Important vs Urgent: Time Management Tips To Keep You Effective and Efficient
by Frederika Angus
Raise your hand if 1440 minutes doesn't seem to be enough time in a day to get all your tasks accomplished. Do you have friends, spouses or colleagues that seem to be more productive and produce bigger results? After years of business management consulting and project management, I've been able to develop surefire methods that consistently allow me to work effectively and efficiently. I'll let you in on the secret. Lean in close….
Effective people utilize the bulk of their time focused on the important over the urgent.
We have all had days were we have been busy with presentations, going to the gym, meetings, phone calls, errands, doctors appointments, social events and chores. Feeling exhausted from all the activity of the day, we fall into bed and marvel at how much work is still left to been done and how little has actually been crossed off the to-do list. Our bodies are weary and we look over at the alarm clock, wishing for more time in the day to get it all done, knowing 5:30 am will be soon approaching for us to start the grueling process again.
Tip #1 – By learning the difference between which tasks are important over what is urgent, you can be more effective and efficient while alleviating stress and anxiety over the things you have yet to accomplish.
- Important activities produce an outcome that leads you and your business to the achievement of goals.
- Urgent activities are usually reactive over being proactive and demand immediate attention.
In other words, important things are valuable; urgent things simply have a looming deadline. Urgent things are not necessarily important, nor do important tasks have to be urgent.
Tip #2 – Maintain a master to-do list and prioritize each task based on it's level of importance and urgency. Having a written list is a business strategy people have used for years. Adding a column to mark priority will keep the most critical items to be accomplished from becoming lost.
Tip #3 – Review your task list each evening and select 3 important activities for the following day. We often set ourselves up to fail by producing daily agenda's that are jam packed. By primarily focusing on the 3 must-dos, we leave room for any urgent needs that may arise and space for flexibility.
Tip #4 – Deal with important things before they become urgent. This can reduce the number of urgent items added to your to-do list. This strategy will reduce unnecessary, last minute stressors.
Tip #5 – Check and respond to email in between the transition of completing one task and starting another. Constant immediate response to emails as they arrive slows progress. Instant access to emails via our smartphones has become a gift and a curse. Don't allow instant communication to steal your productivity.
Tip #6 – Learn to say NO to demands on your time that don't benefit you or your goals or align with your core mission statement. Too often we find ourselves saying 'Yes' to help out other people when in reality we don't have the capacity to take on more. If the activity is not important to your development, kindly decline.
If you'd like more strategies on how you can be effective at prioritizing your activities, be sure to follow me now on Facebook and Twitter.
