So many people struggle with time management. A few weeks ago, I was honored to be asked to give a talk at Bartlett’s Farm on Nantucket, for their “Farm Talk” series. The talk was titled “Is it time management, or is it life management?”
We talked about lot of things, but one of the points I made brought a number of “aha!s”
When choosing your next task, the priority of the task is NOT the only thing to consider. Of course, priority is extremely important, but there are 2 other things that will help you be your most effective in choosing the next task.
They are:
1. Priority
2. Time available
3. Energy level
We’ve already talked about priority. All other things being equal, the priority of a task trumps all others. But not everything is equal…
The next consideration is the time you have available. If you have a high priority task that will take up to a half hour, but you have only ten minutes before your meeting, it is rather silly to start that half hour task. This doesn’t mean that you won’t get to your half hour task, it just means that you’ll do it at a different part of your day.
The third is energy level. We all have peaks and valleys in our energy levels during the day. No one is on all cylinders all day long. Once you know when your high and low energy levels are, it is useful to incorporate that knowledge in deciding when to work on you high priority tasks.
If you are a “morning person,” then your best bet is to carve out morning time for that important project – the one that requires your best thinking. Conversely, scheduling mundane tasks during your peak energy is a waste of useful time.
I am definitely a morning person. Because of that, I avoid scheduling meetings during my peak energy. That time is when I can accomplish my most important tasks faster and more effectively (or at least I think so!)
Yes, working in priority order is the target. And when you combine it with an assessment of the time you have and your energy level, you’ll have a formula that works!
