As a business owner or leader, it can seem like your to-do list never shrinks. Between people coming to you for advice, situations which arise from nowhere and your many daily responsibilities, it’s easy to get caught in the cycle of taking on task after task each day. This is a recipe for burnout on an individual level and stagnation for the entire company.
Many successful business people are in the habit of priority management, and as a business coach I always try to build the skill of priority management in my clients who seem overwhelmed or might be focusing on the wrong things.
Priority management is a component of time management, and I would argue it is the most important skill a leader can have in the area of managing their calendar and their day to day activities. Priority management is a habit, and over time you can become a better priority manager.
Effective priority management is rooted in an understanding of your own personal strengths and weaknesses, knowing what you want to do from a work standpoint and having a deep knowledge of your personal and professional goals.
Rather than moving from task to task and simply taking on the next item on a to-do list or whatever comes up next, effective priority managers view everything through a lens of: Am I good at this task? Do I enjoy this task? Does this task advance the goals I have personally or the goals I have for my company?
If the answer to one or more of those questions is a no, then you should evaluate if the task is worthwhile, if it can be automated/delegated or if it should be done at all. From there, you can prioritize tasks which meet the criteria and by doing this you can be sure important tasks aren’t left undone in favor of the ones which ultimately amount to busy work.
I have selected an excerpt from a recent coaching session and put it below to give you an idea of the types of issues we take on in my training. If you have a need for advanced training in priority management or other key business skills, I want to help. Give me a call or fill out the form on my website to get started today.
For each person, each code you pick, you know maybe like “what is your strength or what is your highest work that you want to be doing or that you enjoy doing?” Because all of us, we have to obey the “24 hours in a day rule” also.
And I really like how you ask yourself the question: okay I do want to do this, I can see the benefits of it; and I also know you know how I want to minimize the parts that might be less good about it and instead make it work. We have this thing in my family: “if you can’t fix it, feature it” right? So you’re making sure that you’re really featuring what needs to be featured.
