I is for Important Things First: Prioritizing Tasks

4/10/2015

I loved The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and First Things First, two personal productivity books by Stephen Covey. One of the main concepts in these books is that the order we do our tasks counts--important things should come first. Here's a brief video (under four minutes) that effectively illustrates the concept. (I won't be upset if you skip the video to do important things.)

Do you regularly do the most important things first? It's a concept I understand but still struggle to implement.

PS -- I love that the guy doesn't spill the sand. I would definitely have made a mess. :)

Pempi link

4/9/2015 11:11:26 pm

Yes simple but effective and often it is these visuals that stay with us far longer than what someone says or writes about! I do confess that sometimes I put off putting in the rocks first because they are stressful as well as important and certainly not as much fun for example as taking part in the A to Z Challenge!!!!

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 12:37:38 am

Pempi -- true about the stressful part (compared to the A to Z pebbles!).

Marcia Strykowski link

4/10/2015 12:04:14 am

This is SO true. I'm always checking off the easy tasks first and then having to move the big important goal on to the next day. Fun video!

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 12:40:32 am

There is that sense of accomplishment from the easy tasks. Maybe if we broke the important things into smaller pieces?

Alex J. Cavanaugh link

4/10/2015 01:49:30 am

I try to knock out the important things first. Sometimes I have to wait for the right time to do them though. Always makes me nervous to delay.

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:12:17 pm

Alex -- I don't like to delay too close to deadlines, either.

Virginia Allain link

4/10/2015 02:27:43 am

Since I retired, I've gotten quite lax about prioritizing. At first, it felt like I had all the time in the world. More recently, seeing some friends my age get cancer or die of a blood clot to the brain, suddenly that time doesn't seem so infinite.
Time to start prioritizing again.

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:11:32 pm

Time is a precious resource!

Lanie link

4/10/2015 04:06:17 am

I should, but no. Haha, I usually do the least important stuff first, it's less pressure so it all goes faster.

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:14:02 pm

Lanie -- it is tempting to do the least important stuff first!

C. Lee McKenzie

4/10/2015 04:22:14 am

The demonstration technique was excellent. That will stick with me forever.

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:15:38 pm

Glad you found it useful, Lee!

Stephen Tremp

4/10/2015 05:00:33 am

I always have the three most important things to do and focus on those. I don;t really care about the most important thing. If I tackle the top three, then I'm in good shape.

Stopping in from A to Z and thanks for the continued participation!

Stephen Tremp
A to Z Co-host
Twitter: @StephenTremp

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:18:36 pm

Stephen -- picking the top 3 sounds like a solid plan. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Liz A. link

4/10/2015 08:26:30 am

Yes, I go for the most important thing first. I find I'm freshest then. Of course, what's the most important thing changes from day to day.

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:19:55 pm

Liz, yes, tackling it when you are fresh is definitely an advantage!

Allyse link

4/10/2015 09:32:26 am

I always try to knock out a couple easy tasks in the morning and then tackle the most important task around 10am. This gives me time to get into the groove of things, but yet I have enough time to work on it so I don't have to stop mid-task.
<a href="https://thefroglady.wordpress.com/">TheFrogLady</a>

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:21:40 pm

Allyse -- that sounds like a good plan -- a hybrid approach.

Stephanie Faris link

4/10/2015 12:09:58 pm

I was writing an article about productivity tips when I stumbled upon some advice from an expert. He said you should refuse to check your email for the first hour or so of each day. If you work in an office, don't check your email from the time you arrive until an hour has passed. Usually not much is going on that first hour anyway (if so, it was sent late yesterday and those people aren't at work yet). You can check a LOT of things off your to-do list and then put out all the fires in your email.

Stephanie
http://stephie5741.blogspot.com

Yvonne V link

4/10/2015 02:24:54 pm

Stephanie -- I think this is solid advice. For some reason, though, I have a hard time implementing it. I always feel like I'm missing something if I don't do a quick email scan first thing. But I can see the advantages!

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