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Focus Your Time, Determine What Is Urgent and Important

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Focus Your Time, Determine What Is Urgent and Important

When it comes to deciding which activities you need to be doing each day, it is important to focus on the tasks that bring the most value. You can determine this value by making sure that the things you have on your to-do list are classified as important and urgent. These two parameters tell you what tasks need your immediate attention, and which have a big impact. Divide up your tasks so that you know where each item falls in those two parameters so that you can start each day on the right track.

The items that you deem urgent are those that need to be handled immediately or else there will be negative consequences. This applies to anything that is time sensitive, such as making sure that payroll is complete by a certain day of the week. If it isn’t, then your employees don’t get paid and that can be bad for everyone.

Important tasks are those that might not show a result immediately, but are very important in getting the results you seek. For instance, a new marketing strategy that you want to implement for better holiday sales needs to be started months in advance to see the best outcome. You don’t need to start the process immediately because there won’t be any short-term consequences, but you know it needs to be done if you want to meet your long-term goal.

Each of your priority activities can be divided up into four classifications. What sets them apart is what the consequences will be of completing a task or not.

Urgent and Important

Any activity that is both urgent and important means you need to get it done right away. The consequences of putting it off could be disastrous for your career, your business, or your relationship. These activities are typically the ones that most people spend a large amount of time focusing on.

Not Urgent but Important

These are the tasks that are important in the long run, but it won’t hurt to procrastinate a bit. These can include things like writing a book, taking a class, getting back in shape, et cetera. They are all important and contribute to your larger goals, but it’s okay if it doesn’t get done at the end of the day. The more you work on important but not urgent tasks, the more productive you will be later.

Urgent but not Important

The tasks that seem to be pressing but have no real value to add in the long term. This can be telephone calls that you need to answer, emails that need replies, or coworkers who need to talk. Too much time is spent on tasks that seem urgent but not important. These leave you feeling completely busy and overwhelmed at times, but add zero value to the important goals you have.

Neither Urgent nor Important

These are the tasks that are the biggest waste of time. They take away from the time you could be spending on more important activities that will move you closer to your goals. Things like watching TV for hours, sitting on social media sites, scanning eBay, napping just because you can, are all just eating up your time. They are not helping you cross the important stuff off of your list. If it’s a task that is helping you relieve stress and relax, then it could be classified as important but not urgent, but a lot of times we’re just rationalizing our desire to do nothing. Most of us spend half of our time doing things that fall under this category. Imagine how much further you could get on your goals if you spent more of that time doing valuable activities.

If you want to become more productive, start by focusing on the tasks that are urgent and important, then move onto those important but not urgent tasks. Put off more of the urgent but not important activities and do away with those that are neither urgent nor important altogether. Define your activities as urgent and important and you will become more productive and add more value to the things you do each day.

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