Lack of time is actually lack of priorities

Everything is Not Important

If you want to be successful, you must manage your time so that you achieve your goals. Managing your time means that you spend time on your priorities, and it also means that you do not waste time on non-priorities. Keep your priorities as simple and clear as possible.

Most of my clients come to me at an “I can’t take it anymore” stage of their career. They are discouraged with their job and their inability to manage it. They are working long hours—most of them spent sitting in performing non-productive work, which always seemed to turn into fire drills. And they are ready to quit.

I immediately could see what was missing is the most essential job skill I believe every person must have: priority setting and time management. That is, the ability to clearly identify the most important priorities and to focus the vast majority of your energy and time on those things.

Unfortunately, though we often talk about time management and productivity, the art of prioritization is often lost. As a result, many people end up exhausted, frustrated, and burnt out.

Countless books have been written on prioritization and time management, yet my experience is that most people often spend time doing things that are not a high priority. You may think you are making progress simply because you are busy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, busyness can keep you from accomplishing anything meaningful by giving you a false feeling of accomplishment while stealing your time. To reach your goals and achieve success, you must focus effort on your priorities, those things that are truly impactful and important to you.

The difference between busyness and productivity can be difficult to see. Most people realize they are wasting time if they spend a lot of time online or playing video games. However, spending time on otherwise worthwhile activities can also get in the way of your progress if those activities are not priorities. Please don’t miss this point: Not all “important” activities are equal, and “everything is not important.

What happens when you focus on non-priorities?

If you spend time on non-priority activities, then obviously you have less time available for your priorities. Life is a series of choices. Choose wisely. Saying “no” to some activities is as important as is saying “yes,” perhaps even more so. A colleague of mine says, “When you say yes to something now, you are saying no to something else later.” To reiterate this point, when asked if I have had time to do something I have not done, I often reply by saying, “Yes, I had time. But I chose to spend my time on something else.”

How do you know if you are not managing your time effectively? Here are a few questions to consider:

Do you often think you could have done better on a task or project if you would have had more time?

Do you consistently miss deadlines?

Do you consistently ask for extra time to get your work done?

Do you have to rush at the last minute to get your work done?

If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you likely could improve identifying your priorities and focus on your time management skills.

If you develop and stick with a plan, you will get tasks done on time. Although you need not always be formal, mentally developing a formal plan is quite valuable. The key points are to:

Know what steps are needed to complete your project.

Know the amount of time required to complete each step.

Plan enough time to get the work done on time.

Schedule specific time into your calendar to allow you to complete each step.

Prioritize your time to get the work done according to your plan.

How to identify priorities?

You can begin to identify your priorities by answering the questions below. Keep your priorities as simple and clear as possible. Following are some questions to help you determine your priorities:

What are your values?

Values are those things that truly are important to you. Values should guide your overall direction in life, and they provide foundational context for your goals and priorities.

What are your goals?

Goals are impactful results or accomplishments you want to achieve and should align with your values.

What are your responsibilities?

Your responsibilities also influence your priorities. A student has the responsibility to attend class, complete assignments, learn the class material, etc. An employee has the responsibility to go to work, work well with others, and be productive. Your responsibilities to your family can have a tremendous effect on your priorities.

What is the impact of the activity?

Finally, to be successful over the long haul, your priorities must be impactful and have lasting value.

Are you focussing on your priorities or someone else’s

Don’t lose sight of your priorities when bombarded with other people’s priorities. Someone may bring an issue to you seeking help; this issue may be a priority for him but not necessarily for you. By working on his priority, you lose time that could be spent on your priorities.

Of course, your friendship with him may be a priority of yours, so his issue may merit your time. Please understand that I am not discouraging you from helping others; in fact, helping others should be a priority. However, don’t automatically place a higher priority on the requests of other people than on your own priorities.

Urgent and Important - Are they same

Furthermore, understand that urgent issues, whether yours or someone else’s, are not necessarily important issues. Many people struggle to recognize the difference between urgency and importance. I have observed this lack of understanding several times in interviews when I ask potential employees this question: “If you have urgent activities and important activities competing for your time, which would you work on first?”

 Many people incorrectly answer that they would first work on the urgent activities. The point is that the enthusiasm often associated with urgency counterfeits itself as importance. Don’t be fooled: You should work on the most important things first, and remember that urgent issues are not necessarily important issues.

The difference between urgency vs. importance is well demonstrated by Steven Covey in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. He also suggested ranking tasks across four metrics:  important/not important and urgent/not urgent. Obviously, tasks both urgent and important go first, issues not important or not urgent go last, and the rest fall somewhere in between. The elements of prioritization are simple: Know what tasks need to be done and rank them in order of priority.

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities – Stephen Covey

	Urgent	Not Urgent
Important	I Activities ·         Crises ·         Pressing problems ·         Deadline-driven projects	II Activities ·         Prevention, capability improvement ·         Relationship building ·         Recognizing new opportunities ·         Planning, recreation
Not Important	III Activities ·         Interruptions, some callers ·         Some mail, some reports ·         Some meetings ·         Proximate, pressing matters ·         Popular activities	IV Activities ·         Trivia, busy work ·         Some mail ·         Some phone calls ·         Time wasters ·         Pleasant activities

Planning, prioritizing and initiating

Planning refers to the ability to create a roadmap to reach a goal or achieve a task. Whether you’re planning your day or planning your week, having a mental (or written) plan to complete your tasks is the only way to ensure you get everything done.

Prioritizing involves the ability to make decisions about what is important for you to focus on and what’s not as important. Being able to decide what you “must do” versus what you “may do” or “want to do” can be difficult, but it’s necessary.

Task initiation is the ability to begin a task in a timely manner, without unnecessary procrastination. Some people simply have a hard time getting started. People with strong task initiation skills are able to make that first move and get started on a task, even if they don’t actually want to.

All three of these skills work closely together. Planning and prioritizing go hand in hand—once you’ve made up a mental plan for achieving your goals or tasks, you then must prioritize what has to happen first and what can wait until later. Once you know which task to complete first, it’s time to actually begin, or initiate. If just one of these skills is lacking, it can throw everything out of balance and limit your success in achieving your goal or completing your task.

Why are Planning and prioritizing important?

Planning and prioritizing are important skills because they help you identify and focus on the order in which things need to be accomplished. Very rarely do you only have one thing on your to-do list! Being able to prioritize what needs to be completed and make a plan to do so are essential for balancing and maintaining sanity in your busy life.

Procrastination is normal to an extent. However, if you find yourself leaving tasks until the last minute, completing things past a deadline, or even failing to follow through on certain tasks, then your procrastination is getting out of hand. This is when it becomes a real problem.

If you are lacking in these skills, it can result in work being done late or not at all, leaving you in frustration and feeling overwhelmed. Failure to plan, prioritize, or initiate a task can result in negative work relationships, or possibly even getting into anxiety and stress.

How do you know you are lacking prioritization skills

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by excessive hours and constantly shifting to-dos, here are a few significant signs that you might need to manage your priorities better—and some easy ways to get back on track.

You Believe That Everything is Important

If you look at your to-do list and see everything as equally important, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with your volume of tasks, rather than the quality of your work. But consider this: The Pareto Principle suggests that 20% of your tasks produce 80% of your results—and that means that a small fraction of your daily work deserves the majority of your attention.

You’re Consumed by Activity Rather Than Accomplishments

Have you ever started with a list at the beginning of the day, felt busy all day, but left feeling like you didn’t get anything done? Frustrating, right? 

In reality, you probably got many low priority things done—like clicking through unimportant emails, sitting through inefficient meetings, or doing small tasks that don’t move your important work forward. Maybe you spent the day on projects helping your boss or co-workers, but not getting your own work done.

You Get Distracted

You hear the continuous “ding” of incoming emails, texts, and instant messages and feel compelled to peek. You constantly get distracted by the siren call of social media. Procrastination keeps you from starting and perfectionism keeps you from finishing. And you mistakenly think that by multi-tasking, you’re getting more done in the same amount of time.

Multitasking to some extent is inevitable, but remember: Even if you’re able to narrow down your work to the most important tasks, you won’t be able to make any progress if you can’t focus for long enough to finish them.

How can I improve these skills?

Whether you are weak in these areas or just think you could improve a bit, there are several strategies you can start using today!

Get Clear on Your Goals and Objectives

Get a crystal clear idea of exactly what you want and how you want it. Once you have a better handle on your deliverables, you can break them down into weekly goals. As you make decisions about work throughout each day, ask yourself, “How will this get me closer to my goals?” If it doesn’t, put it down and move on.

Create a calendar and schedule

To help you plan more efficiently, try using a calendar and setting a daily schedule. If you fall into a routine where the first hour of your morning is devoted to homework, you’re more likely to get it done. Remember, it is okay to make yourself a priority, so try to schedule in some “me time” as well!

Make to-do lists and Stick to It

Create a daily plan that starts with scheduling your most important work. Those priority activities get first crack at your calendar, before you even think of doing anything else. You’re most likely to complete certain tasks when you carve out a specific date and time commitment to them.  These lists help you both plan and prioritize. Once you have everything written down, rank tasks in order of importance. Make sure you give priority to the things that have a deadline. This means a paper that is due tomorrow should be higher on your list.

Develop Your Ability to Focus

Once you’re clear on the priority work that needs to get done, learn how to get—and stay—focused on those tasks. Try these go-to strategies:

1. Chunk Your Work: Use the Pomodoro technique to schedule 25-minute time slots to work on priority tasks. Don’t look up until the time is over, then take a short break. Repeat four times, then take a longer break.

2. Batch Your Work: Group similar tasks together in blocks of time on your calendar, so you can focus on one thing and get it done. Activities like processing email, returning phone calls, or reviewing documents can be grouped together and done in batches.

3. Stop Multi-tasking: In the end, each task will take longer—and you’ll compromise the quality of your work.

Break down the task into smaller, manageable pieces

Often, the tasks we tend to procrastinate are large in nature—think studying for that final or writing the term paper you should have been working on all semester. For these types of tasks, it is helpful to break them down into smaller pieces; this is called “chunking.” By chunking your work, you set small, achievable goals that you can accomplish in a short amount of time. For example, choose one chapter to study each day rather than trying to tackle the entire book. Or work to research and write one section of your term paper at a time. This strategy does require planning, so make sure you give yourself enough time to accomplish everything!

Eliminate distractions

Put away the phone, turn off your TV, and find a spot where you will be able to focus. If you are easily distracted, try to identify what it is that distracts you, and work to remove it. If you can’t get started at home, then it is good to find a place that is quiet, well-lit, comfortable, and has limited interruptions (e.g., if you are working at the library, try not to sit by the front door where you will notice every person walking in and out). Challenge accepted!

Share your plan with a friend

Accountability is a huge motivator. A lot of people are more likely to actually do tasks when they have actually said that they would get them done. Even better, if you have a trusted friend who can help hold you accountable, ask them to check in periodically and encourage you!

Forget perfectionism

For most of us, it’s really hard to let things go unfinished and not be perfect. But if you are serious about prioritization, you need to be able to drop something in midstream to focus on another task that has greater potential to drive results. It may feel counterintuitive, but in the rough-and-tumble drive to accomplish a task, perfectionism can be a problem. You have to be willing to do things half way just to get more done with the higher chances to yield strong results. And that isn’t easy for high performers.

Do the hardest thing first

Procrastination is not similar to laziness, it is avoidance -- and we naturally avoid things we don’t want to do. Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, once said that the first thing he does in the office each day is the task he dreads the most. Whatever you don’t want to do, do it first, and it eliminates the nagging dread that will sap energy away from other tasks as you postpone the inevitable.

To sum it up

As you go through the day, do frequent reality checks: Stop each hour and quickly ask yourself: Did the last hour contribute to my most important goals? If not, vow to make the next 60 minutes better and start again. If you do a reality check each hour, you’ll never let an entire day get away from you.

Finally, track your success. End each day with a review of what you accomplished and how it moved you toward your most essential deliverables. This makes it easier to let the other nonessential things go.

When you’re ready to take back control of your work life, remember that it’s not about time management or productivity. The point isn’t to get it all done—it’s to get the most important work done.

I would like to conclude with the powerful words as said by Carl Henegan in Darkness Left Undone

“Life is all about priorities. Year after year, day after day, and even minute after minute you have to embrace what is more important and essential for you and not look back. When others don’t understand or admonish you for your choices don’t give it any energy because they are telling you that their wants are more significant than yours.”