Miki’s Rules to Live by 18
by Miki SaxonImage credit: Zela CC license
Everyone I know is struggling with time management issues.
One of the biggest time management caveats is to prioritize.
I’m happy to say that I learned a lot about prioritization as a result of my procrastination.
And one of the things I learned is now a lynchpin of my time management and my 18th rule.
Prioritize: why do today what doesn’t need to be done at all?
A bit of explanation. This doesn’t refer to that trip to the gym that you’re trying to avoid, nor to the time you set aside to read, think or daydream.
It does refer to all the busy work that we add to our already overcrowded lives; all the stuff that we convince ourselves must be done to keep the sky from falling.
Think about it.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Miki,
This is right on the money. Most time management techniques that come at it from the prioritizing angle don’t apply any discretion to the tasks at all – they just prioritize them. Even if they are so low on the list, their unextinguishable presence there can be demoralizing.
The first thing to do with a list of tasks to be prioritized is what you recommend: cull it – don’t analyze the items just for time sensitivity, but for worth – and keep the standards high.
Thanks for emphasizing this so engagingly!
July 25th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Thanks, Jim, coming from you that is high praise indeed.
I am continually amazed at how little it actually takes to keep the sky from falling.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Great point Miki. If it doesn’t need to be done, why do it? I think DELETION is the key to great time management. Thanks for the reminder. It’s always good to have reinforced what I already know, especially in such a straightforward way.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
You’re welcome, Phil. I think we all are prone to ADDING to the list and forgetting that DELETING is a viable option.
It seems that being busy/overloaded has become a status symbol in the Twenty-first Century.