T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
Another Subjective Method for Trimming the Activity List
Go through your activity list twice more. On the first pass through,
assign a number from 1 to 10 for each on the enjoyment scale, 10
being “highly pleasurable,” and 1 being “pure drudgery.” Then go
through again, assigning a number from 1 to 10 on the importance
scale, 10 being “crucial to the survival of the human race” (well,
maybe not quite that important), 1 being “nobody really cares.”
Our hypothetical list of activities might look like this:
activity ENjoymENt importaNcE
Coach a Y basketball team 9 7
Chair the workplace expectations
committee at the office 2 4
Coordinate United Way fundraising
in the department 1 8
Serve as recording secretary for the
church council 5 5
Just looking at the numbers, it seems we’ve got ourselves a bas-
ketball coach here. If you give it a 9 on the enjoyment scale, you’re
probably also good at doing it. (That correlation doesn’t always
work, but it’s an awfully strong indicator.) If you like it, you’re
good at it, and you think it’s important, do it!
Want something to trim? I think it’s time the workplace expec-
tations committee found itself a new chair, don’t you?
The United Way job is tougher to call. It may be extremely
important, but you may not be the person to do it. The cold truth
is, someone else who enjoys coordinating and fundraising will
probably do a much better job than you will.