep the list you created, and be sure to reevaluate it monthly. As your life changes, so will your priorities.
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