Setting priorities is one of the fundamentals of personal time management. The ability to identify the urgent and important tasks, prioritise them and complete them.
Many would argue that setting priorities is an art or a skill. Art argues that some just have the ability to cut through the chaos. Skill argues that this is something that you learn, and practice until you perfect it. A case can be made for both.
Another position, however, is that it is deeper than this, it is about beliefs.
Simply stated, you have to believe that setting priorities helps and that it works. Then you have to believe in the priorities that you have set. If you do not believe in them then you will simply not do them.
If priorities are nothing more than a list of ‘to do’s’ on a scrap of paper, then it is highly probable that anything and everything that suddenly lands on your desk will grab your attention and supersede anything on the scrap of paper. You believe that the new task is more important, or you can deal with it quickly. You should recognise that history proves this to be wrong.
Observe those who have mastered prioritisation and the ‘to do’ list. The list is organised and structured. It is most often on a sheet of paper titled ‘to do list’ or ‘action plan’. It has a title and importance in itself. They are relentless and focussed in tackling the items on the list. There is satisfaction and pride in ticking items off the list. This is almost like a religion; it is central to who they are. It is part of their belief system.
Consider the tasks that you should not even be doing. If you valued your time with a really high value [let’s say R5,000 an hour], would you even contemplate “doing the delivery yourself”. You only contemplate and in fact do the delivery, because you do not believe in the value of your own time. Added to this, you do not believe in your ability to find a workable solution, and you do not believe in the priority of finding that solution. You believe that doing it yourself is quicker, easier, and less costly.
You have failed at finding a solution in the past, and this has undermined your belief that a solution can be found. Due to lack of belief, you have given up.
Doing the delivery is not the priority. Finding a solution to the delivery problem is the priority. Prioritisation and getting the right things done, is about beliefs.
Challenging or confronting your own beliefs is one of the most difficult things to do. Firstly, they are your beliefs so why would you want to challenge them. They are often a deep-seated part of who you are. Secondly, unless someone actually pointed it out, or questioned it, how would you actually know it to be a belief? It’s not like you walk around with a list of your beliefs written down and folded up neatly in your pocket.
It can be a very enlightening exercise to sit down with an objective third party and just talk about what you do / do not believe about business, money, success, your role in your business, and other topics.