DO WHAT MATTERS MOST…

Do you ever work late into the night chasing deadlines? Are you behind on your to-do list? Do you feel like there is too much to do and not time to tackle it all?

Well, if you do, you’re not alone. In fact, there’s something most people struggle to manage. Many people end up overlooking what matters most to them.

There’s something that can help you get the most of each day, both at work and at home, i.e prioritizing.

• Why you should develop a personal vision for each role in life.
• How to achieve annual goals using a weekly planning tool.

Manage your time more effectively by prioritizing :-

Let me start with a story, A former US air force pilot, who was on a routine training mission, and everything seemed just fine. He took 180-degree turn, and then an alert from one of the systems in the cockpit caught his attention. As he looked down to work the various switches and buttons, another jet unexpectedly crossed his flight path.

Both planes were tearing through the sky at 1000 mph. They nearly collided, missing one another by less than 100 feet.

Both pilots gave the same reason for why they didn’t notice the other jet: they were overwhelmed by activity inside their own cockpits. This is an example of Task Saturation.They were unable to process everything the environment thrown at him.

We too have experienced task saturation in daily life. it happens when there’s a lot going on and too little time to address it all. We can overcome this by developing three habits:

1. Writing down a personal vision.
2. Setting annual goals for both your professional and personal lives.
3. Planning the next week in advance.

Before you can transform your approach to your priorities, you need to get a good grasp on where you currently stand. How do you do this?

One approach is to break down your daily activites into the four categories.

1. high-stress and high priority
2. low-stress and hight priority
3. urgent and not important 
4. not urgent and not important

For example, if you wait a few days before an important business trip to make a booking, sorting out flights and accommodation would become a category one activity. People who spends all their lives doing this leads to burnout.

Now, imagine you book that flight weeks ahead of time. This would count as a category two activity low-stress, but still high priority. It leads to increased productivity. Finally, the other two categories can represent anything from unnecessary meeting to procrastination.

Only a quarter of your daily activities should be high-stress, high-priority. Seventy percent of your time should fall under category two high-priority, but low stress. You should only spend 5 to 15 percent of your time to unimportant areas.

Do What Matters Most: Lead with a Vision, Manage with a Plan, and Prioritize Your Time

1. Forming a vision for each of your roles in life :-

Let’s say you want to build your dream house. Before you put together a budget or even an architectural drawing, you need to picture where the house will stand, how big it’ll be.

In the same way, when it comes to becoming the best version of yourself, you need to imagine the new you first — only then you can decide how to achieve it all. That is your personal vision — an image of where you want to end up.

Put some time aside and grab something to write with — whether is’s pen and paper, or a spreadsheet on your computer.

Think about some questions like — Twenty years from now, what are some thing you want to have accomplished? What would you like to improve about your life? What qualities do you admire most in others?

Now, think about different roles you have in life. We can be parent, partner, employee — and we can also be self-focused, trying to keep our bodies healthy and alive.

Under each one, write down your specific vision for it. This will help you to move towards what really matters.

2. Set achievable and measurable annual goals :-

Well, now it’s time to create a plan for turning your vision into a reality. The tools you’ll use is goal-setting. This book recommend setting goals for between now and the end of the year.

Write down SMART annual goals for each role, which you have written in previous step. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.

For example, let’s say one of your personal goals is to become physically fitter. To translate into SMART goal you write: Achieve a weight of 60 kg by August 2022.

Once you have your vision and goals set, place them somewhere in sight — perhaps on your desk or by your bathroom mirror. This way, you’ll always refer to them — consciously or even subconsciously.

3. Pre-weekly planning :-

If you develop the habit of planning each week in advance, you’ll be well set to transform your personal vision into reality. maybe you already have a daily to-do list or sticky notes that remind you of just what needs to be donw. But pre-week planning will take all of that to the nesxt level. Each week, it will force you to reflect on your priorities and schedule what matters most.

It doesn’t matters what your plan looks like. It’s the process of planning that counts.

Look at your calendar and block off 20 to 45 minutes each week for this exercise. Don’t leave it until Monday morning. What matters is to schedule everything you want to do for a specific time and date. This way, you’ll turn vague ideas into clear action items.

It takes commitment and consistency to make goals-setting and pre-week planning second nature. But you’ll soon find out that following your vision and scheduling clear priorities will make you productive. Your life will become a lot less stressful, too!

Thanks for reading! Keep learning! Cheers!