Setting Priorities

With only 24 hours in a day, you don't have much choice but to set your priorities right. Otherwise you'll find yourself feeling overwhelmed from trying to get a number of tasks done both at work and at home.

If you are a parent, your kid's welfare almost always takes precedence over your career or your other goals in life. And if you have to take care of a child with a disability or a sick parent, even your social life has to take a backseat.

So how do your prioritize your work and your life? What are the first things that need your attention? What can you do to avoid from getting yourself into other people's games of life and neglecting your own needs?

Identify what's most important to you. Does love for your family come first over advancement in your career? Is achieving success a top priority? Or do you prefer security or order? Make this list of your life values in order of importance. When you are clear, it's easy for you to make firm decisions on what requires immediate attention.

Many tasks are important but some have to get done in a day while others are less urgent and you can complete them in a week or a month. Break down your tasks and activities. Jot it down in your journal. Then do the most important thing first.

Many people need the to do list to remind them of what needs to get done and to check their progress. In order to keep yourself disciplined, it's best that you only put the important tasks, do the first things first and get the rest done no matter what.

It's practical to have a weekly to do list too. List down the things that need done and the people that you have to attend to and give yourself within that week to carry them out. It gives you more space and less stress.

A record of how long you spend on a task or activity is a way of measuring your time management. It may surprise you to see that you are consuming too much time on something that doesn't require much attention. Or that you are putting very little effort on something of great importance.

Learn to say "No" to the unimportant things and people. Doing things that you don't like and doing it for other people to please them can drain your energy and take up a lot of your time. Remind yourself of your life values and priorities and that should make it easy for you to become more firm.

Just like your personal values, you may need to reorder your participations in life. Some things, activities and people at one time may rank high in your list of life involvements. Do you still consider them so or should you rearrange your priorities to adapt to your present demanding lifestyle?

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