How to Manage Multiple Priorities?

We all have “too much to do.” As a professional management consultant, I hear that all the time from my clients. And that says a lot of good things about you, if you have “too much to do” because, obviously, a lot of people have entrusted many things to your care and have confidence in you.

Every priority claims itself as the most urgent and crucial thing in the world screaming for your immediate attention. The problem is, we can only do one thing at a time. So, here are four nifty ideas to help you to Manage Multiple Priorities.

Keep the focus on personal balance first. Our lives are made up of Seven Vital Areas: Health, Family, Financial, Intellectual, Social, Professional, and Spiritual. We will not necessarily spend time every day in each area or equal amounts of time in each area. But, if, in the long run, we spend a sufficient quantity and quality of time in each area, our lives will be in balance. But if we neglect any one area, never mind two or three, we will eventually sabotage our success. Much like a table, if one leg is longer than the rest, it will make the entire table wobbly. If we don’t take time for health, our family life and social life are hurt. If our financial area is out of balance, we will not be able to focus adequately on our professional goals, etc. As in the medical profession, it is said that you cannot be sick and make other people well. In Time Management, then, we have to keep ourselves healthy first, in balance first, or it won’t matter how many or how important our priorities are, we will not be able to properly handle them.

Schedule Daily Planning. I set aside at least 30 minutes each night for Daily Planning, a time to have a Board of Directors meeting in the most important corporation in the world, Me, Inc. I make up a list of things for the next day that includes not only all the items I “have to” do, but, more importantly, the items I “want to” do. Putting it all down in writing is vital because if you want to manage it, you have to measure it. This will tend to overload your next day, which is useful because it permits us to take advantage of Parkinson’s Law, which says, in part, that a project tends to take as long as the time allocated for it. If you give yourself one thing to do, it will take all day to do it. If you give yourself three things to do, you get them all done. If you give yourself twelve things to do, you may not get all twelve done, but may well accomplish nine. Having a lot to do, being a bit overloaded, creates a healthy sense of pressure on us to get through our list.

Review each item and ask, “Is this the best use of my time?”  There is a lot of difference between “I do it” and  “It gets done.” Which is more important? “It gets done.” Sure, it’s great to accomplish things ourselves but we only have 168 hours per week to accomplish results. (And if we take away 56 hours per week for sleep, that only leaves 112 hours!) So, each night during Daily Planning, I review each item on my list and ask, “Is this the best use of my time?” If it is, I will plan to work on it and if it is not, I will try to find a way to delegate it to someone so that it gets done.

Prioritize the list. Typically, our “To Do” lists will contain “crucial” and “not crucial” items. Some items will be more important, some not so important. Typically, the “not crucial” items are quicker and often more fun than the “crucial” items, which tend to take longer and are generally less fun. So what happens for many is that without prioritizing our list, we have a tendency to do the “not crucial” items first, substituting the quantity for the quality. Identify the most important “crucial” item on your list, the one you would want to tackle if you could only work on one item tomorrow and then label that as “#1.” Next, identify the second item you would work on, if time permits, and label that as “#2.” Continue prioritizing the entire list in that fashion and tomorrow start with #1.

These four steps will help you to more effectively Manage Multiple Priorities and increase your daily results and that is a good thing.

How to Easing E-Mail ?

It’s interesting. Technology is often heralded as a servant for us yet frequently we become a servant to it. E-mail was trumpeted as the new communications tool that would surely put first class “snail mail” out of business. Last year, the Indian Post Office delivered more pieces of first class mail than ever and e-mails exceeded the volume of first class mailings. We have created another layer of communicating with one another and an additional responsibility to monitor and manage.

E-mail is a useful tool but many feel controlled by this new vehicle. The average businessperson is getting around 80 e-mails per day and many feel that about 80% of the messages in their “In Box” are of little or no value.

So, as always, rising to the occasion, I have four suggestions to help you to become better at “Easing E-mail.”

1. Get Off The Lists. The best way to deal with a problem is to never have it. If you are receiving a lot of unwanted e-mails, ask to be removed from the various lists. This would include your inclusion in unwanted “cc” lists or unappreciated solicitations from those promising “unlimited wealth without risk or effort.”

2. “Unlisted Address.” Just like getting an “unlisted” telephone number that you share only with those whom you want to give direct access, you might want to get a separate e-mail address that you use only for the important communications you wish to receive.

3. Check It Once Or Twice Per Day. Many I speak with are become chained to their email server, monitoring incoming email on a continuous basis. Maybe this is because e-mail creates its own sense of urgency, but most of the communications are not all that urgent. I let my “incoming” batch up and I respond to them a couple of times per day.

4. Deal With It. Like handling paper, you don’t want to get into the “shuffling blues” where you read e-mail, postpone action, save it, re-read it later, and allow things to slip through the cracks. As you open each e-mail do one of the following:

a.      If it requires a quick response, (it will only take a minute or two), respond to it and delete it.

b.      If it requires a response but is not the best use of your time, try to think of a way of delegating it. There’s a lot of difference between “I do it” and “It gets done.”

c.       If it is going to take any serious amount of time to respond (beyond a minute or two), schedule it for action in your Day Planner and then download the message, save it, or print it out for future action.

I personally receive approximately 250 e-mails per day and by practicing the suggestions above, I can handle that volume in about an hour, taking advantage of this fantastic tool but not being controlled by it to the distraction of more important tasks in my day.

* Based on Personal Experience

How to Do Daily Planning ?

A poet once said, “The most powerful time is when you are alone, thinking about what you are to do rather than the doing itself.” You’ve been reminded many times, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Daily Planning is the time you ought to set aside each evening to plan out and take control over the most precious resource at your command, the next twenty-four hours. Done correctly, Daily Planning is not an expense that will cost you time but an investment that will pay you back many times over the time invested.

Here are four important steps to follow each day during your Daily Planning time.

1. Create a To Do list of everything you “have to” do and everything you “want to” do during the next day. If you want to manage it, you have to measure it first. Add actions steps to take care of your commitments and responsibilities but also include other action items to help you to balance your life more effectively and achieve more of your goals in each of your Seven Vital Areas: health, family, financial, intellectual, social, professional, and spiritual.

2. Review every item on your To Do list and ask yourself three questions with regard to each item:
1. “Is this the best use of my time?” If it is, plan to do it. If it isn’t, try to figure out a way to delegate it.
2. “Is there a better or more efficient way of handling or completing this item?” For example, combining telephone calls and making them all together.
3. “Is there anything I can do in advance to prepare for this task?” Do you need supplies or information from another to get it done?

Most of the time I cannot delegate my tasks, find a better way to do it, or do anything to better prepare for it, but I can always find a few ways to improve. Whatever those improvements are, add them to your To Do list as action items

3. Review any Appointments and Scheduled events you have planned for the next day and ask yourself the same three questions you asked in step #2 above. As you review each commitment, determine if it is the best use of your time. Maybe you are scheduled to attend a meeting that has little value to you. Try to get excused. See if there is a better way to handle each commitment. For example, instead of an actually meeting with someone, are you able to fax, email, or call that person instead?  Can you do anything to better prepare for it? If you have a doctor’s appointment, are there questions you can write down to ask the doctor. Whatever these improvements are, add them to your To Do list as actions items.

4. Prioritize your To Do list. Place the number “1” next to the most important item on your list.  Place the number “2” next to the second most important item. Continue prioritizing the entire list. You now have a To Do list of all the items you “have to” do, but, more importantly, all the items you “want to” do, including action items to help you achieve your goals and better life balance and make your appointments and scheduled events and To Do list items flow more smoothly. 

The process of Daily Planning will save you more time in the long run than what you spend to do it and will increase your daily productivity each day.

* This post is based on personal experiences