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	Setting Goals And Establishing Priorities

	by Kathryn Jones

We all have 24 hours in a day -- how is it then, that some people just seem to be able to accomplish so much more in that time block than you can? Those people have developed SYSTEMS where a common compass orders their daily lives -- they consistently set personal and professional goals, and they PRIORITIZE their daily activities.

THE REST OF US

Time-challenged people exhibit an absence of DIRECTION in their daily lives that is often the culprit to their disorganization and stress. They sail thru life without any idea of what they want to accomplish, how to get there, and how to organize their steps to ACHIEVE the desired destination.

WHAT DO YOU VALUE?

So how does one effectively set both personal and professional goals, and organize them according to your priorities? To begin with, take a minute to ask yourself what is truly IMPORTANT to you? What do you feel makes life worth living? What would make it better? The answer to this question will set the tone for how you begin to effectively plan your days and set your goals. Write those things down and list beside each one what you wish to accomplish -– both in the short term and long term. Congratulations! You have completed one of the hardest steps in developing time management skills -— developing and writing down your GOALS.

A HARD LOOK AT YOUR LIFE

Now that you have written your goals, the next step is to learn how to INCORPORATE their pursuit into your daily life. For a day, write down the activities you participate in, and if possible, the amount of time you spend pursing them. Do this for an entire week. At the end of the week sit down with the list you developed earlier and compare it to the activity log you created. From this COMPARISON, ascertain where you have spent most of your time in relation to your goals. If your activities do not correspond with your desired objectives, assess which activities are necessary, which are important, but not necessary, and which can be done away with completely.

SPENDING YOUR TIME

Spending it on that which will yield the greatest RETURN with the least amount of investment is the essence of managing time. To simplify this, think in terms of a financial BUDGET. But instead of dealing with an allocated dollar amount, you are dealing with an allocated, standard amount of time. The 168 hours of time we have each week can be considered our “pay”. Like money, time can be broken down into three main categories: debts, investments, and recreation.

ALLOCATION

DEBTS are those things that must be done with the time salary we have. You “owe” a portion of your time salary to a debtor of sorts. Usually those debtors include RESPONSIBILITIES associated with your employer, family, and even self. If you fail to fulfill these obligations, then there are consequences -- so these should be a top priority when planning your time and developing goals. Other time categories should be planned around your “time debts”. A common mistake in time management is creating more debt, than you have time to spend.

LEARNING TO SAY NO

Unlike money where you can always earn more to pay more, time is static—it never changes. Thus, we must change our spending HABITS rather than trying to find more time with which to pay our debts. Guard the expenditure of your time like that of your money. Before you say yes to anything, compare the activity against your written goals. Will this activity in any way help you ACHIEVE your greater aims? Does the activity possess intrinsic value? If so, then the activity may be worth the expenditure. If not, the pursuit may not be worth the expense in your time.

A POSITIVE RETURN

The second division of time expenditures is “time INVESTMENTS”. These are those activities that always give you a positive return for the time invested. For example, time spent with family and friends, exercising, etc. can be considered an investment of your time. Immediate RESULTS are not always noticeable, but over the long term everyone involved reaps some benefit.

TAKING A BREAK

Recreation and relaxation are self-explanatory categories; they are items you ENJOY doing when all other responsibilities are fulfilled. This may be a vacation, participating in sports, seeing a movie; the list is endless. However, these items are to be pursued only when your time debts and investments are adequately fulfilled. They serve as rewards to personal and professional growth, and goal attainment. You may use these items as MOTIVATION to complete the goals you listed earlier.

YOUR GOAL

Occasionally, an activity can fall into TWO categories atthe same item. For example, you may be required to attend a productivity seminar at work, but will more than likely gain useful insight to improve your professional career -- this is both a debt and an investment. Or you might go for a bike ride for exercise -- that might be both an investment and recreation. Your ultimate goal in learning to manage your time effectively is to allocate your time in such a manner that you spend the GREATEST majority of your time in the investment category. Doing so ensures that you always receive back that which you invested, be it in tangible or conceptual rewards.

PRIORITIZING

Learning to prioritize the obligations and tasks that fall into each time category will better equip you to UTILIZE time with greater efficacy. Priorities are those things that take precedent over others; they are items that are time sensitive, consequence oriented, and necessary to accomplish your overarching goals listed earlier. They should be ranked according to the potential CONSEQUENCES that would follow if the task were not fulfilled. For instance, if you do not pay you bills on time, the consequence would be late fees and bad credit; if you don’t return a casual phone call to a friend, the consequence would, in most instances, be minuscule. Thus, taking care of your bill before you call your friend would be the priority.

A FORMULA

If you have multiple items that demand your time, RANK them according to the aforementioned scale -— what will have the highest consequence if left undone, the second highest consequence, etc. Use the following scale to rank the tasks:

A -– absolutely NECESSARY, must be completed
B -- necessary, but not very time SENSITIVE
C -- not necessary, but HELPFUL if accomplished

After you’ve completed this, then rank them 1-10 in the order in which they need to be completed. A1 should be the very first thing you accomplish for the day; A2 the second item completed. Unless you are operating in crisis mode, you should have a combination of A, B and C priorities each day. The objective being to plan your days in such a fashion as the immediate is always completed, the necessary fulfilled, and the occasional advantageous task discharged.

TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE

A certain HARMONY between goals setting, priorities, and accomplishment will emerge when this, or a similar system, is utilized to control you time to your advantage. We live in a world where the time-challenged, stressed out individual is the norm; where “beating the clock” is the daily mantra, a frenzied panic precedes the deadline, and the only calm experienced is after the storm. An adequate understanding and integration of both goals and priorities is the most effective method of MAXIMIZING your time salary and ensuring a return. When this happens your life will reflect a sense of harmony, purpose, and achievement because you have developed a sense of what is important, and how to use time to your advantage. The clock has become your asset, rather than your adversary.

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