It’s common to feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.
You have an endless task list and hope that you can cross off more things than you add.
It may help to think about whether you are trying to be efficient or effective. Here is a quick definition of the terms:
- Efficient - Getting a lot of things done (crossing more things off of your list)
- Effective - Getting a small number of important things done (crossing fewer things off of the list but also preventing 50 more things from being added)
Here’s how to be more effective.
Step #1
Track your activities for 1 week
- Create a time log and break your day into 30-minute intervals
- Record ALL of your activities every 30 minutes
Step #2
Label activities at the end of each day
- Create a simple system to rank your activities
- Examples
- “T” - towards the goal or “A” - away from the goal
- “H” - high value or “L” - low value
- “I” - irritating, “O” - okay, “F” - fascinating
- Examples
- Rank each activity
Step #3
Review at the end of the week
- Look through each day to get an accurate picture of how you spent your week
- How would your week look if you spent more time on the high-value tasks that move you toward your goal(s)?
Step #4
Decide which activities you will stop doing
- Start with tasks that are
- Low value
- Irritating
- Not moving you towards your goal(s)
- Able to be delegated
- Apply the Pareto Principle
- 80% of your success comes from 20% of your activities
- Spend the extra time on effective tasks
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