Many of us have followed one or more training sessions in time management. We all got some elements out of those courses which we have integrated in our daily activities. However, do we revisit those notions once in a while to improve our technique? Chances are that many of us do not have the time to do so. There are too many tasks that must be accomplished – whether professional or personal – and they all seem to bear the same degree of urgency. Consequently, in spite of our good intentions, life happens. Then, one day, we realize that once again, we are overwhelmed with the quantity of things to do, and don’t know where to begin. That is when we must sit down and get organized, otherwise others will “organize us”: our boss, our spouse, and even our children!
Problem is you can no longer find the binder or the notes you got from the course. No need to panic. Following is a short method to get back on track. You must, however, take a few minutes to work on it. The tools you need: a blank sheet of paper and a pen, or a Word document that you will save as “Tasks”.
- List all the tasks you have to accomplish during the week. Example: Make an appointment with the customer. Attend the weekly meeting. Study the sales report. Order supplies. Finalise the contract to be signed. Meet with an employee who asked for help. Meet with Finance Director to finalise a request for proposal. Make an appointment with the accountant for personal financial planning. Complete tax return. Reserve restaurant for outing with friends. Write them all. The longer the list of to do is, the more worthwhile the exercise becomes.
- Put letters A, B, or C next to each task:
- = Utmost importance, whether on a personal or on a professional level.
- = Important, but can wait, or may become of utmost importance one day.
- = Not that important, can become important one day, or be ignored.
- It is now time to make sure that each task has received the proper level of priority. Indeed, we all have a tendency to consider almost everything we have to do as being of utmost importance (an A). The reality is that 40% of our tasks are in the A category, 40% in the B, and 20% in the C.
Here’s what the situation looks like, when all the tasks listed in no. 1 have been properly identified:
Make an appointment with the customer. A
Attend the weekly meeting. B
Study the sales report. A
Order supplies. C
Finalise the contract to be signed. A
Meet with an employee who asked for help. B
Meet with Finance Director to finalise a request for proposal. A
Make an appointment with the accountant for personal financial planning. B
Complete tax return. B
Reserve restaurant for outing with friends. C
We can see that the activities listed as A are crucial to our profession, having an impact on revenues for our company and ourselves. B activities are the ones that can help us accomplish our personal financial goals. For example, our financial planning and our tax returns are important: they help give us direction. The C activities can be or can be delegated if there is simply no time to accomplish them, or even ignored.
If the list is very long, and in order to see it all in one snapshot, each task can be entered in columns identified as A, B, and C. And this exercise should be repeated as often as necessary, until it becomes second nature.
| « Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste. » |
| Benjamin Franklin |
If you have any comments, you can share them here, or on our blog at: https://consultationettraduction.com/
The authors can be reached at: consultation.virtus@outlook.com or mj.verhaaf@gmail.com
Anick Lamothe and Marie-Josee Verhaaf
Work. Words...and life 