How do I prioritize all the stuff I have to do?

How do I prioritize all the stuff I have to do?

I get questions all the time about how to get more done with less stress.

This week, Nancy asks:


Q: Nancy asks, “How do I prioritize what’s important, when it all seems so urgent?”

A: You know I’ve got a list right now of 234 tasks that I absolutely want to get done. The question is: how many of those things do you think are A priorities? Realistically, maybe two.

Everybody has different criteria for managing priorities. The first thing to do is prioritize those criteria into the have-to’s, the want-to’s and the should-do’s.

Number One: There are have-to‘s that you set with a certain criteria.  Maybe you’re in your business and you’ve got to make some money.  There’s a have-to priority there. That priority is to do whatever it is that’s going to make you more money.  That’s criteria number one.

Number Two: Do the things that are most properly aligned with your own personal style and your own values.   So there are some have to’s that you need to turn into want-to’s.  You must determine what the criteria are by which you’re measuring.

Number Three: How many of those things that you have on your list are actually should-do’s?  Things that other people say you should do or things that you feel that you should do.

From there, now you’re ready to go deeper.

Start with your have-to’s. These are the things you schedule into your calendar right away.

The want-to’s are the things that you’re going to schedule into your calendar a little less frequently, but because they’re fun or they’re things that you really want to get to, give yourself a break and get yourself some time to do that.

Now the should-do’s, these are the things that you get someone else to do. Why are you spending that time swishing around in the toilet, doing the laundry, doing all those household chores when you could literally be out making more money.

Now before you say, “I don’t have the money to spend on doing that,” let me tell you this.  It’s very easy to barter.  It’s also very easy to hire somebody to come in and do something in your house for $10 while you sit down and spend that same time making money in your business.  And that’s exactly how I started out! Somebody came in to clean my toilets for $10 – for two hours a week, and my focus on that time was to literally sit down and figure out how to make $20 so I could pay her.  So it starts out small and that’s the way you’ve got to look at your have-to’s, your want-to’s, and your should-do’s.

And from there you can create a better plan to prioritize based on your criteria and not someone else’s.

Stephanie Frank is the best selling author of The Accidental Millionaire:Leaping From Chance to Mastery in the Game of Life.  She ha been in business for herself for decades and is expert at helping passion powered entrepreneurs get clear direction on their next best and most high payoff steps in business, relationships  and in life. For a FREE digital copy of The Accidental Millionaire, visit www.FreeAMBook.com   Kindle version is available at Amazon

 

2 Responses

  1. […] on. Essentially her words of wisdom on how to get things done are to PRIORITIZE and DELEGATE. Here’s a blog she wrote on the topic and some other great words of wisdom. I’ve been diligently working on doing both of these in […]

  2. JimZaccaria says:

    #GoodAdvice as it can sometimes seem SO overwhelming when we look at everything we and others have piled up before us.

Comments are closed.