It is now well into January and many have almost forgotten their resolutions. Mine often follow the same pattern every year – eat healthy, exercise more, make time for family and friends, and continue working to make our books important resources for parents and educators. This year I decided to focus on priorities to reach goals faster.
In forming priorities, there is a hierarchy. Some priorities are more important than others. One has to decide which jobs or activities must be done before others.
I like to use the quote by Dallin H. Oaks to outline this further: Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.”
Going on with this format, I have to determine what my desires are, both personal and professional or business. Personal can include living a healthy lifestyle, connecting better with my spiritual life, spending more quality time with family and friends, having more free time, being better organized, and the list goes on. Since I am in the business of helping families improve lives through books and information, reaching out to others is always high on the list for professional or business desires.
Establishing clear priorities is the first step in reaching goals for the year. There are many methods in determining this. Stephen Covey describes a high level prioritizing method in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Through his system, certain tasks are categorized into four areas or quadrants:
QI – Important and Urgent
QII – Important but Not Urgent
QIII – Not Important but Urgent
QIV – Not Important and Not Urgent
Another method of prioritizing tasks is the one used by Microsoft Outlook: High, Normal, Low.
The Franklin planner ranks tasks into a different set of categories:.
A = vital
B = important
C = nice
Whatever method is used, we need to see the big picture and determine the action needed to reach the goals. Sometimes the tasks’ importance shifts and other areas come higher up on the list. Being flexible is necessary. However, we need to ensure our priorities are consistent with our personal and professional or business values and goals.
I find that making a list of my personal and business priorities and setting up a calendar of important tasks during each month helps to see the whole picture more clearly. What are some ways you go about setting your priorities?
Lee Jackson, author
New book: Healthy to the Core! All Natural Low Sugar/No Sugar
Apple Recipes for Kids
http://www.imagesunlimitedpublishing.com
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