Most people think that they are making progress simply because they are busy. They spend time doing things that are important but not a high priority or it could be the other way around, but they may not be aware of it. Planning and prioritizing are skills that you need to make the best use of your own efforts to successfully manage tasks with the help of any available resources to achieve specific goals.
What is Planning?
- It is about deciding in advance what tasks to do, when to do it and who to do it (Harold, Koontz & O’Donnel)
- According to Philip Kotler, it is deciding in present what to do in the future in developing strategies to accomplish GOALS
What to PLAN?
Based on the definition of planning, it is done to accomplish GOALS. In order to have a clearer goal, it should be SMART goals.
Specific – Always be specific in your goals. State what exactly the goals that you want to achieve. Ask yourself the 5W questions as guide (What, When, Who, Where, Why)
Measurable – Make sure that your goal is trackable. How will you track your progress? How will you know you are on your way in achieving you goal?
Achievable – Work towards a goal that is challenging, but possible. Do not try to take over the world in just one night and expect results right here right now. Do you have skills and tools you need? Are you able to take action to achieve the goal?
Realistic – Able and willing to work toward. Just because you don’t have the experience in doing such task, don’t let it discourage you but accept that it does not always fall into place right away.
Timely – It is always okay to give yourself sufficient time but make sure you set a deadline. When do you want to achieve your aim by? Remember, “someday” will not work.
Why is there a need to PLAN?
- Get a clear focus and direction
- Improve efficiency and success – able to have an adequate preparation time
- Estimate accurate time and effort required – helps to delegate, delete and reschedule
- Promote better commitment, control and coordination – develop definite deadlines and milestones
- Limit time waste and any duplication – to avoid decision dilemmas
Proper Prior Planning Promotes Peak Performance
How to PLAN?
Make a To Do List – force yourself to plan and start with reviewing and writing down your thoughts or things you have to do
Be systematic - identify and organize systems and resources what works for you and be consistent by keep doing what works for you until it becomes a habit, allow unhurried thinking time
Plan time to relax – it helps you avoid getting overwhelmed with all the tasks you need to do, breathe because you deserve a break
Tick things off - tick those tasks you’ve done and think of what are the new tasks coming in, or is there any? Update your system and to do list. The time to think ahead
Learn to prioritize - these days, it feels like everything is a top priority. But the question is, how do we do it? Have you already determined your priorities?
Your day only has a limited number of hours, as well as your week, month and year. Yet, there is a maximum number of things that you can possibly do with good quality in a period of time – therefore this is where prioritization comes in.
What is Prioritize?
- According to business dictionary, it is evaluating a group of items and ranking them in order of importance an urgency
- It helps you allocate your time where it is most needed, giving you more space for what truly matters right here right then.
- There are two factors that define what we do based on URGENCY and IMPORTANCE.
Urgent vs. Important
- Urgent – requires your attention right now and has immediate consequences
- Important – anything that helps you achieve long term goals/values
Determining Priorities
In determining priorities, know your goals and list all the things that you need to get it done. Will it move closer to a primary goal? What are the benefits of completing this task? Does it have to be done today? Can it wait? Is it required by someone else? What’s the worst that will happen if it is not completed today? Now that you have the list, put each task on your list into one of the following categories using the Eisenhower Matrix.
Eisenhower Matrix – it is a task management tool that helps you organize and prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. By using this tool, the tasks that you need to do will be divided into four boxes by determining what you will do first, the tasks you will schedule for later, some tasks to be delegated and tasks you will remove.
IMPORTANT and URGENT – this includes project deadlines, medical emergencies, and problems. The strategy for this category is to DO IT NOW.
IMPORTANT and NOT URGENT – this includes relationship and dreams, it is about planning for the future. The strategy is to SCHEDULE and decide when to do it but make sure to set a realistic deadline.
URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT – this includes interruptions such as random phone calls, texts, unimportant emails you get that often involve the priorities of other people. The strategy is to reschedule or if you may, delegate by asking someone who can do it.
NOT URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT – this includes watching TV, checking social media and other time wasters. Although it is tempting, decide to DO IT LATER or expose yourself lesser than usual until this does not bother you anymore.
Methods to Keep Top Priorities
Top 3 Method
- List the top 3 priorities of the day
- Highlight the three most important tasks
- Work on the three highlighted task, if not highlighted means it can wait because there is something else more important
1-3-5 Method
- Select one large task – that requires long time to complete or more complex
- 3 medium tasks and 5 small tasks
- Focusing on only one extremely important task keeps you focused the most
- If tasks are overwhelming, create a “title” as your goal for the day
- Write down one thing you can complete to make you feel that today is a success by accomplishing that one large and impactful task you need to focus on and make sure to keep it visible
Barriers/Obstacles to Success
These are common factors that blocks your progress as you accomplish your goals. Some of these includes:
- Distraction – such as interruptions during the process. When you see your phone or even just a light up of some notification, you immediately open it and not knowing you are already spending more time on it that accomplishing the tasks and targeting your goals.
- Planning fallacy – being able to underestimate the time it will take to complete a future tasks, in spite having the knowledge that previous tasks have generally taken longer than planned.
- Procrastination – unnecessarily delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute or past deadline.
- Stress – you are being overwhelmed by all tasks you are working on and so you do not have the energy to do it all.
- Burnout – emotionally drained caused by excessive and prolonged stress, thus unable to meet constant demands.
Strategies to Overcome
Do not worry, there are ways on how to cope up and it is not yet too late to change those bad habits and get on to work to succeed. Here are some of the following ways that you may practice:
Monk mode – being silent or undistracted to dedicate time and focus to a specific goal; time of increased discipline, focus, productivity and committing oneself to a goal.
Promodoro Technique – break your workday into 25-minute chunks separated by five-minute breaks (note that these breaks are not for social media or unnecessary use of phone but it could be stretching, drink water, take a snack or coffee break). After 4 repeat, you may take a longer break.
Cushion Time – leaving a cushion time or budget extra time. If you think one task will cost you an hour to complete, leave an hour and a half. If you finish earlier than planned, you will feel great and fulfilling. This extra time will take for unforeseen contingencies into account.
EAT the FROG – identify your FROG which means the hardest, most important task for the day. Then, EAT IT means do it first thing in the morning, do not five the chance to put it off for later.
Advantages of Planning and Prioritizing
According to Glenn Remoreras in one of his articles, planning and prioritization are two sides of the same coin. Planning is thinking about the tasks required to achieve the desired goal and prioritization is ensuring you are doing the right tasks at the right time. If these two skills are combined and practiced effectively, you will be able to have:
- Better time management;
- Complete work more effective and efficient;
- Sleep well at night; and
- Less pressure