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Setting Priorities 101: Plan Each Day to Ensure Success

Published

on May 8, 2009

in Classroom 101 and Personal Development

. 2 Comments

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todolists2 Setting Priorities 101: Plan Each Day to Ensure Success

We all have 168 hours in every week. No more, no less. And though many of us might wish we could, we will never have the power to add to that number. Our level of success is directly related to how we manage our time each and every day.

For those aspiring to get ahead, every new day brings greater challenges, new opportunities, and undoubtedly additional items to add to the “To-Do List.” We constantly have more and more demands placed on our time and it seems the closer we get to achieving our goals, the more and more things we have to get done each day. Setting priorities and planning ahead is no longer a “nice to do” option, it’s the price of admission in being effective.

The more time you invest in planning and setting your priorities before you begin your day, the more you’ll be able to accomplish — and the faster you’ll get those tasks done.

I know this isn’t breaking news - you’ve heard it before. Yet even knowing this, a majority of people neglect taking a few extra minutes to truly plan for their day and internalize what they want to accomplish in that given time. The key to maximizing your time and efforts is learning to identify and work on the most important tasks until they’re complete. Prioritizing is one of those things that sounds easy, but can be hard to do consistently. There are various published techniques on how to become better at setting your priorities; however the one I have personally found to be the most beneficial is the “ABCDE Method.”

It sounds basic, but if you truly understand the power of this technique and implement it every day, you will be amazed at its effectiveness.

The ABCDE Method of Prioritizing

The ABCDE Method requires that you review your list of given tasks and put an A, B, C, D, or E next to each one in order of priority. The way that you determine your highest priority at any moment is to think about the potential consequences of doing or not doing a particular task. The very act of performing this excise and thinking through your tasks before you start work will dramatically increase your efficiency and effectiveness once you begin working.

A - “A” tasks are extremely important, they are considered must do’s. They have serious consequences if they are completed or not. Whether you do them or don’t do them can have a major impact on your results and your success. You should always do your “A” tasks before anything else. Assuming that you have more than one “A” task, organize them by priority, as A-1, A-2, A-3, and so on.

B –“B” tasks are things that you should do, but they’re not as important as A-tasks. They have mild consequences if completed or not. Doing it or not doing it may cause some inconvenience, but the consequences are relatively minor compared to A-tasks.

C - “C” tasks are those that would be nice to do, but it will have no consequences at all. Whether you do them, attempt them, complete them or not, they will have no consequences in your life or work at all. They usually will not contribute to your long-term success in your personal life or career.

As you can tell by now, the general rule is to never to a “B-task” when there is an “A-task” left on the list. Likewise, never do a “C-task” when you still have “B-task” left undone. Stay focused on all the “A-tasks” before moving on to a “B” and so on down the list.

D - “D” tasks need to be completed but should be given to someone else to complete. Putting it bluntly, delegate them! The only time you should spend on these tasks is the amount of time it takes you to figure out to whom the task should be sent to and the needed direction for completion. The more you can delegate, the more time you will have to focus on the “A” tasks, which have the most impact on your success and happiness.

E - “E” stand for eliminate. These are the activities that are no longer important in the achievement of your most important goals today. When you take a close look at it, much of what you do during the day or week can be eliminated with no consequences at all.

Once you have completed this entire exercise, go back to you’re A-1 task and focus all your energy and concentration on starting and completing this job before you do anything else.

Give it a try! Or if you’ve had success with a different method, leave a comment with your suggestions. If done right, you’ll soon be asking yourself, “What am I going to do with my 168?” Now wouldn’t that be wishful thinking…

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Time Management 101: Add an Extra Hour to Your Day

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on September 10, 2008

in Classroom 101 and Personal Development

. 4 Comments

clock21 Time Management 101: Add an Extra Hour to Your Day Think of some of the most successful people you know. Have you ever wondered – “How do they do it all?” I’m not going to lie, I certainly have. The balance of work and personal life is not an easy one, especially when you are trying to do both at an extremely high level. But as I’ve found over the past few months, it is possible to increase your productivity on multiple fronts by making a few minor adjustments to your normal routine. Below are 8 sure-fire tips to boost your productivity and save time in the process.

Get organized. Highly effective people are organized people – period. Organization is the backbone of productivity and the first step to adding hours to your day. This may seem to be “easier said than done,” but you really can do it, if you commit to it. Personally, I have always been a fan of keeping things simple. A former manager once told me that there were four ways to approach a new item or task: 1) Handle it, 2) File it , 3) Delegate it, or 4) Get rid of it. Though this may be over simplified, but limiting your options does force you to take the action and get things off your plate.
Schedule everything. (…and yes, this includes fantasy football) Salary.com conducted a survey revealing that the average employee wastes 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour work day. Sounds crazy, yet we all do it! Wasting valuable time limits your production and costs both you and your employer money in the process. Keep one detailed calendar and refer to it the day before to get prepared.
Streamline your processes. Figuring out a better way to do something you do daily will make life a lot easier. Often technology can make a job easier if you are willing to look for (or pay for) a particular program or application. If it will help your cause, it’s worth it the cost. For starters, try Google or webware.com to get a listing of the most popular applications. (Webware lists the Top 100 applications as chosen by 1.9 million people) Bottom line, streamline your processes and you will finish faster.
Establish routines and stick to them. Your daily tasks will be easier once you figure out smarter ways to do them, and know when to do them. Once you get these new habits into your routine, you’re well on your way becoming more productive!
Multi-task only when it makes sense. Most people think: “If I can do more at once, I will get done faster.” Not always the case. If you’re doing something that doesn’t require much thought, it’s okay to multi-task. On the flipside, when you’re work requires you to truly concentrate, multi-tasking will promote errors and most likely additional headaches in fixing them.
Plan ahead. Now that you’ve established order in your life, you can think clearer, and won’t continue to get blindsided if things get thrown at you on short notice. The moral of the story - Plan ahead, save time.
Learn how to say no. (Really it’s OK!) One of the hardest lessons for me to learn, was knowing when to say no. Being determined, motivated, and career driven has many advantages, but it often leads you to being over extended. Making a good impression doesn’t have to mean accept every project that comes across your desk. Be selective and put forth your best effort on a few projects, rather than a mediocre effort on multiple projects.
And finally, don’t quit. No one ever said that adding an hour to your day was going to be easy. It will be challenging. There will be bad days, but you’ve put together a great plan now challenge yourself and stay committed! By executing the above, I have been able to add what feels like at least an extra hour to each day and you can too! Think about it - What would you do with an extra hour each day? Pretty soon, you’ll be the one everyone wonders about…

Have something to add to the list? Let me know your thoughts, I’m always looking to improve in this area.

Conflict Management 101

Published

Anthony Portuesi

on August 7, 2008

in Classroom 101, Communication, Gen-Y, Leadership and Managing

. 2 Comments

Conflict Management 101

Last week, I was asked to give a presentation to a group of emerging leaders at J&J, focusing around the topic of managing conflict. Without a doubt a crucial skill to develop on the road to being an effective leader. The funny thing is, we understand how important it is yet we spend so little time devoted to development this area. Why? “It’s uncomfortable, it’s difficult, it’s hard to simulate.” These excuses may be true; but it doesn’t diminish the importance for us to develop ourselves in this area.

As I began, I asked the group to give me the first word that came to their mind when I said the word “conflict” and to no surprise, I received quick and varied responses: “argument, disagreement, confrontation, loss of productivity” to name a few. Interestingly enough every single response had a negative connotation. In actuality, conflict is often the driving force to address problems or recognize different points of view. - all very positive.

Despite the fact that many of us see conflict as something negative, and don’t like dealing with it, there are techniques that you can implement that will help you better handle difficult situations.

Conflict isn’t the problem - it’s when conflict is managed poorly that it becomes a problem.

Below are some ideas from my presentation, a logical approach to understand and effectively manage through conflict, aptly named “The Ladder of Thinking.”

Conflict Management 101

In conflict situations we are most often working from our own perception of the situation - from our own “story” so to speak. Conflict occurs when we don’t have a clear understanding of the other “story” and we believe that we are right and the other person is wrong.

So, to be able to take the first steps to resolve conflict, we need to be able to understand how the other person has reached their conclusion - which makes perfect sense to them but not to us! We also need to help them understand how we reached our conclusion and why.

First, we each have a puddle of “information” that we are experiencing - these are our observations of the situation:

Sometimes we have information that is known only to us
Sometimes the other person has information that is not known to us
Sometimes we have information that is overlapping with the other person

Secondly, we take this information, our observations - what we are seeing, hearing and feeling - and interpret it to give it meaning.

Conflict Management 101

Finally, we formulate conclusions about what is happening. It is important to note, though, at each step in the process, there is an opportunity for our “stories” to differ. This is because we each process information differently and then interpret this information in our own individual way.

When we have conflict, it is often because we are only focusing on the conclusion, and sharing that with each other. To explain it in more detail:

Rung 1 - Information/observations:

We notice different things - what we pay attention to is influenced by what we care about and who we are.

Rung 2 - Interpretations

Even if we have the same information to work from, we often interpret it differently, we have differing perceptions - I see the glass as half full, you see it as half empty; same ocean same time - to me the water is warm, to you it’s cool - and we make assumptions based on our interpretation. The ladders can pull further apart as you go up.

Two factors influence how we interpret our observations of a situation and begin making assumptions:

Prior Experiences
- Our past experiences impact how we view the present - understanding where someone is coming from in terms of their stance is very helpful
- Sometimes we are not aware of how much our experiences in the past are impacting us now
We live by our “rules”
- These past experiences develop into “rules” by which we live our lives.
- These rules dictate how we think we should behave, what is “right” and “wrong” or how things should be.
- Not everyone lives by the same set of “rules” e.g. I think it’s OK to be late for an appointment, it’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it - you are very punctual and always believe you should be on time otherwise it is disrespectful to the other person.

When these “rules” clash - conflict occurs

Rung 3 - Self-Bias

It’s human nature to form conclusions based on our own interests. When we observe and gather information, we are paying attention to what matters to us - This leads us to the conclusion that we are, of course, right!

Final Thoughts: Keys to Success for Managing Conflict

When you are in a conflict situation it is important to ensure that you make your “rules” known to the other person, and encourage them to articulate their “rules” so that you have a clearer understanding of each other’s interpretation of the information
Don’t fall into the trap of making assumptions that the other person understands how you reached your conclusion:
Don’t assume other people perceive the world the way you do
Don’t assume that others attach the same meanings to things that you do
Don’t assume that everyone will react the same way that you do

How do we stop ourselves making assumptions and gain greater insight into the other person’s story?

Show interest in their viewpoint
Be inquisitive
Work to understand why they feel or act the way they do
Don’t make judgments
Do not assume that either one of you has to be “right” and/or “wrong”
Be prepared to fully explore both sides of the story and accept that neither of you has to “give in” - you need to learn how to work through the differences to come to agreement

Accept that others may have a differing viewpoint and then understand that each of you see/feel/observe things that matter to you each individually - to work through the conflict you need to uncover what this is and how you feel about it. Remember, Conflict can be a positive thing if handled appropriately and if you embrace the Ladder of Thinking, you will be well on you way to productive conflict management. Just try it out a few times before you attempt to win over your boss…

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