Page 47 - Time Management

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Time Management
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What’s Important?
How do you decide the relative importance of various
tasks? Below are five criteria by which you can weigh tasks
when assigning them priorities:
1. High payoffs. Which tasks will provide the best return on invest-
ment for your time and energy?
2. Essential to your goals. Which tasks are absolutely critical for
meeting personal and professional goals?
3. Essential to your company’s goals. Which tasks will most benefit
your company, providing it with the best return on investment for
employing you?
4. Essential to your boss’s goals. Which tasks does your boss regard
as most important?
5. Can’t be delegated. Which tasks can be done only by you? These
will be high priorities.
The best time to set priorities is the afternoon or evening before—
not the morning.That way, you can sleep on your priority list and then
review it in the morning.You may spot some things you want to change.

does this tell you about the way you think?
• Did the A, B, C importance list produce duties in the
order that you’re most likely to do them? If not, why not?
• Are you putting off an A1 priority because it’s unpleas-
ant? Might it be better to do it first thing and get it out of
the way?
• Will you be getting to your C priorities soon? If not, why
not? Why were they on your mind? Will they soon
become A’s or B’s?
• Are there any D priorities listed that you would really like
to get done? Do you have a block of time soon that you
could set aside for them?
• Is tomorrow a workday? If so, what personal A’s, B’s, C’s,
and D’s might you have formulated if tomorrow were not
a workday? How many of these would include family,
friends, personal goals, or just plain loafing?
• Conversely, if tomorrow is a day for personal matters,